Motivation Risks in Teaching Students at Secondary Technical Schools

Abstract

Motivation has long been of interest to many educational researchers, as it is seen as an essential ingredient in effective teaching and learning. Motivated students are more likely to be eager to learn and more willing to accept the challenges that come with the learning process. In our research, we wanted to specify the attitudes of secondary technical school students towards their studies and to find out what motivates and demotivates them. We aimed to determine potential risks to motivation (demotivators). We hypothesized that students’ intrinsic motivation could be strengthened by teachers if classes were seen as useful, interesting, and inspiring. Having chosen a questionnaire as our research method, we addressed more than 200 secondary technical schools from a public database and asked their management for permission to send a questionnaire on motivation risks to their students. The body of the questionnaire included items asking students to assess 8 potential negative factors, which could represent risks in motivation. Our research sample included 665 responses from 10 technical study programs. The Fuller method of paired comparison was used for our data analysis. The answers from students from various schools, school locations, years of study, and study programs did not show many differences when respondents indicated the primary motivation risks for their study. The impact of risky situations on students’ motivation to study technical subjects was dominantly connected with their cognitive needs, followed by social needs. Surprisingly, in the students’ answers, not much attention was dedicated to the achievement needs.