Motivational factors of secondary students towards attending school / Shehenaz Latheef

Abstract:

Attending school is the major concern among the secondary students of Maldives. In addition, attending school without any interest impact students' academic achievements. There could be complex, unlimited reasons behind students not getting motivated towards school. Therefore, as a school teacher I believe it is important to address the existing issue of motivation to attend school and this will surely enhance my own professional practice too. A qualitative case study, with interpretive research paradigm, was used to explore this issue. Thus, the case study is specifically concerned with finding the motivational factors of secondary students towards attending school. Priority was given to finding motivational factors in relation with the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of students. The study was conducted in a small school of Maldives with approximately 700 students. The method adopted for collecting data for this research project was semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires.

The data was collected in relation with extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors and the result of the study identifies that most of the students attend school in relation to their own interest. Eight motivational factors were identified from the research study and discussed in detail with supported literature. This study significantly adds to the body of the research on the importance of motivating students towards attending school. The findings of this study is undoubtedly contributed to my professional development as a teacher. The emerged factors of motivation also can be used in policy level to practice to motivate students to attend school in Maldives.