How to motivate a child to study: practical tips

Many people are familiar with the situation when a child loses the desire to learn, he becomes less attentive, and stops making efforts. Academic performance is falling, parents are worried and try to find an approach to their child, but neither “sticks” nor “carrots” help increase motivation to study. How to revive faded interest and reawaken the desire for knowledge? How to ensure that the learning process is not perceived as a heavy duty? In our article we will try to understand the reasons for the loss of motivation to study well and give some tips that can help parents develop a conscious and responsible attitude towards learning in their children.

Why do you need motivation?

This question looks strange only at first glance.
Every now and then we try to get by without motivation when we tell the child “there is such a word - it is necessary” or “march for lessons, I said.” Of course, this doesn’t happen right away - at first we try to find a diplomatic approach: we persuade, we promise a bike for a quarter without triples, we talk about the prospects for the profession of a janitor. But if this doesn’t help, many parents are tempted to abandon diplomacy and force their child to engage in the good old “carrot and stick” method. And at first it really brings results. Strict control actually improves grades, but, alas, not for long. The child learns to be cunning, to evade, and if we are talking about a teenager, the parents are most likely to expect a riot. The more a spring is compressed, the more it tends to straighten - and not only in physics.

But something else is worse: while a child, under pressure, does something that he doesn’t see the point in, he develops an aversion to school and to learning in general. Meanwhile, to achieve results, you need to constantly learn new things. There is only one thing left to do - look for how to interest a child in learning and gradually create his own motivation.

Start with a goal that will truly inspire your child. For example, “finish a quarter without a C in math” sounds understandable to a parent, but boring to a child. Think together about what such a pleasant thing can happen: be it calmness before tests or the development of your own blog, in which numbers will also come in handy.

And to accurately calculate how your child can achieve their educational goals, use our free calculator. It will show you how much you need to study just to improve your grades or to enter a university in a specialized subject.

How to encourage your child to learn English

To develop an interest in learning a foreign language, you can use the following instructions from psychologists:

• he probably has favorite films and cartoons that he enjoys watching. You can find them in English and invite him to watch them in the original. The same technique can be applied to books;
• try not to speak in front of a schoolchild in such a way that “I lived my whole life without knowing English - and nothing...”. On the contrary, we can say that you do not know a foreign language, but you regret it because you cannot try yourself in a new, modern profession, in which there is nothing to do without English;
• Set age-appropriate goals for students. It will be clearer for a primary school student to understand the benefits of knowing a foreign language if you say that it will help him read the latest fairy tales and watch interesting cartoons that have not yet been translated into Russian. A teenager will be interested in the possibility of going to a language camp abroad, as well as the fact that, knowing English, he will be able to understand what his favorite performers sing about, what famous personalities tell about themselves in interviews, etc.

Types of learning motivation

In a broad sense, motivation is the desire to act, to achieve a goal. In psychology, it is customary to distinguish between internal and external motivation, as well as positive and negative. Let's see what this means when we talk about schoolchildren.

• Intrinsic motivation is when you want to learn because you like the process, the subject and the result. If a student is motivated from within, he does not need to be forced to do his homework - he wants to study himself and clearly understands why he needs it.
• External motivation is when a child learns for the sake of external bonuses: grades, praise, certificates. In this case, the child continues to study only if there is a “carrot” and a “stick”, and he is of little interest in studying itself.

Another motivation is:

• positive - if the student expects a reward for his actions;
• negative - if the child acts to avoid punishment.

Types of motivation - what are they?

Stable and unstable

Sustained motivation to learn appears as a result of the child’s internal interest. He knows that he needs to master this material, strives for success, wants to become the best.

Unsustainable motivation occurs as a short-term passion for something. A child easily gets excited about the idea of ​​learning something new, but just as quickly loses interest in learning. As a result, he can change clubs and sections without mastering the knowledge. You may also lose interest in a school subject.

External and internal motivation

External motivation does not depend on the desire of the student; he is influenced from outside. For example, he is preparing to successfully pass a test to please his parents. Another example of extrinsic motivation could be a parent’s promise to buy a student a valuable gift for a good grade.

Internal motivation depends on the desire of the student himself to study material that he likes. He finds pleasure in learning new things and discovers the wonderful world of science.

