Children who are motivated to learn generally attend school regularly, do better academically and display pro-social classroom behaviour. Unfortunately, up to 20 per cent of students in any year are described as disengaged. [1] Many do not catch up academically in later years. [2]

Unmotivated children tend to opt out, do the bare minimum required and can be difficult to teach. They are unwilling to participate in class discussions, frequently look bored, tune out, distract others, give up easily on tasks, talk out of turn, arrive late to class, disrupt the flow of classes and have poor attendance. As they get older they are more likely to skip classes, engage in challenging anti-social behaviours,^[3] and are more at risk of dropping out of school.

This ebooklet contains content that will raise your general awareness about promoting and managing student motivation and engagement, and ways of responding to students who lack motivation. This will assist you to fine-tune and select appropriate strategies for individual children and specific situations. Strategies can also be easily adapted to be included in student’s Individual Learning Plans and the recommendations section of psychologist’s reports.