Coercion or co-operation? Developing teachers' motivational skills in the vocational education sector

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Wallace, S. ORCID: 0000-0003-1609-3697, 2012. Coercion or co-operation? Developing teachers' motivational skills in the vocational education sector. In: 8th International Conference of Education, Samos, Greece, June 2012, Samos, Greece.

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Abstract

This paper is based on a one year research project in the UK designed to investigate how effectively teacher education and continuing professional development for the vocational sector is equipping teachers to motivate learners and manage non-compliant behaviour. Carried out in collaboration with 203 teachers of vocational education, the inquiry set out to identify, through the use of observations and focus groups, the learner behaviours most commonly identified by teachers as ‘challenging’, and the strategies used by teachers in addressing these. Although its focus is on teacher competence to motivate and manage, the research was not predicated on a deficit model of teachers, but aimed to identify successful skills, strategies and approaches and discuss the extent to which these can be usefully incorporated into useful teacher training programmes for the sector. The findings suggest that lack of learner motivation in the 14-19 age group is endemic within vocational education provision manifesting in behaviours such as lack of punctuality, failure to submit coursework and refusal to remain on task. There was also evidence to indicate that experienced teachers were no more effective in managing such behaviours than teachers in their first year of professional practice. The implications of this, in terms of teacher education and development, are discussed in the final section of this paper which goes on to argue that, although it is necessary in addressing non-compliance for teachers to develop a positive relationship with learners, the root causes of such behaviours often lie beyond the individual teacher’s control.

Item Type:	Conference contribution
Creators:	Wallace, S.
Date:	2012
Divisions:	Schools > School of Education
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 11:14
Last Modified:	09 Jun 2017 13:53
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/24897