When you’re smiling: exploring how teachers motivate and engage learners in the further education sector

Abstract

This paper is based on a one-year research project in the UK designed to investigate teachers’ strategies for motivating learners and managing non-compliant behaviour in the further education sector. Carried out in collaboration with 203 teachers in three colleges of further education, the inquiry set out to identify, through the use of observations and focus groups, the learner behaviours most commonly identified by teachers as ‘challenging’, and the methods teachers employ to successfully address these. It also sought to capture teachers’ theories about the possible causes of non-engagement, with a view to incorporating findings about both theorising and practice into sessions for initial teacher training and continuing professional development. Drawing on these data, this paper suggests that lack of motivation in the 14–19 age group is a common phenomenon across this range of colleges, manifesting in behaviours such as lack of punctuality, failure to submit coursework and refusal to remain on task; and that experienced teachers are no more effective in managing such behaviours than teachers new to the profession. The implications in terms of teacher education and development are discussed in the final section, which points to evidence that, although positive teacher–learner interaction is found to be productive in addressing the immediate symptoms of disengagement, participants in the study consider the root causes to lie beyond their control.

Keywords:

• professional development
• motivation
• behaviour
• further education