How to motivate your students – and make sure they motivate themselves

As the etymology of the word “motivation” signals (Latin word: movere, to move), motivations are what drive us forward.

Enabling us to achieve everything from the most mundane everyday actions to long-term life goals, motivations wake us up in the morning, help us to slog through the daily minutiae, and keep us going late at night.

Given our uniqueness as human beings, it makes sense that the degree and types of motivations would vary widely among all of us.

University applications: differing levels of motivation

And, as counsellors, we get to see this starkly played out among our senior (Year 13) students applying to universities. What propels the students forward as they draft yet another personal statement or research the entry requirements of yet another university?

Some seem to be driven wholly by social approval, others by pure interest in studying a subject not offered at high school level. Others are motivated by family pressure, employability – or, sometimes, for no reason at all.

And the disparity in motivational profiles makes a world of difference in how the application process plays out. It’s likely that every counsellor has stories to tell about how they have had to cajole one student simply to register for an application platform before the impending deadline, while another student pulls off unimaginable feats for a 17-year-old with the barest nudge.

Knowledge from psychological research on the different types of motivation – and, importantly, how these are formed – can help us to be more effective counsellors.

Types of motivation

Different types of motivation can be mapped on a spectrum, varying in the degree to which they are internalised and integrated. At one end, amotivation, and at the other, intrinsic motivation.

Simply put, when individuals absorb the reason or the drive for doing something and make it their own, internalisation and integration have happened and the motivation is fully intrinsic.

Amotivation

Imagine having a complete lack of drive. This version of motivation is aptly called amotivation. We may come across a student who does not see the need to fill out an application or to give much thought to which university to go to (or whether they should go to one at all). They are seemingly impervious to external pressure and devoid of volition.

Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation lies at the other end of the spectrum, where the drive or reason has been made fully one’s own. Students who have found intrinsic motivation tend to be the easiest and most joyful to work with, as they’re driven by inherent satisfaction and enjoyment in all their activities, from researching courses to crafting well-thought-out application essays.

Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation sits in between these two extremes, and can be further broken down into four "shades", differentiated by how internalised they are. Most of our students fall into these types.

Imagine a student who begrudgingly slogs through an application because their parent is pressuring them to do so – otherwise, they will be punished. There is motivation there, but it’s completely someone else’s. This is termed external regulation.

Now imagine the student who researches universities to avoid guilt or anxiety, or to show off to others that they got into a prestigious institution. In these cases, their self-worth is tied to how others perceive them. This is introjected regulation, slightly more intrinsic than the aforementioned external regulation, but the drive is still interpersonally controlled rather than intrapersonally controlled.

Picture a student who accepts the importance to them of an activity, such as studying for an SAT, and consciously values the ultimate goal of attending a good university. They did not require somebody to tell them that this is important. The drive is not fully assimilated, but it is now closer to the purest type of intrinsic motivation. This is identified regulation.

Finally, think about a student who has already examined why it is necessary to go to university and found it fully compatible with their own values, such as being independent and achieving success, and who powers through with the consistency expected. This is integrated regulation and is quite similar to intrinsic motivation.

Note that it is not necessary to identify the exact motivational profile for each student – but it’s helpful to have an idea of the various types of motivations.

It’s also important to remember that not every task can be driven by intrinsic motivation. Naturally, we cannot enjoy every task and, more often than not, we are driven by different shades of extrinsic motivation to serve as productive members of the society.

However, it is more ideal for students to own their drive (ie, to have more intrinsic-leaning motivation) especially with a challenging task like university application, which requires a great deal of sustained effort – intrinsic motivation lasts longer – and often a need to introspect and express one’s own values in essay format.

How to develop internally motivated students

Fortunately, motivations are not set in stone. The internalisation process can happen naturally in environments that meet three basic psychosocial needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness.

Autonomy is the sense of freedom and having the volition to choose.

Competence is synonymous with efficacy: the ability to carry out a certain activity.

Relatedness is the feeling of belonging and connectedness with others.

Given our possible proximity to students, college counsellors are in a position to create an environment featuring these, and to canvass other stakeholders for help.

We often talk about how rapport is an essential part of any counsellor’s work – this is meeting the need of relatedness. Perhaps you’ve experienced how a student takes in an explanation more readily after a heart-to-heart conversation, rather than blowing it off as something else that an adult tells them to do.

By delivering application workshops or helping students to choose an activity or a competition that is within their capabilities, we are working on meeting the need of competence. A student can truly come to enjoy an activity only if they are actually capable of doing it. (If you’re trained in educational psychology, think Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development).

Finally, students should be given freedom to choose – between countries, universities and courses to apply to. We must sometimes exercise our authority as college counsellors to keep over-excited parents at bay and allow students, as emerging adults, to make one of their first major decisions in life.

If we manage this, then the ensuing process, driven by intrinsic motivation, will be much smoother and more enjoyable for everyone involved.