Significant motives for students

The following motives are of great importance for students:

• become erudite, know more than anyone else;
• expand your social circle by increasing your status as an erudite intellectual;
• increasing self-esteem due to good academic performance.

Some students strive for self-development because they find a certain meaning. Perhaps they strive to imitate their idols. Perhaps they are trying to attract attention to themselves, to become the best. Such motives already appear among older schoolchildren who want to be special. Some conquer others with physical strength, while others sharpen their minds to win the sympathy of others.

External or internal - which motivation is better?

Let's look at examples:

• External positive motivation - “I study well so that I can get a gold medal at the end of school.”
• External negative motivation - “If I don’t do my homework, they won’t let me go out or play on the computer.”
• Internal positive motivation - “I am learning algebra so that I can understand the subject well and become a programmer in the future.”
• Internal negative motivation - “If I do poorly in the exams, I will not pass the competition for my chosen specialty.”

The strongest of them is internal positive motivation. The main goal of parents is to understand how to interest their child in learning so much that he enjoys the process of learning itself.

Although external motivation looks harmful (when a child studies just for show), it actually reinforces internal motivation. We are all pleased to receive recognition of our successes and positive feedback - this way we understand that we are doing everything right and continue to do more. Therefore, the role of assessments here, although not paramount, is still not completely useless.

Interesting!

Psychologist L. I. Bozhovich in his research identifies cognitive and social learning motives.

She says some children learn because they enjoy it, while others learn because they understand how important learning is to success in society. Both motives are equally useful.

Where to begin

Restoring motivation to study is a long process, and success mainly depends on parents. Adults first need to think about the three Cs: content, cooperation and freedom of choice.

1. Content. When a child does not comply with our demands, we look for ways to influence his behavior. Start somewhere else: think about how reasonable your request is. Probably nothing bad will happen if a child gets more than just B’s and A’s in physics. And children ignore the request “not to make noise” not because they are naughty, but because of the psychological characteristics of their age.
2. Cooperation. Unfortunately, many parents are not familiar with this word in the context of communication with their child. But the older your children are, the more often you should involve them in cooperation. Discuss, explain, make plans together. Try talking to your child like an adult. There is no need to be hostile to the desire of a 15-year-old boy to become an astronaut. Calmly explain why you think this is unrealistic. Perhaps in your words your son will find internal motivation for growth.
3. Freedom of choice. The child should feel part of the process, then he will be more responsible in solving problems. When he behaves badly, ask him why. You may argue that you already know what it is, but try it anyway. The answer may surprise you!

Why does a child not want to study?

If the next school year begins with an unwillingness to do homework, parents should think not so much about how to force the child to study, but why he, in principle, does not want to do it.

Here's what affects your interest in learning:

• Understanding the practical value of knowledge - even adults find it difficult to do something that does not make sense. The age-old question of high school students: “Why do I need algebra/chemistry/literature if it will never be useful?” speaks not of laziness, but of the presence of critical thinking. The knowledge given at school must be tied to practice. But not every teacher knows how to illustrate dry theory with examples from life, so additional education is important.
• Relationships with teachers are the simplest and most obvious factor that influences motivation. Sometimes a couple of careless words in a lesson can instill in a student uncertainty, and then disgust for the subject. The situation is especially dangerous when the child not only has a decline in academic performance, but also has a reluctance to go to school.
• Conflicts in the classroom, bullying - as in the previous case, such situations require special attention and a careful approach. To understand the problem, read our material about foreign and Russian experience in dealing with bullying in schools.
• Excessive workload occurs if, in addition to school, the child has a lot of additional activities. This does not mean that there should not be them at all, but it’s all about the balance between rest and activity.

The director of the Skysmart school and Honored Teacher of Russia Tamara Natanovna Eidelman talk about what parents should do if their child does not want to go to school, when exactly interest in the subject disappears and what to do in difficult situations.

Motivation of teenagers: what parents and teachers need to know

All people approach learning differently. Some study all their lives and are in a constant search for truth or new knowledge, others barely completed 9 grades and believe that this is enough. Such different attitudes depend, among other things, on temperament, which affects self-motivation. Let's look at the main character types of teenagers and find out how to motivate a teenager to study and gain knowledge.

