Motivation and education

Abstract

There is an experimental state school in Malta which very few people know about, but which deserves the attention of educational theorists and teachers alike. In many ways it is an unusual school and it will serve my purpose very well in that it comes to grips with the kinds of problems that I would like to discuss in connection with motivation for learning. It is a small school, as it caters for only twenty five students in all. It is aimed at a very specific group of young people who interact with their teachers in much the same way as they normally would with older friends; and these students spend much, indeed most of their time outside the classroom working away in workshops or in the fields and grounds surrounding the school. It is likely that if you visit the school, you will find only half of the official number of students: the others will have accompanied one or more of the five teachers on an educational visit or some project work in another 'normal' school.