The Motivated Classroom Model
How do we influence other people”s self -motivation?
How do teachers “make the weather” in the classroom?
How can teachers create a classroom climate where
students work together and take responsibility for their own
behavior and their own learning?
The Motivated Classroom Model
Contents Page
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How we influence other people’s self-motivation: the
“external drivers”
Relationships and power: the “two dimensions”
The “classroom climates” model
Working in the sunny classroom: moving up “the
gears”
Moving from a “secure” to “sharing”: the most crucial
step to take?
The important thing is not
so much that every child
should be taught but that
every child should be given
the wish to learn.
Peter Senge
It’s what teachers think,
what teachers believe and
what teachers do at the level
of the classroom that
ultimately determines what
kind of learning that young
people get.
Andy Hargreaves
We keep our children too
dependent for too long,
denying them the
opportunity to exercise their
considerable capacity
for initiative and responsible
action
Margaret Donaldson
Teachers lack a shared
language that allows them to
share the wisdom of the
profession and to be clear
and precise about what they
know works.
David Hargreaves (2003
This handout is based on the work of Alan McLean, whose book The Motivated
School was published by Paul Chapman Publishing (London) in 2003. ISBN 0 7619
4384 6
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The Motivated Classroom Model
Motivation is…
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What literally “moves” us into action: either towards
something by striving for it or away from something by
avoiding it.
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Why we start, why we go on, why we stop, why we give up.
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A marshalling of enthusiasm, confidence and persistence.
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An internal process or external incentives that spur us to
satisfy a need.
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A response we make to challenges and threats in situations
where success and failure are possible.
Seven Principles of motivation
1. True motivation comes from the self: it is locked from
the inside out
2. We are all born with intrinsic motivation to learn,
naturally inclined towards mystery and exploration
3. Although young people can only unlock their own
motivation from the inside, they need help from
adults to do it.
4. Our natural motivation to learn needs to be nurtured
and stimulated rather than controlled.
5. Our thoughts, positive or negative, have a big
influence on our motivation, especially our ideas
about progress and ability
6. Schools’ and teachers’ own motivation is
“downloaded” to their students.
7. Homes, schools and classrooms can strengthen or
weaken students’ natural self-motivation.
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The Motivated Classroom Model
How we influence other people’s self-motivation: the “external drivers”
Traditionally, schools have sought to influence young people’s motivation from the outside by
either punishment or reward. Ironically, teachers often also lament the fact that students are not
self-motivated and unwilling to take responsibility for their own learning. Alan McLean argues that
by far the most powerful motivation comes from the inside and that young people need to be selfmotivated. However, teachers and parents must face the challenge that young people cannot do
this on their own. They need help from adults who can have a strong influence on their motivation
through what Alan McLean calls the four “external drivers”:
1 Showing we care (engagement)
When we get to know and take an interest in children and young people and have high
expectations of them; we encourage them to be all they can be but we also value and accept
them for who they are. Students say it’s about being interested in them as individuals; believing
in them; not ignoring them; being willing to listen and understand; being informal
2 Establishing expectations (structure)
Early on, we provide young people with a secure and safe
environment where they know where they stand and what is
expected of them, but they also know what they want and how to
achieve it. Students say it’s about:
 being firm but fair
 being “strict for you”
 consulting them
 not humiliating them or being superior
3 Empowering them to learn (stimulation)
We get young people actively involved in their learning; we design
interesting and enjoyable activities with the right level of challenge,
which arouse their curiosity and make them think. Students say
it’s about:
 being interested in the subject
 using humor
 being open minded, listening to your opinions
 not being boring
4 Giving support (feedback)
We talk positively with young people about what they have achieved and help them to evaluate
their own performance; we praise and reward appropriately, but we are also honest, accurate,
realistic and critical. Students say it’s about:
 noticing when you have difficulties
 telling you how you are doing
 encouraging you to do better
 helping you when you are stuck
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The Motivated Classroom Model
Relationships and power: the “two dimensions”
The social dimension
The political dimension
Relationships
Power
People relate to you and show they value
you as a person
You are in a secure environment where you
know where you stand and it’s clear what
needs to be done
(Engagement)
(Structure)
You get feedback which is honest and
accurate: critical as well as affirming
You are involved in something that you care
about and interests you
(Feedback)
(Stimulation)
Motivation is an extremely complex area in which each one of us has two balancing,
contradictory motives: to be the same as other people and to be different. We are naturally social
animals who want relationships with others but we also want control over our own lives. These
two motives are at their most extreme in young people, particularly in the teenage years.
So the four drivers – engagement, structure, stimulation and feedback
– can be seen as operating along two dimensions: relationships and power. Young people
become empowered through stimulation and structure and find affirmation in engagement and
feedback. Both dimensions have a huge impact on young people’s motivation but Alan McLean
believes that the teacher-student relationship is the vital component in the motivation to learn.
