A reciprocal effects model of the temporal ordering of motivation and burnout among youth table tennis players in intensive training settings

Abstract

Using self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum) as the theoretical framework, we conducted a longitudinal investigation of the temporal ordering between motivation and burnout among youth athletes in intensive training setting. Data were collected from 145 table tennis players in intensive training centres at three time points during a 2-month period characterised by a simultaneous increase in social, physical and psychological demands for these athletes. Structural equation modelling of cross-lagged panel models was used to test the hypotheses. Results showed significant paths leading from athlete burnout – especially sport devaluation and reduced sense of accomplishment – at time 1 to amotivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations at times 2 and 3. Only two significant paths leading from motivation (introjected regulation at time 1) to burnout (emotional/physical exhaustion at time 2 and reduced sense of accomplishment at time 3) were identified. Overall, our results suggest that athlete burnout predicts motivation over time but motivation did not predict athlete burnout over time. Results are discussed in terms of current research findings on SDT.     

Working on What Works: working with teachers to improve classroom behaviour and relationships

The Working on What Works (WOWW) approach, which is based upon Solution-focused Brief Therapy, was implemented in a mainstream primary classroom over a 10-week period. The focus was on improving behaviour and relationships in class. Results demonstrated an improvement in teacher ratings for targets set by the class teacher compared with baseline. Pupils also set, and rated themselves on class targets. Observation of pupils, and their class-ratings, demonstrated a positive impact for these targets. Longer term follow-up suggested that this positive impact was maintained. It is concluded that WOWW had a positive impact on behaviour and relationships within this classroom.     

Promoting staff support in schools: Solution Circles

The Solution Circle (SC) approach is a flexible tool which encourages participants to maintain a positive, creative approach to problem-solving. This project focussed on the introduction of this approach to staff in a primary and a secondary school. The rationale was to implement a problem-solving/discussion tool that would allow staff to utilise expertise present within the school before looking to outside agencies for support. In both schools staff participants reported positively about the process, highlighting its potential use to promote the inclusion of pupils with a wide range of needs.     

On the Rebound: Critical Race Praxis and Grassroots Community Organizing for School Change

This ethnographic research was conducted over a three-year period, and documents the efforts of a committed group of parents and community members who through community-based research sought to address the disproportionate underachievement of African American students within their city??s public school system. Specifically, the parents and community members who make up the group Parents of Children of African Ancestry (POCAA) offer a refreshing theory of action that explicitly addressed issues of racial inequity, and called upon the larger community to respond with the urgency the youth deserved. In effect, POCAA challenges dominant views of African American parents and re-envisions their involvement in school reform as a site of radical resistance.     

Chemical Laws, Idealization and Approximation

This paper examines the notion of laws in chemistry. Vihalemm (Found Chem 5(1):7–22, 2003) argues that the laws of chemistry are fundamentally the same as the laws of physics they are all ceteris paribus laws which are true “in ideal conditions”. In contrast, Scerri (2000) contends that the laws of chemistry are fundamentally different to the laws of physics, because they involve approximations. Christie (Stud Hist Philos Sci 25:613–629, 1994) and Christie and Christie (Of minds and molecules. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 34–50, 2000) agree that the laws of chemistry are operationally different to the laws of physics, but claim that the distinction between exact and approximate laws is too simplistic to taxonomise them. Approximations in chemistry involve diverse kinds of activity and often what counts as a scientific law in chemistry is dictated by the context of its use in scientific practice. This paper addresses the question of what makes chemical laws distinctive independently of the separate question as to how they are related to the laws of physics. From an analysis of some candidate ceteris paribus laws in chemistry, this paper argues that there are two distinct kinds of ceteris paribus laws in chemistry; idealized and approximate chemical laws. Thus, while Christie (Stud Hist Philos Sci 25:613–629, 1994) and Christie and Christie (Of minds and molecules. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 34--50, 2000) are correct to point out that the candidate generalisations in chemistry are diverse and heterogeneous, a distinction between idealizations and approximations can nevertheless be used to successfully taxonomise them.     

Gender differences in the strength of association between motivation,competency beliefs and reading skill

Background:?There is concern in the education community regarding gender differences in reading, as girls regularly outperform boys. There is also concern about the consequences of low motivation for children's engagement in reading and learning. An important question is whether boys' motivation is more closely linked to their attainment compared with girls.

Purpose:?The aim of the study was to examine how closely children's reading skill correlates with their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and competency beliefs. There was a particular focus on gender.

Sample:?There were 492 children (240 boys) aged 7–11 in this study from four primary schools in England, UK.

Design and methods:?Children completed a reading comprehension assessment and a questionnaire examining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and competency beliefs relating to reading and schoolwork. For analysis, children were split into a younger (age 7–8) and older (age 9–11) age group.

Results:?In both the younger and older groups, the boys' competency beliefs in reading and intrinsic motivation for reading and schoolwork were significantly more closely associated with their level of reading skill, in comparison with the girls.

Conclusions:?The closer reciprocal relationship between boys' intrinsic motivation, competency beliefs and reading skill could be interpreted in at least two ways. Firstly, boys' motivation and beliefs in their ability may be more dependent on their success in reading. Alternatively, boys' motivation and competency beliefs may play a more significant role in the effort they put into reading.     

Children's perceptions of wider reading: to what extent do 7- and 8-year-old children read beyond the scheme books?

A case study was conducted with a class of twenty 7- to 8-year-old children in a primary school in the North West of England, to explore possible links between the use of a school reading scheme and children's involvement in wider reading. A questionnaire was administered to all children in the class, followed by semi-structured interviews with three children. The findings revealed that the vast majority of the children held extremely positive views of their reading scheme books but were also very enthusiastic wider readers, be it either independent reading or reading with a parent or carer. Further findings emerged suggest that environmental factors, such as access to books at home and library usage, also play an important part in children's involvement in wider reading.     

Understanding policy: why health education policy is important and why it does not appear to work

Drawing on research investigating the impact of health imperatives around obesity, diet and exercise on the actions of teachers and pupils in schools, this paper offers a reflexive account of the relationships between the ‘noise’ of obesity discourse in the public domain, policies forged to tackle health issues and the realities of teaching in schools. Our analyses suggest that intersections of bio‐policies, body pedagogies and human agents forge assemblages of meaning that frame and regulate but cannot determine either teachers' or young people's lives. Teachers and pupils experience the capriciousness of policies as they flow through specific school contexts and intersect with ‘local’ institutional cultures, expectations and interests. We suggest that Basil Bernstein's concepts and poststructural social theory prove useful when addressing how the aforementioned processes are emplaced, enacted and embodied.