How to Improve Your Child’s Attitude and Motivation to Learning
We often get asked how to motivate a child at school. The answer is complicated.
Every child starts school keen and eager to learn. If all goes well, they learn to read, write and do Maths and go on to become life-long learners. Today’s students will have many different careers in their lifetime, so a love of learning is essential.
Sometimes, children don’t grow to love learning. As a result, they lose motivation and disengage from learning, generally between the ages of 10 and 14. Once this happens, it is difficult to change their attitude. No matter what steps the school, teachers or parents take, these young people are unlikely to benefit.
Ways to motivate a child at school
Studies suggest that students are more motivated when one of four conditions is present:
- When they feel able to do their work
- When the topic is interesting or they feel it is useful
- When completing their work brings social rewards, such as approval from a teacher or parent
- When they see a connection between their actions and an outcome that they have some control over.
If all four factors are present, so much the better.
For some students, a barrier to learning can mean that none of these factors are present. Imagine if your vision was impaired. Reading is difficult, and it is not interesting because it is such hard work. You don’t earn much praise for your stumbling efforts, and no matter how hard you work, you still can’t read easily. Who could blame you for deciding that reading is not worth the effort?
For a child to succeed, attitude is every bit as important as ability. As parents and teachers, we need to be proactive in ensuring that our children have the best possible conditions in which to learn. Their futures are too valuable to leave it to chance.
In2Learning can help
One of the most common things that people say to us is that after tuition, their child is so much more confident. That confidence allows them to approach their work knowing that they can complete it. This provides so much more motivation to learn- and this might be exactly what your child needs. Call us or send us an email and find out how we can help your child.