As the school year draws to a close and the lure of summer vacation draws nearer, we know education stakeholders, policy makers and the companies that serve them are already thinking about the 2016 – 2017 school year and how to deliver the most valuable education experience to the students in their care.
In all of our work analyzing the sentiments of educators, parents and students, one theme stands apart as being embraced by all stakeholders: student motivation is a key to success and is driven by a combination of internal and external dynamics. This paper shares student and parent views on kids’ engagement with school and offerstheir insight on what can be done to improve it.
Our findings reveal that:
- students and parents firmly believe that student motivation is a necessary ingredient to academic success, yet
- most students do not see their peers as motivated to learn, and even fewer strongly identify themselves as being motivated to learn
- kids offer several suggestions—many including the use of technology and all recommending better interaction between student, teacher and content—to help combat student disengagement.
We see a critical need for a school environment that empowers students to engage with their own education to ultimately help them re-discover and reassert their enthusiasm for learning. If you feel the same, please give us a call to see how harnessing the voices and opinions of students and their parents can reignite your product development, marketing, branding and PR efforts.
