About this publication
Pupil engagement with school is a growing priority for school leaders. This comes in the context of a decline in school attendance since the Covid pandemic, and UK pupils reporting lower scores than most of their OECD counterparts on measures related to wellbeing.
The Labour government has called achieving and thriving the “two pillars” of their plans for pupils, emphasising that they are “not in opposition”, but “work in tandem, one strengthening the other”.
The research review that we conducted to write this paper supports this view: motivation, engagement and success are mutually reinforcing and when children are engaged with school, they get better grades, attend more frequently, and engage in fewer risky behaviours.
Our mission at Ambition Institute is to provide high quality professional development which supports teachers and school leaders to keep getting better, so that together we can make a significant difference to the education and outcomes of the most disadvantaged children.
One way we do this is by sharing evidence-based insights.
This publication will explore what academic research reveals about pupil motivation, and how meeting children’s underlying psychosocial needs can help them to achieve and thrive. Whether you are a teacher or a school leader, we hope this publication will help you to understand more about theory behind pupil motivation and engagement, and how you might start to put this into practice in your context.
Together, we can work towards our vision of an education system where every child can thrive, no matter what their background.
Written by
Steve Farndon, Ambition Institute
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