The Pedagogy of Motivation : An Exploratory Study of Private Schools in Islamabad

Abstract

This study sought to analyse the impact of differential pedagogical styles on students’ motivation to excel academically. The selected dimensions of pedagogy in this research were lecture style, interaction with students and grading of assessments. The chosen dimensions have been applied in an exploratory study of two private schools in Islamabad, to discover different pedagogies that help seventh grade students to feel motivated towards striving for higher grades or showing any kind of improvement in their studies. The study also pointed out those pedagogical styles that resulted in demotivating students in their studies. Freirian conceptions about Critical Pedagogy, the models of student motivation by Alan Mclean, and Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach were primarily used to analyse and understand the links between pedagogy and students’ motivation to excel academically. Fundamentally, this study aimed at unearthing a motivational pedagogy that actually enables students to feel motivated in their studies so that they can excel academically. This study also employed a unique way of metaphorically analysing the factors that give rise to a motivational pedagogy.