Motivation.

Learning requires motivation. Whether you are a student trying to learn something, or a teacher helping students learn, you will need to develop strategies to help motivate learning.

Student learning will occur in proportion to the effort that a student puts into learning. Therefore, a key task for the teacher is to encourage and promote student effort. This can be a challenge, even if the teacher creates a supportive learning environment, because many of the factors that influence student learning are affected by the student’s overall attitude, likes and dislikes, feelings about a subject, activity or school in general, and personality.

To improve student motivation, teachers use both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Intrinsic motivators rely on the value of the content and of learning to the student. Extrinsic motivators rely on the value of reinforcers or rewards to the student.

Internal or intrinsic incentives
There are other incentives primarily within oneself, apart from those already stated. These incentives are mainly connected with the person’s attitude to learning, and therefore, teacher motivation should aim at developing and supporting internal incentives. These incentives can include:

Pride in doing things well – Students can find great satisfaction in a task well done, and gain a valuable sense of competence, which in itself can motivate further effort.

The desire for accomplishment – This can be seen in statements such as "I have done all those" of “I have done that”. The individual gains a sense of satisfaction when a task is accomplished, and others may gain satisfaction from completing a task.

Personal ambition -  Some students have a good idea of what they want to achieve later in life, or even just that they do want to achieve and succeed in life. They might value learning as a way of building a future that will bring wealth, prestige, power and other benefits.

Competition with oneself - Students sometimes set their own standards and rate of working. By doing this they are issuing a challenge to themselves and thus providing incentive. They may also measure their success by comparing their achievements or progress to others’.

A sense of control or power – Students can gain a sense of control and power through developing skills and knowledge. A sense of being able to influence their environment is essential to preventing apathy and learned helplessness.

A sense of participation and belonging – Working as part of a group or class can give students a sense of belonging and affiliation.

Personal relationships – Some students are not as interested in belonging to a group as they are in developing positive relations with individuals. Students can be very impressed by a teacher, and be motivated by a desire to be approved of by that teacher and to make that teacher happy. A student might be motivated by having one good friend who is also learning, and will often be motivated to do well in areas that involve that other student, or where the friend is doing well.

Values and ethics - Different students may have different ethics or values regarding learning and education. Some may feel that education is critical to later success and to an individual’s sense of worth and status in society. Others don’t see it as important.  Some students are motivated by ethics that include honouring family and respect for adults, whereas others are more motivated by values that stress independence and autonomy.