Dampened motivation as a side effect of contemporary educational policy: a self-determination theory perspective

ABSTRACT

It has been suggested that features of contemporary educational policy create and encourage teaching and learning practices that dampen human motivation. This paper sought to analyse and extend this discussion through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT). Key questions are discussed such as (1) what is human motivation from a self-determination theory perspective, and (2) how and why is it dampened by features of contemporary educational policy? The discussion is then extended to explore the extent to which dampened human motivation from an SDT perspective might be considered unjust if they systematically dampen motivation.

KEYWORDS:

• Motivation
• self-determination
• social justice
• education

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sam Carr

Sam Carr is a Senior Lecturer in Education in the Department of Education, University of Bath. He is Director of Studies for Education with Psychology and his research interests include connecting educational psychology to issues of social justice in the context of neoliberal educational reform.