Motivation in the classroom : Teachers' perspectives on what motivation is; how you attain and sustain it

Motivation in the classroom: Teachers' perspectives on what motivation is; how you attain and sustain it Daniel Kvick 1. Abstract The aim of this essay was to explore the issue of motivation and gain better understanding of what motivation in the school environment is all about. Is it just a term we use in our everyday life without putting any meaning into what we really mean by it? I have centered my work around the following questions: What is motivation in school? What makes for a motivating school task? How do teachers best motivate their students? What motivates the teachers? Why is it that some students just can’t be motivated? The research for this essay was carried out in two ways. The first part was to complete an online survey, which was then e-mailed to several teachers in the Laholm area. The second part consisted of a series of interviews with four different teachers which centered around the questions stated above. The teachers, who were between the age of 31-51, were all working at Osbecksgymnasiet in Laholm (Upper-Secondary-school) and were all teaching different sets of subjects (English, French, Maths, Swedish, Physical education, and Sciences). Interviewing teachers from a variety of subjects rather that just focusing on English gave me an opportunity to compare attitudes towards the different subjects. The interviews were carried out in the school, and varied between 44 minutes to 1 hour and 24 minutes Keywords: motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, immediac