The two dimensions overlap. For example, feedback can be empowering and learning together in
an area of mutual interest builds relationships. However, the two dimensions reflect the
apparently conflicting needs of relating to other people while still retaining independence and
personal autonomy.
Most people will instantly recognize the importance of relationships in motivating other people,
but many have difficulty with the concept of power. But, thinking about it, there is a power
dimension in every relationship, certainly that between an adult and a child and especially
between a teacher and a class. The power dimension not only applies to how behavior is
regulated in the classroom, but also what is to be learned and how.
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The Motivated Classroom Model
What is the climate like in your classroom?
Alan McLean uses these two dimensions to create a model of four types of classroom climate. The
relationships dimension is on the vertical axis and the power dimension is on the horizontal axis. He
describes the climates in the different classrooms, pointing out that like the weather these climates
can be changeable and hard to predict.
Indeed, the first point teachers make when asked about the climate in their classroom is that it
depends on a whole range of factors, from the chemistry of the class to the weather. Whether it
is a wet play time is a favorite example and even the phases of the moon have been mentioned!
These are fair points to make, but research shows us that the one factor that influences classroom
climate more than any other is the teacher. You just need to follow a class around a secondary
school for a day to realize that. The question really is when you look at the descriptions overleaf
which one describes the climate in your classroom on an average day?
value
for connection
humid
classroom
our need
for control
our need
restrict
sunny
classroom
cold
classroom
empower
stormy
classroom
reject
Alan McLean ‘The Motivated Classroom’
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The Motivated Classroom Model
The “classroom climates” model
Value
The Protective Classroom
Humid
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The Motivating Classroom
Bright Sunshine
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High support and low challenge
Students are hot-housed:
overprotected and dependent
There are low expectations
Empty praise is handed out:
rewards may be overused
Negative feedback is avoided
Students don’t take risks
They do enough to get by
Academic achievement can be
reasonable
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Control
Empower
The Destructive Classroom
Cold
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The Insecure Classroom
Stormy
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Low support and high challenge
Students are dominated and forced
There is little sense of fun or
enjoyment
There is blame culture: the focus is
on correction
Students may feel they are not
respected or trusted
They become passive, disaffected
and submissive
They focus on avoiding failure
Academic achievement can be
good
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Reject
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High support and high challenge
There is autonomy within structure
Students are trusted and made
accountable
Creativity and humor are evident
There is encouragement and
genuine praise
Students feel valued
They take responsibility for their own
behavior and learning
The focus is on self-improvement
Students achieve more than most of
them believe
6
Low support and varying challenge
There is a constant battle for control:
frequent confrontations
Contaminated praise: “Why can’t you
do that all the time?”
Some students push the limits
Some students feel threatened,
others neglected
All feel uncomfortable: they don’t
know where they stand
Academic achievement levels are
low
The Motivated Classroom Model
Working in the “sunny classroom”
The descriptions of classroom climates make sense to the vast majority of teachers. But many
quite understandably find the concept challenging. This was well expressed by a beginner
teacher who pointed out that, according to the diagram, there are three ways to get it wrong and
only one way to get it right. She badly wanted to achieve the sunny climate but, at the moment,
that seemed like nirvana. How could she go about it?
This of course is the crucial question. But before dealing with it, we need to point out that Alan
McLean suggested that most teachers on a good day are operating in a sunny climate for most
of the time. He likens the classroom to a car with three forward and three reverse gears. The
three reverse gears are humid, cold and stormy, which are all potentially counter-productive. The
stormy classroom is the worst. All teachers want to avoid it if they possibly can yet very few go
through their career without getting into it at times. Most will use one of the other reverse gears
to avoid the stormy classroom for, although these gears are not ideal, they are preferable.
But, according to Alan, the classroom also has three forward gears and these translate into
three kinds of sunny classrooms, the secure, the sharing and the self-motivating classrooms.
Most teachers on an average to good day have their class in the secure classroom where
students know where they stand, respect the teacher and do what they feel they ought to do.
This is classically what beginner teachers are advised to strive for first and where many teachers
spend most of their careers as successful professionals.
