What Motivates Students to Study in Upper Secondary School? A Study on Students’ Perspective on Study Motivation in Four Different Study Programs in Sweden

Abstract

Every fourth student in Sweden cancels their upper secondary school education, although the intention behind the new school reform 2011 (GY-11) was to increase the throughput. One important reason for this is a lack of study motivation, which, in turn, has different causes. The authors of this study have chosen to focus on students' perceptions of what is happening in the classroom (i.e., learning and teaching in four different study programs). The purpose of the article is to describe and analyze students' perceptions of what motivates or demotivates them. The research questions are: a) what is important to study motivation?, and b) are there any differences regarding study motivation between programs? The study is based on a web survey of 126 students and four group interviews of 12 students. The interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis. This is a cross-sectional study that also was analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests with correction. The results show the importance of learning and teaching strategies, teachers, and learning enviroments. Some similarities were found between the four upper secondary programs, such as a preference for more practically-oriented pedagogy, short-term goals and quick feedback, varied teaching methods, and good textbooks. However, there are also statistically significant differences between the programs regarding the need for structure, learning methods, and preferred perceptual preferences. The results have implications for teacher education, practicing teachers, and the students themselves. Conducting studies at the group-and program-level to better understand students is a way to develop the didactics for specific study programs and find ways to strengthen students' study motivation.

Student conceptions of motivation to study in upper secondary school in Sweden revealed through phenomenography

“…Our aim was to describe and analyse variations in the ways the students in three types of study programmes (a total of six programmes) conceptualized study motivation. Our results validated our previous findings (Boström & Bostedt, 2020a, 2020b that students believe that their learning strategies, teachers' teaching strategies, learning environment, and other factors in their immediate surroundings are important for their motivation to study. This is in accordance with Hatties's (2009) findings that teacher-student interaction and the teachers' overall didactic competence are crucial, as well as Blomgren's (2016) findings that students' perspectives on schoolwork are important for motivation and Szklarskis's (2011) argument that students' interest in and progress in their studies are important.…”

“…Likewise, access to student health is a crucial factor for students to increase their study motivation. Results of current Swedish research projects (Boström & Bostedt, 2020a, 2020b show that students believe that their learning strategies are crucial but also that teaching strategies, the learning environment, and other factors in their immediate environments are important. We found some similarities between the four upper secondary programs that we included, such as a preference for more practically oriented pedagogy, shortterm goals and quick feedback, varied teaching methods, and good textbooks.…”

The relationship between Instrumental and Integrative Motivation on the Students’ Writing Ability

“…They confirmed that learners in EFL classes exhibited both instrumental and integrative motivation. These findings were supported by Boström & Bostedt (2020), who discovered that motivation was essential for successful writing. These findings are also consistent with those of other studies that have shown that motivation plays an important role in EFL classes (Agustrianti, et al 2016;Nasihah & Cahyono, 2017;Nailufar, 2018;Jianfeng, 2018;Abas & Aziz, 2018;Al-Ta'ani, 2018;Nguyen & Walkinshaw, 2018;Elhawwa, 2019;Surastina & Dedi, 2018;Bai & Guo, 2019;Aspuri et al, 2019;Rathiga & Sarpparaje, 2019;Budiharto & Amalia, 2019;Nurbaety & Hartini, 2020;Samah, 2021;Abir & Shazed, 2022;Budiharto & Amalia, 2019;Wright, et al, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, Boström and Bostedt (2020) proved that motivation affects students' ability to focus on desired goals. High-achieving secondary school students, for example, have favorable outcomes in future higher education.…”

Understanding the dynamics of study motivation: An in-depth analysis of teachers perceptions in primary schools

“…These teachers have the background to differentiate content, deviate from the textbook's structure, and engage in various instruction strategies, such as in-depth discussions, with their students. Current research from Sweden (Boström & Bostedt, 2021, based on students' voices regarding whether the teacher influences their motivation, has shown, on the contrary, that students value the teacher's personality more than their competence in relation to being motivated.…”