Over the summer, I had a great hour discussing with Alicia Drummond, founder of The Wellbeing Hub, the importance of motivation and how we can use this information to create the right ‘growing conditions’ for children to thrive and flourish at school and in life. If you want to listen to the podcast and our full conversation, details at the end.
Let’s get motivated
A Motivational Map is an excellent metacognitive tool and a great starting point to see what makes us tick; for adults and children alike. For a successful mission to develop a love of learning, we need insight and information to ensure that what we do is motivating. Therefore, plugging away at a task or repetitive situation that sucks your energy is not going to leave you feeling energised or enthusiastic. The same is true for children. Moreover, human beings are, by nature, motivated to learn. The challenge is: are they motivated to learn what we want them to learn? It is up to the adults to understand what individual children are most motivated by and to use that as a catalyst for learning and progress. In the classroom, teachers do this by giving their pupil choice, building confidence, and relating the subject to areas of interest.
What’s the mission?
Back to the mission: developing a love of learning. Thankfully, at Meta Prep, we teach children the power of knowing the right tools to use when presented with a problem or challenge. If you use a spanner to hit nails into the wall you are not going to get very far. By using the wrong tool to achieve a job is demotivating in itself. Conversely, ever had the delight of starting a DIY project and discovered that you are missing some vital piece of equipment? Giving children a complete toolkit changes their school experience and creates a culture of success.
Motivation drives our behaviour. It is not a conscious decision, but comes from the underlying need for achievement, affiliation or influence. It is linked to our self-concept, personal beliefs, social expectations and personality traits. It is the root of our behaviour. Spencer and Spencer’s metaphor of an iceberg demonstrates this; our motives lie beneath the surface. We use motivators to convince children and ourselves to do things all the time – the old carrot and stick approach. In other words: “If you clean your room, you can have a sweetie.” or “If you don’t do your homework, you won’t get any screen time.”
Knowing our key motivators
Identifying our key motivators is the starting point to creating the right ‘growing conditions’ for a child to thrive and progress. Through understanding and using these motivators in lessons and in life, we can increase attention and interest in learning. Subsequently, creating greater confidence and progress. We can tap into our passions, flourish as individuals and ultimately be more positive, productive members of society. Oh, and by identifying individual motivations with those preparing for the 11+, the chances of them seeing the exams and interviews as an enjoyable challenge rather than a parent-enforced chore is a huge plus point.
Motivation does matter!!
Find out more:
- The Wellbeing Hub for Parents: provides support for parents navigating the emotional and mental health challenges of their children. It offers a live and interactive space with many resources contributed by experts.
- Listen to Arabella’s conversation with Alicia in this week’s podcast by joining The Wellbeing Hub: Join here.
- We are offering a free Motivation Map for your child to find out more about their learning motivations and how their needs are being met. Promo Code – M-MAP: Sign up here.