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Teaching Practices and the Management of Student Motivation, Effort and Achievement

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  • Gunnes, Trude
  • Donze, Jocelyn

Abstract

Student motivation is primordial for educational success. We develop a theoretical model in which a teacher manages student motivation through the choice of teaching practices. We show that only high-ability students can be motivated by extrinsically-oriented teaching practices. For low-ability or myopic students, intrinsically-oriented teaching practices are more effective in fostering student achievement. Furthermore, the choice of teaching practices depends on their relative costs, the teacher's objective function (utilitarian or Rawlsian), and the teacher's time preferences. We draw important policy implications regarding teacher effectiveness, the harmfulness of not tailoring teaching practices to student types, and how to limit student dropouts.

Suggested Citation

  • Gunnes, Trude & Donze, Jocelyn, 2016. "Teaching Practices and the Management of Student Motivation, Effort and Achievement," MPRA Paper 69954, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:69954
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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