Basic skills like literacy and arithmetic are vital for school success. Yet recent international surveys show a worrying decline in these foundational skills.
A key factor is low student motivation, shown for example by limited reading for pleasure at home. Motivation strongly influences achievement. This theme explores how motivation and performance are connected, and how both can be improved to strengthen basic skills.
Projects
- Strengthening Executive Functions through Teacher–Student Interaction
- Interest–Study Fit and Academic Success
Publications
- Academic motivation–achievement cycle and the behavioural pathways: A short-timeframe experiment with manipulated perceived achievement
- Relating students’ motivation trajectories in the first nine weeks of their vocational education program to dropout and persistence
- Motief, middelen en gelegenheid: De relatie tussen habituele leesmotivatie, situatie-specifieke redenen om te lezen en het leesgedrag van studenten in het hoger onderwijs - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam