School Achievement Motivation

The thesis is focused on the issue of school achievement motivation. It is an empirical work. The theoretical part of thesis introduces the concept of school achievement motivation based on the general concept of achievement motivation (e.g. Atkinson's and Heckhausen's model of achievement motivation), which is introduced at the beginning of the theoretical part. Forming of school achievement needs is emphasized within the concept of school achievement motivation. The last chapter presents the previous research works on achievement needs creating a connection to the empirical part. The purpose of the empirical part of the thesis is to explore achievement needs of pupils of upper primary school and determine whether these needs are differentiated. The results of research indicate that in connection with the development of achievement motivation initially generalized achievement needs differentiate within the school subjects. The need to avoid failure differentiates less in comparison with the need to achieve success. Differences in the achievement needs related to the age, gender, English speaking and English non speaking classes are discussed as well. Keywords: school achievement motivation, differentiation, upper primary school, need to achieve success, need to avoid failur