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Listen to thisMotivation determines both activation and direction of human behaviour. Individuals vary in the degree of intensity of their motivation, objects of motivation and in how soon they must meet their goals before motivation turns to frustration.
The fundamental strivings toward maintenance (aiming at self-protection) and actualisation (self-enhancement) give rise to the drive of motivation. Feeling adequate and capable of dealing with the problems confronting one is an essential prerequisite for motivation. A person who feels adequate, who has developed the competencies needed to cope with adjustment and development demands, in whatever field, will have the self-confidence to direct himself in his search for further achievement.
Values, meaning and hope mobilise one and lead to the development of new competencies. One’s goals and plans are important in that they provide a focus. Each individual has a particular motive pattern incorporated into his lifestyle. It is characterised by his strivings or goals, the direction he takes and, the energy he expends in reaching them.
Four sources
A seminar on motivation which was attended by our team of tutors, and
which solicited their participation in analysing the components of
motivation, yielded some interesting food for thought. Briefly, they
identified four (often overlapping) sources or components of motivation:
(1) social, (2) self, (3) object and (4) surroundings (environmental).
By drawing on their own experience and their experience with their
students they listed certain factors as either motivators or
demotivators under each heading.
Social: Positive reinforcement (be it something tangible like a sweet, or other verbal or non-verbal reinforcement), expressed interest and responsiveness and encouragement and active participation by significant others are seen as motivating factors. Over-involvement and swamping are demotivators.
Self: In order for the individual to be motivated from within he must see some personal gain arising from taking a certain course of action. There must also be decisiveness over which course of action he will adopt. Lack of confidence, fear of mistakes, obstacles and feelings of annoyance are demotivating.
Object: The object or goal of an action must appeal to the individual and draw on his potential and creativity. Although it must provide a challenge, the goal must be seen as being attainable in order for it to inspire action. Obscure goals, perceived futility and dealing with something in a routine way for prolonged periods will dull one’s motivation.
Environment: Motivation is also seen to be derived from the interest awakened by a learning-oriented, stimulus enriched environment.
Education program
It is often found that children in residential care display learning
difficulties and a lower or retarded academic achievement level than
others. Probably two of the most obvious causes are under-stimulation at
a crucial learning phase of the child's life and the pervading trauma of
being separated from one’s parents and living in an unfamiliar and
inconstant “pseudo-home" environment.
One cannot expect a child to be able to separate his personal life from his academic life. Under favourable circumstances the one reinforces the other and in turn reinforces the child's self-confidence. The converse is more than true. A sharp drop in academic results is often indicative of a problem in the child's personal life. Often it is too late, once the root of the emotional problem has been diagnosed, to remediate the academic problem. Oranjia Children's Home has subscribed to an education program over the past eight years designed to deal pertinently with the children's specific educational needs. Briefly speaking, goals of the program include:
consolidating work learned in class;
developing skills in the children enabling them to work independently without the framework of the classroom and teacher;
developing initiative and a sense of responsibility;
developing perseverence skills;
providing specialist resources where necessary;
emotional enrichment and language stimulation.
The work method employed includes:
The use of an Education Supervisor to co-ordinate the program.
Compilation of an educational profile of each child.
Tutoring system whereby three children are assigned to a tutor “where needed a one-to-one relationship is provided.
There are set Homework times. Each tutor completes a Scholastic Progress Evaluation Sheet on a quarterly basis and each child's motivation level is assessed. Quarterly tutor meetings provide the tutors with an opportunity to express problems, seek guidance and improve on teaching or study method/skills.
Liaison with schools: tutors and the education
co-ordinator attend PTA meetings and other meetings with teachers.
In-service training and tutor education is carried out on a monthly
basis. Teachers are invited to address tutors in specific issues
related to helping our children.
Environmental enrichment and language stimulation incorporates the use of specialist resources (e.g. Remedial Therapy), educational outings, reference library and availability of reading material, educational games and teaching aids.
Why tutors?
This article deals exclusively with the tutoring system and explores the
role of the tutor within the children's home. This function is not so
much the remediation of specific learning problems as addressing the
child's negativity toward schoolwork.
The rationale behind using tutors as opposed to care workers for homework supervision is that the tutor represents a neutral figure. As an outsider, the tutor is removed from the dynamic of the life space and the structure of the education program helps get the child to settle down to work. Also having a tutor as opposed to a care worker sets the time spent on homework apart from the routine of the rest of the day.
A healthy fear of failure will usually mobilise a child to work. Generally this is true for the child with a record of average to above average academic achievement with a stable working pattern and who does not have any real or debilitating learning disabilities. On the other hand, the child who has been faced with scholastic disappointments and who therefore has little confidence in his ability will often be paralysed by scholastic challenges. Add to this the consideration that the child in residential care will have pressing emotional issues and it becomes clear that schoolwork will be perceived as an unnecessary source of frustration. Perhaps this can explain why the issue of schoolwork is often met with fierce resistance and aggression.
Thus, although the tutor’s job is to help the children with problems in their schoolwork, perhaps their main function is to stimulate the child's interest in his work. From the outset the tutor must show enthusiasm and inspire confidence in the child. Because schoolwork is often such a taboo, if there is not this initial confidence it is likely that the child will be embarrassed to disclose poor results and it will be difficult for the tutor to discover and deal with the problem areas.
The tutor sets out to convince the child that making mistakes is not a crime. It is important that the tutors see themselves as study aids rather than ready-made answers to all questions. That is, they should exemplify how to tackle a problem, model a thinking approach to the child by verbalising their own approach. The tutor helps the child to understand and use the problem-solving process in order for him to be able to work independently. It is often found that a child does not possess the skills to reason a problem logically. So a vital part of the tutor’s job is to mentally take the child by the hand and show that there is a definite and logical way of working through a problem and arriving at a workable solution.
In conclusion, it is difficult to devise an all-encompassing theory of motivation. However, by individualising existing theories of motivation and taking into account personal issues it is possible to devise motivational programs on an individual or group basis (taking groups of children with similar motivation and behaviour patterns).
The traditional teacher-child relationship can be seen as existing on a vertical plane with information flowing from teacher to child with very little chance for feedback. The tutor-child relationship, on the other hand, exists on a more horizontal plane with scope for much interplay of ideas. For the child with motivational problems the tutor and the circumstances of tutoring provide an opportunity to break down the child's resistance to and fears about schoolwork. The tutor who uses imagination in establishing a relationship with the child and in stimulating his interest in his work will often succeed in instilling in him a degree of motivation and a more positive attitude towards his school work.
