Motivation is one of the most important key components of learning. Students and kids who have low levels tend to achieve less, disengage more often and even turn off altogether. Boosting and creating motivation within a student is an essential skill for any tutor, teacher or parent. This can be easier said than done in many cases, so it is really important that you take the time to understand the child, their goals, as well as gauge their genuine enthusiasm for the area (if they have any left that is).

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Once you have established where their base line of motivation is, you can then start to enlist some of these great inspirational tips.

1. Allow students to choose their class work partners – keeping their social skills in line with their educational goals can achieve a greater result.
2. Keep learning goals high, but attainable – educators should constantly test pupils, continuing to gauge their responses and their coping mechanisms for new challenges.
3. Give constructive feedback and additional opportunities to achieve – simply extending critical feedback in the hopes it will incite change at a later date can create high-anxiety. Always provide opportunities for students to practice underdeveloped skills and make amends in a timely manner.
4. Create positive competition in the classroom – not all competitive behaviour has to be stressful, by setting up learning challenges that spread across a range of skills, students can start to use the competition as motivation to succeed in the areas they struggle with.
5. Understand a student’s needs and wishes – by talking with them about their own goals and ideas of achievement, they can create their own educational plan – one that is simply supported and acknowledged by you, rather than created by you.
6. Bring things to their level and make things relatable – taking the time to know your pupils and their learning style can help you to create stimulus and activities that play into their comfort zones, as well as engage their interests.
7. Develop student’s self-reflection skills – no matter how much feedback a teacher offers a student, the most productive way to initiate change is for them to realise the need for it.
8. Instilling a sense of responsibility in a student for their work, their presentation and their achievement is an integral way to encourage them to become independent and self-motivated learners. Provide them plenty opportunities to choose topics for their research papers and instructions on how should they write their research papers.
9. Use specific rewards to match a student’s achievement and level of effort – older students are not going to respond to a sticker reward for a 1000-word essay, however a year two student who has mastered their 2x Table will. Rewards are excellent motivators when used in the right context and with age and level-appropriate prizes.
10. Build a classroom of positive environment and reinforced learning – using affirmations, encouragement and incentives can help to build a child’s confidence in not just having a go, but accepting failure and moving on as well.

There are many ways to improve student motivation and their memory, as well as student achievement. Some are more complex than others, but there are three simple ways that have been tried and tested over the many centuries of educational practice.

• Praise
• Enthusiasm
• Encouragement