The first type is ideological

This is a teenager who is happy to study and work for an idea. He is a romantic and a dreamer with good imagination. Such children are often said to have their head in the clouds or live in their own reality. They eagerly get down to business if any thought comes to their mind. But enthusiasm can end as quickly as it begins, and the work will be abandoned halfway.

Such people cannot be criticized, especially during periods of peak activity. On the contrary, the support and faith of loved ones is important to them, no matter what happens. But that doesn't mean you should take any crazy ideas for granted. Find a suitable environment for your teenager, with which he will grow and improve as a person. The development of educational motivation works well in the company of like-minded people, where a teenager is inspired by the stories of older friends or peers and learns something new with them. If he is interested in foreign languages, sign him up for extra classes or suggest going to a conversation club meeting.

The second type is an extrovert.

Such a teenager easily meets and starts conversations with completely different people. He will find company for himself, even at school, even in line, but in any team it is important for him to feel needed and accepted. Such children have overflowing energy, they become activists and develop vigorous activity, constantly participating in something. But often such hyperactivity affects academic performance: skipping the explanation of new material because of the next competition or event, the teenager does not understand the topic and “fails” on the test.

An extrovert will do everything to remain in the center of attention for as long as possible, and this feature can be used by creating a desire to learn and develop. Public recognition and praise are great motivators for doing well in school, so praise your teenager for his success, publicly, and he will want to repeat it. But do not overestimate the importance of grades - the sociability of an extroverted teenager will help him achieve success even without a red certificate. Knowledge is more important here, so motivate to get it.

The third type is the leader

Children who are leaders stand out among their peers from a young age. They become the ringleaders of all games and are able to organize any activity - from congratulating the class teacher to boycotting a classmate. These are most often ambitious people who always want to be the best, the first and the only.

Parents of leaders often have a question: how to motivate a teenager who is constantly busy with something else to study? To begin with, understand a simple idea: if he really has the makings of an organizer and leader, he does not need to know everything in the world. Therefore, just give the right guidelines, directing his energy in a peaceful direction. If he constantly organizes something, tell him about event management or offer to join volunteer organizations in the city. The latter, by the way, is useful so that the teenage leader does not grow up to be an egoist.

The fourth type is the performer

The executive teenager is passionate about the process, not the result. He can scrupulously solve examples or carefully write letters in words, but not think at all about the progress of the solution or the coherence of the text. Often such children are perfectionists, attentive to details, but it may be difficult for them to learn new material if the old one has not yet settled into their heads and has not been practiced to the point of automatism.

Performers are most often flexible and calm; they do not need additional motivation if they are already passionate about the process. They only need to be gently controlled so that they do not go into the wrong steppe. To do this, regularly take an interest in the teenager’s affairs, praise him for his academic success and support his efforts.

The fifth type is a businessman

A teenager with an entrepreneurial spirit is a real bug. He seeks profit in everything that surrounds him, and therefore he will not do anything that will not bring him profit. And at the age of 15, school often becomes this “unprofitable investment” of time and effort. Or the child views study as work, which, as we know, must be paid.

A businessman needs to be taught responsibility: teach a teenager not only to earn money, but also to spend money, and also to plan a budget. The motivation to learn from a teenage businessman is directly related to either future successes or the benefits that he will receive under the terms of the agreement with his parents. The profit does not have to be financial, but tangible and significant. And the terms of the agreement must be discussed “on shore” and strictly observed.

Of course, the above personality types are not found in their pure form: in one situation, a teenager can take on the role of a leader, and in another, limit himself to the tasks of a performer. In addition, at the age of 16, the character has not yet been fully formed and changes under the influence of the environment or circumstances. Next, we’ll talk about how to increase motivation to study in teenagers, so that they happily attend classes and do their homework without reminders.

Junior School

In primary school, academic motivation is almost always at its best. The effect of novelty and the prestige of the status of a first-grader are felt. At this time, encouragement and praise are very important to the child - success here and now, and he is of little interest in the long-term results of his work. Therefore, it makes sense to set small, close goals for him and be sure to praise him for his efforts.

When planning children's daily routine, parents need to remember that children at this age cannot yet concentrate for a long time. They need variety, switching, play. You may need breaks to do your homework at home. Just don’t spend them in front of a phone or computer monitor—moderately active games are better.

