Connections between Teachers’ Motivational Behaviour and School Student Engagement

Abstract

Introduction. Teachers are invited to seek answers to many questions on their professional growth path. This article aims at drawing attention to their motivational behaviour in teaching school students. According to the theory of self-determination, appropriate motivating (that is, autonomy-supportive) behaviour of teachers can respond to a child’s essential psychological needs, and thus enable him or her to engage in the teaching and learning process. Therefore, the goal of this study is to examine the relationship between teachers’ motivational behaviour and student engagement. Method. The sample was composed of 687 students. Two measuring instruments were used: Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ) (Black & Deci, 2000) and Student Engagement Scale (Lam et al., 2014). Descriptive statistics, t test, ANOVA, correlational analyses, and multiple linear regression analyses were used to analyse the data. Results. The research results suggest that teachers’ motivational behaviour (students’ perceived level of autonomy-supportive teaching) significantly predicts student engagement. The studied Lithuanian children are characterised by the same engagement as children from all over the world; they see the meaning of their work and focus on it. Discussion and Conclusion. The conducted research also confirms a universal trend that boys are less involved than girls, although there were no statistically significant differences in the perceived level of teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviour (for boys and girls).

Sustainable School Environment as a Landscape for Secondary School Students’ Engagement in Learning

“…Our results show that boys' behavioural engagement means are statistically lower in comparison with girls. Such a tendency is noticed by many scientists [13][14][15][16][17]52,60]. It is clear that a variety of factors in the learning environment can be relevant to students' engagement.…”

“…As stated by Tomaszewski et al [19], low SES students show lower levels of engagement than other students and the effects of SES on achievement are partially mediated through student engagement. Comparing student engagement in terms of gender, a difference was also found-male students of different ages showed a tendency towards lower engagement [13][14][15][16][17]. For instance, Oga-Baldwin and Nakata found that male students showed a tendency towards lower engagement, lower internally regulated motives, and higher externally regulated motives [14].…”

“…However, so far, there is a lack of knowledge in the scientific literature on how the sustainable school environment affects students' engagement in learning. Scientific studies show that students' engagement in learning differs based on their individual differences, such as gender [13][14][15][16][17][18], their SES [19], and level of studies [18]. Hence, the focus of this article is to empirically test the different predictions of the sustainable school environment (student cohesiveness, teacher support, peer cooperation, equity, student's perceived autonomy support) for secondary school students' engagement (emotional and behavioural) in learning.…”

Estilo motivacional del docente y satisfacción académica en estudiantes de Ingeniería

“…Si bien el ejercicio de la docencia es un proceso complejo, el profesor, con la autoridad que recae en él, tiene la capacidad para empoderar o confundir a sus estudiantes (Brandisauskiene et al,, 2021); por ello, según Arbaugh (2010), tanto su presencia como su comportamiento pueden ser predictores de los resultados de aprendizaje. Desde otro ángulo, Mahmoodi et al, (2021) comentan que los profesores que valoran el conocimiento y el desarrollo de habilidades estarán más interesados en aplicar un estilo centrado en el estudiante para que este último también desarrolle sus habilidades y conocimientos.…”

“…Por su parte, Astudillo y Chévez (2021) destacan que un docente facilitador, creativo y acompañante puede animar a sus estudiantes a seguir sus clases en la modalidad sincrónica, generando espacios retadores, motivantes y contextualizados que fomenten el aprendizaje. Se ha reportado que la motivación de los estudiantes disminuye cuando reciben retroalimentación negativa, lo que a su vez puede llevar a cuadros de depresión (Thompson et al,, 2021); adicionalmente, se ha visto que el perfil motivacional del docente predice el compromiso de los estudiantes (Brandisauskiene et al,, 2021).…”