The Importance Of Motivation In Education

Motivation is a highly complex element nowadays in the process of teaching and learning, one of the reasons being the generational gap between the twentieth century educators and twenty-first century learners. This change is borne out clearly when we understand the difference in how they conceive or relate information and learning. (Churchill et.al. p.110) define the new generation self 'as an electronic nomad, no longer needing a local physical infrastructure to articulate identity. ' This is a profound statement that clearly shows that the students live in a technologically advanced digital world and hence, they would not benefit from the same learning manner as their parents. The aim of this essay is to consider the issues of motivation

This is extremely important for the students as they move on to higher levels of schooling. Research has shown that students with positive social and emotional skills generally have higher academic success rates than those who are easily vulnerable to the conflicts and difficulties around them. It is noticeable that majority of the latter students lack motivation from within, from their learning environment and also from their family. For instance, I could observe an Year 7 student constantly been told off by teachers for not doing his work. The teachers took very little effort to find out the underlying issues surrounding him. He comes from a large family with 8 other siblings and his parents living in a 3 bedroom house. There were some issues happening in the family that is affecting his focus and ability to learn. Apparently, he was undergoing a conflict within himself and the world around him. In these cases, motivation is the powerful element that can emotionally strengthen a person but it must be applied in a productive and meaningful way. Consequently, the teacher should act as a guide and model to turn difficulties into learning