How to motivate a teenager to study

The methods of threats, blackmail or rewards for good grades, which we discussed earlier, are absolutely useless and do not work with teenagers. They need a different approach. First of all, remember what methods of influencing your son or daughter to do their homework that you used before? If it was mainly coercion and threats, then you are perceived as an aggressor, and now you again need to establish a trusting relationship with the guys. Perhaps this is the main answer to the question - how to inspire a teenager to study. Only in this case can you be sure that your matured child will not hide his learning problems. Together you can find a way out.

high school

By the 6th–7th grade, motivation to study often decreases. School life is losing its novelty, but communication with peers comes to the fore. The child is looking for his place in the team, fights for a certain status and is very sensitive to criticism. Adults—parents and teachers—no longer have default authority; it must be re-earned.

At this time, for good study, it is important that education and intelligence are valued among the people significant to the teenager. In other words, to get a child to study, you need to create the right environment around him. In addition to school, all kinds of educational courses and interest clubs will help with this.

Engine of progress?

Motivation is the desire to do something. This is an important element in defining and achieving goals. According to the observations of psychologists and sociologists, the results of human activity depend 20-30% on intelligence and 70-80% on motives. Therefore, teachers and parents are concerned with the question of how to form positive motives for learning and knowledge in students.

Currently, the issue of developing sustainable positive motives among schoolchildren is relevant in pedagogy and psychology. Problems associated with a child’s lack of motivation to study have various consequences. Decline in cognitive activity in adolescence depends on deviant behavior

Due to their age, teenagers underestimate the value and importance of studying

Parents often turn to specialists for advice. On the question of how to motivate a child to study, psychologists agree that the motivational sphere of schoolchildren is corrected through the emotional-volitional sphere, receiving positive emotions when completing educational tasks, and overcoming school fears.

Fostering learning motivation can have a positive impact on students' learning and grades. A motivated student will be able to move through the learning stages more easily and complete all the necessary tasks to ensure success. This will allow them to study more focused and with greater concentration. Motivation is especially useful when there are some difficulties during study, it disciplines a person, helps to concentrate, and further improves academic success. Therefore, modern educational institutions set themselves many tasks to motivate educational activities.

In addition, learning motivation has a long-term perspective. Modern life requires constantly acquiring new skills and improving existing ones. It is no longer enough to be an expert in one field

Therefore, it is important that during school time children learn to be motivated and are ready to receive knowledge and enjoy the learning process. With such an attitude, anyone will be able to successfully cope with both their studies at a higher educational institution and their future career.

High school

High school is a time of professional self-determination, and your future profession can be the best motivator for studying. Typically, high school students study in depth those subjects that they will need to enter a university. Grades are also important only as a means to get a good certificate and score the required number of points. And if a child does not have plans for the future that inspire him, absenteeism and poor grades are very predictable.

According to the advice of psychologists, it is in this direction that parents should look in order to force their child to study at school not under pressure. Talk to him about the future, about choosing a profession, ask about dreams, fantasize about what will happen in 5 or 10 years. Offer to write a letter to yourself in the future - this is a psychological technique that helps you realize your desires and dreams.

Interesting!

At the well-known Mitsubishi company, newcomers are told what they can expect at each step of the career ladder and how to get to this step. Mitsubishi management believes that people work better if they know their prospects and the rules of the game.

Parents can use this principle for motivation in high school. Explain to your teenager the “rules of the game” of the adult world: what he can expect with this or that profession, how to get it, which university to choose.

But you don’t need to do this

1. Don't stand over your soul and don't be overprotective. Your children are already quite independent.
2. Do not reproach your child for moving away from you. Be calm about the fact that a high school student develops his own interests and social circle. Soon he will fly out of the nest.
3. Do not choose tutors and additional courses without agreement with the student. Let him find the activities he needs and understand how important it is for him.
4. Don't stop doing what you love outside of school. If the children understand that you trust them, even though you are worried about how the exams will go, they will move mountains. You don’t have to think about how to motivate a teenager to study if he manages his own time and finds opportunities for hobbies.

