Values and learning motivation as school success predictors

Smontara, Petar. (2018). Values and learning motivation as school success predictors. PhD Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Pedagogy.
(Poslijediplomski doktorski studij pedagogije) [mentor Hrvatić, Neven].

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Abstract

This doctoral dissertation deals with values and motivation for learning as predictors of high school success. The first part of the work is dedicated to the presentation of the relevant theories and results of the current investigations related to the topic. Considering the fact that upbringing and education are not possible to be understood without looking at their past, the theory of upbringing and school is initially shown through the (retro) perspective. Its role in the developmental context of pupils – adolescents and education of values as a social pedagogical challenge of modern society is emphasized. Then, the (contemporary) theories and relevant investigations related to motivation, learning, teaching and school (non) success in the pedagogical context are presented. This includes a differentiating pedagogical perspective between constructivistic didactics and upbringing development in teaching process. Finally, the importance o f the social being of the school for the full development of pupils is emphasized. The second part of the work contains empiric research where variables associated with the school success of high school graduates and students of vocational schools are discovered. They are divided into sociodemographic characteristics, value orientations, motivation and activities of pupils related to learning. The results of the research indicate that they are significant predictors of school success of high school students (according to significance): motivation and behaviour of pupils (interest, concentration, effort investment and active participation in class), type of school, authoritarity and parents critics and academic education of the father. According to value orientations the correlation among self-actualization value orientation, students' gender and parental support is confirmed. Based on the results obtained, it is concluded that the school's (non) success is a complex phenomenon depending on numerous different factors. By interpreting the results, it is sought to contribute to its understanding. Proposals for its implementation in the Croatian educational system at levels 4 and 5 of upbringing - educational cycle during a four-year high school period are also exhibited. The nature of motivation, complex living conditions and work at school could never be reduced to a series of linear relationships, often marked by contradictory actions. The results of the research have partially confirmed hypotheses about the predictors of school success, indicating that this is a complex and relatively unexplored phenomenon in the field of pedagogical sciences which depends on numerous and complex factors. By studying school systems from the perspective of the structural elements of a school, a conclusion is drawn about the educational role of the school, imposing imperatives of success characteristic of Western culture. Relations of intrinsic motivations and learning indicators are approaching the concept of motivation in teaching, but it is still unclear what is included in the space between motivation for learning and stated school success. Competitive classroomteaching and parents’ responses to school (non) success become predictors of negative selfesteem, the salient role of the pupils, and the beliefs of students how their future depends on external circumstances. The existing model of our research enables further development through the introduction of new variables in scientific research with the aim of improving theoretical and methodological perspectives in the field of family pedagogy (redefining the role of a father in a family and upbringing) and school pedagogy (understanding of the phenomenon of school non / success).

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