Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Multiculturalism in Relation to General and Diversity-Related Burnout

This study focuses on teachers’ general and diversity-related burnout in relation to teachers’ attitudes toward multiculturalism. Results are based on the responses of 120 teachers working at five different urban, ethnically diverse junior vocational high schools in the Netherlands. Analyses indicated that teachers with assimilative attitudes exhibited higher levels of general and diversity-related burnout, whereas there was no relationship between pluralistic attitudes and burnout. In addition, there were no relationships between teacher background variables and attitude and burnout, besides the finding that native teachers experienced less general burnout, and had less pluralistic attitudes, than nonnative teachers.     

Is problem-based learning associated with students’ motivation? A quantitative and qualitative study

In this study, a mixed-method design was employed to investigate the association between a student-centred, problem-based learning (PBL) method and law students’ motivation. Self-determination theory (SDT) states that autonomous motivation, which is associated with higher academic performance, can be reached when there is fulfillment of three psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. PBL aims to trigger autonomous motivation. In Study 1, 85 PBL law students (37% male; Mean age = 21.99 years) and 69 law students of a lecture-based, non-PBL program (39% male; Mean age = 22.72 years) filled out the Self-Regulation Questionnaire and an adapted version of the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale in order to measure autonomous and controlled motivation and perceived autonomy, competence and relatedness. In order to compare both groups, two MANOVAs were conducted and results showed differences neither in autonomous and controlled motivation, nor in feelings of autonomy and competence. However, PBL students experienced more relatedness. Additionally, in Study 2, focus-group discussions that were conducted indicated that PBL contains both autonomy-supportive and controlling elements, which might explain why no differences were found in perceptions of autonomy and autonomous and controlled motivation between PBL and non-PBL students. Furthermore, students reported that tutorial groups in PBL contributed to feelings of relatedness.     

Understanding shifts in students’ academic motivation across a school year: the role of teachers’ motivating styles and need-based experiences

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Students’ adaptive motivation to study tends to decrease over time. However, the reasons for this decline are not fully understood. Drawing on...