School youth - 15-17 years old - is a wonderful age!
After teenage rebellions and fermentation of minds, a real period of revival and personality formation begins. Every day will bring change. You will discover more and more unique features of your child. And it’s gratifying that all these changes will be for the better. View simulators for 9th grade

Top 10 ways to get a child to study: advice from psychologists

1. Help me create a class schedule

This advice is relevant not only for parents of first-graders - teenagers also get tired due to an incorrect daily routine. Do not require your child to start studying as soon as he returns from school. Pay attention to any distractions. For example, a loud TV in the same room or noisy games of younger brothers and sisters.

Read also:  Blog / Levels of personality organization: neurotic, borderline, psychotic

The hardest thing is when a teenager spends hours playing online games and social networks to avoid doing homework. And then he does everything at the last moment, even at night. To help your child do everything on time, use methods to combat procrastination.

2. Look for practical application of knowledge

Not every parent is ready to tell you how to use differential calculus in everyday life, but for simpler things it’s easy to find real-life examples. Show cruciferous and rosaceous plants in the yard, unfold a world map together, remember the different thermal conductivities of materials by looking at a hot frying pan lid with a cold handle. Prove to your child that school knowledge is not only dry theory, but also a very fascinating world around us.

3. Stay up to date with the school curriculum

It is not necessary to know all the intricacies of education, but it will be useful for parents to at least have a rough idea of ​​what is happening at school in order to get their child to study.

Even with a minimum of information, it is easier to answer questions, discuss with a teenager his day at school, and even correctly determine the reason for poor grades.

4. Study the biographies of great people together

Behind the success of every famous person is hard work and a series of ups and downs. When studying biographies of scientists or businessmen, convince your child that after failure there is a second try. As Thomas Edison said, “I didn’t fail, I just found 10,000 ways to make a light bulb that didn’t work.” It is not necessary to dive into the past - you can choose examples that will be close to generation Z: Elon Musk, Billie Eilish, Mark Zuckerberg.

5. Praise for small victories

Don't expect complete success to praise your child - celebrate any progress. And we are talking not only about small children, but also about teenagers. Usually, parents of first-graders do this, celebrating every victory and effort of the child, but they are more critical of an older student. Meanwhile, older children also need support.

How to properly criticize a child so as not to quarrel, but to inspire

6. Give your child the right to make mistakes

High perfectionism is usually accompanied by the same high anxiety - because of this, children make unexpected, stupid mistakes. Don't raise the bar to the maximum, even for excellent students. Second or third place at a school Olympiad, or simply a fourth, is not a reason to be upset or reproach your child. And if he himself is upset, calm him down and tell him that mistakes are part of the journey, everyone has them.

7. Don't forget to lead by example

If dad plays tanks in the evenings and mom watches her favorite TV series, it’s hard to expect a schoolchild to love reading. Yes, after work, parents have the right to relax and rest, but children absorb family traditions like sponges.

It is in the family that they should see the value of knowledge. We all learn something in our professions - tell your child about it, give examples. He must know that learning new things is an integral part of life.

8. Consider your child's inclinations

The best way to get your child interested in learning is to support his inclinations. Remember that there are no unsuccessful professions and a good hairdresser is no worse than a good lawyer or doctor.

If you force a teenager to prepare for a specialty that is not interesting to him, just because “it’s prestigious,” he is unlikely to achieve success. Let your children at least try, even if you are sure that the idea is hopeless. In this case, you can simply discuss Plan B: “Let’s figure out what you will do if you don’t manage to get into a theater university the first time?”

9. Make sure you have the right environment

Parents do not choose friends for their children, but we can enroll them in a training course or in a circle where there will be educated, erudite people. Make sure that your child communicates with professionals in the field that interests him. Communication with enthusiastic people in itself contributes to the development of interest in learning, not only in individual lessons, but also in general.

10. Set clear and achievable goals

The technique of setting SMART goals is popular in modern management; it can rightfully be transferred to training. The abbreviation SMART tells what a goal should be to make it easier to achieve:

• specific - specified;
• measurable - measurable;
• attainable - with clear criteria for achievement;
• relevant - relevant;
• time-bound - with a time limit.

How to set a goal in your studies and not go crazy from stress

Turn mistakes into growth points

We all make mistakes sometimes. It happens that after failure a child gives up and loses faith in himself. In a situation of failure, a child needs not a strict censor in the person of a parent, but an understanding and supportive adult.