What Alan is arguing, however, is that if we want students to be self-motivated and take more
responsibility for their own behavior and their own learning, we must move up the gears with our
classes from one to two and from two to three if we possibly can. But this depends on our ability
to let go and trust our students. The step from first to second gear can be the hardest and the
most crucial to make.
value
3
The humid
The self-motivating
classroom: allowing
a measure of self
determination
classroom
2
1
restrict
The sharing classroom:
encouraging and
enabling student
autonomy
The secure
classroom: setting
clear limits
enable
The
stormy
classroom
The cold
classroom
reject
Alan McLean ‘The Motivated Classroom’
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The Motivated Classroom Model
Moving up the “gears”
Gear 3 The Self-motivating Classroom
Teacher aims to develop self-motivation by:
 empowering students
 affirming them
How the classroom operates
 the teacher knows students well and values them
 the teacher makes students feel responsible for their own successes and
progress
 students have autonomy: they set their own goals with help
 students are self-regulating: they devise and keep their own rules
 there is flow: students are involved in open-ended problem-solving,
decision-making and creative thinking
What motivates students to learn
 they want to for themselves
 they feel the teacher empowers them and helps them to bring out the
best in themselves
Gear 2: The Sharing Classroom
Teacher aims to develop self-confidence by:
 emphasizing trust and accountability
 having positive expectations
 being an encouraging adult
How the classroom operates
 rules are negotiated
 focus is on progress
 goal setting is a process shared with students
 students are challenged to the limits of their ability
 outcomes of learning are negotiated and there is opportunity for curiosity
and enjoyment
 teacher goes beyond praise and rewards to encouragement
What motivates students to learn
 they admire the teacher
 they are involved in activities that interest and engage them
Gear 1: The Secure Classroom
Teacher aims to develop self-discipline by:
 being authoritative, assertive and fair
 giving conditional support
 focusing on conformity and correction
How the classroom operates
 the teacher sets clear and possible goals for students
 there are a few rules which are explicit and clear
 the teacher”s responses to infringements are predictable
 learning is directed and the outcome usually predictable
 the teacher uses praise and extrinsic rewards
What motivates students to learn
 they feel they ought to or should
 they respect the teacher, believe he/she cares about their progress and
gives them effective support
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The Motivated Classroom Model
Moving from “secure” to “sharing”: the most difficult step to take?
Third gear: the self-motivating
classroom: the discipline of
democracy: teacher is the leader and
still has the right to the final say;
students learn because they want to for
themselves: they take “real”
responsibility for their own learning and
behavior
how and when do you begin
to give students “real”
responsibility for their own
behavior?
Second gear: the sharing classroom:
the discipline of community: teacher
is empowering – trusts students with a
level of autonomy perhaps before they
are completely ready for it; so they can
take on a measure of “real” responsibility
calls students to account where it is
abused.
how and when do you
begin to give students
“real” responsibility for
their own learning?
First gear: the secure classroom: the discipline of competence: teacher is assertive
authoritative, dependable, “strict for you.” Teacher connects with young people:
shows they care about them, respect them and believe in them. The teacher believes
students are capable of asserting their own rights and their own needs in an appropriate
way, capable of being considerate of others, capable of learning and taking responsibility
for their own learning. Crucially the teacher signals a willingness, right from the start, to trust
students to take a measure of “real” responsibility for their own behavior, their own learning
and their own lives.
reverse gear: the cold classroom: the discipline of power
the teacher is authoritarian: “strict for themselves” enforces strict
obedience to their authority: no autonomy given, so students
cannot take on real responsibility.
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The Motivated Classroom Model
Why is the sunny classroom motivating?
Because in the sunny classroom, young people’s basic psychological needs are met
As well as needing food, clothing and shelter, all of us have basic psychological needs. When
these needs are met young people will feel good about themselves as learners, will he happy
and do well in school and in life.
Being more aware of what these needs are helps adults to help young people learn and also
helps young people themselves to have a more positive attitude to learning, especially when
learning is difficult….and everyone finds learning difficult at times.
Philosophers and more recently psychologists have speculated for years on what these needs
are. Across centuries and continents there is a remarkable consensus. Here we call them “the
three BEs”:
The need to BE- long
This is the need to fit in, to get along with other people and to feel
understood, respected and accepted by other people. It’s also about
recognizing that to get along with others you need to conform to group norms
and rules. But pressurizing young people to conform can make them feel that
they are not accepted and alienate them.
The need to BE independent
This is the need to be your own person, to stand out, be different, get ahead,
push the limits and be allowed and trusted to do things your way. In the
classroom and the home young people’s need to be independent can bring
them into conflict with adult authority. If young people are not given some
measure of autonomy they can simply switch off and become apathetic, or
they can acquiesce and simply do things to please an adult. Or they can
become angry and do things to prove an adult wrong, to undermine them or to
get back at them.
The need to BE-lieve in ourselves
This is the need to believe that we are able, capable human beings. To
believe we can both belong and be independent. To believe we can learn, we
can achieve our goals, be successful. This is about confidence and optimism.
It’s absolutely critical that youngsters receive the message that adults believe
that they are capable human beings. If young people don’t believe in
themselves they feel anxious (I’ll fail, I’ll look stupid) or helpless (I’ll never be
able to do this)
Main sources:
“The Motivated School”
Alan Mclean
“Self Determination Theory” Richard Ryan and Edward Deci
“The Happiness Paradox”
Ziyad Marar
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The Motivated Classroom Model
Notes
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