There is a wise expression in the sports world: “There are no victories without defeats.” It also applies to studying. Explain to your child that any failure is a stepping stone to victory, since he has acquired new experience and knowledge that he can use in the future to achieve his goals.

Behaviors aimed at success are formed as we grow older through the experience of overcoming difficulties and solving problems.

It is very important that the child develops and consolidates a starting point - a strong belief in himself and his own strengths. To do this, adults must set an example of treating failure as an experience, and a mistake as a point of growth.

How to maintain positive motivation

Praise, good grades, money, sweets, gifts and other positive methods of motivating children form a positive association. Praising a child for something or giving a good grade when the student really deserves it is a great way to boost his self-confidence and inspire him to further achievements

As for material motivation, it is important to figure out how not to go too far. There is an opinion that children lose the “joy of learning” due to frequent rewards

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Psychologist's advice: praise maintains motivation. It happens that if our work is criticized, then we have no desire to finish it. For example, if a child does not understand mathematics and is constantly scolded for not being able to solve a problem correctly, then he may lose motivation to study the exact sciences. And vice versa: if you look for those crumbs for which you can praise, the teenager will be more willing to engage

But all experts recommend being wary of both excessive praise and constant disapproval. Ideally, a full-fledged personality is independent of the assessments of others

Praise should be according to age and increasing. We do not praise an adult teenager for a washed cup, but we do this in relation to a younger schoolchild. Praise is not the same as material rewards. Don't confuse bribery and approval.

How to form motives for studying in graduate classes

In the graduating classes, the workload increases sharply, and classes oriented towards higher educational institutions are allocated. The old abstract messages: “a lot of money”, “a lot of knowledge” - are no longer suitable. Success is achieved by those who clearly know what they want and who made an independent, specific professional choice early on.

“In 11th grade, I decided that I would enter MGIMO. Mom and dad thought that I couldn’t do it and advised me to choose another university. But I still got in! I did it myself!” Lydia G., first year student at MGIMO.

“I wanted to finish school as quickly as possible and become independent. Now I’m studying as an evening student and earning money myself.” Tatyana K., first-year student at Moscow State University of Technology and Technology.

“My mother was a teacher. Maybe that’s why I felt my calling back in the seventh grade. At the same time, I organized patronage for the lower grades and help for those lagging behind.” Teplova O.I. Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, two-time Soros grant winner.

Question: How to solve the problem of freedom to choose goals and school curriculum? Some objects will still be a burden, perceived as an unnecessary burden.

Psychologist: In this case, the following motive will work: these lessons need to be done in order to do what is interesting, so that they do not spoil the certificate when entering a chosen university.

Child 6.5–10 years old: primary school

The child became a first grader. Everything has changed - the regime, the environment, the status. Responsibilities arose. At this time, parents can increase and strengthen the significance of the new period of the child's life. For example, take care in advance of an individual workplace for a first-grader, which will be his personal space. Organize an order in which the family will not distract the first-grader from his studies.

Any study is a challenge. The student again and again finds himself in the situation of not knowing or not knowing how. The ability to overcome learning difficulties is an essential component of the educational process. And this is precisely a skill that must be learned.

When parents tell their child: “Until you complete the task, you won’t go for a walk,” they leave the child alone with difficulties that he, perhaps, cannot yet overcome on his own. Many children at the beginning of school need organizational help - to sit down for lessons on time, get the necessary books, etc. Others need to understand the conditions of the problem, draw a diagram... And the point is not that this was not explained at school, but that it is not at all easy to apply the acquired knowledge in independent work.

At this time, children really need parental support and positive feedback. The phrases “I see that you are trying very hard” or “You turned out this letter very beautifully” motivate much more than reproaches and accusations.

Instilling an interest in acquiring knowledge

Learning new subjects and gaining knowledge stimulates interest in learning. Parents support in discovering talents and developing new hobbies. Praise plays a big role. Should you praise your child and how to do it correctly? Read here.

Help from parents in mastering the material contributes to the desire to learn a new subject. The child will quickly learn to study on his own and easily learn new skills when it is not imposed on him. To motivate your child to study, help him only when he asks you to. Also show by personal example that independent learning is a natural activity that a person enjoys throughout his life.