Tinto’s model have proven to be a valid base for the interviews. However, when trying to sort the individual cases into a typology and analyse the motivation of students to continue education, the concepts of academic and social integration shall be further elaborated on.
Even in the literature, multiple authors distinguish between professional and academic motivation (see e.g. Mäkinen et al. 2004 or Hovdhaugen 2009), therefore a separate category is set up for those who learn to (pragmatically) develop the skills and knowledge
relevant for their further career. Finally, extrinsic motivation also has to be included in the list. The four types of motivation can be put in the following order (Figure 11):
Four types of student motivation
Content-oriented?
YES NO
Pragmatic? YES professional
development driven extrinsic
NO academic social
FIGURE 11: Four types of motivation. Source: author.
“Academic” motivation is understood here in a narrower sense, meaning one’s interest in the field of study per se. Students with high academic motivation are excited about learning more about the topics, digging deeper into the nature of things. This type of motivation can be stimulated by showing the students how fascinating the field can be, offering them intellectual challenges, and asking them questions to which there are no simple answers.
The feeling of exploration is important for these students as they can easily become disengaged by repetitive and routine tasks or when they don't see a “bigger picture” in what they are learning.
“I expected they’ll teach us how to think about the field, what does it mean to build a house, how to organize the city to make it liveable, what are the contexts – in ecology, economics, social behaviour and so on. And I was quite dissatisfied, the lectures were often poor, banal, too short to get deeper to the topic. They usually do not expect us to think about that, it’s more about fulfilling the requirements and do the same as others. You are not supposed to do anything unique, your own way.”
(B14)
“There are no clear career prospects in that programme, it’s purely academic in nature (…). However, I don’t think the students get stressed about that. (…) Career prospects are not a priority for them, they want to read loads of books and have discussions about them…” (B10)
“Professional development driven” motivation is the personal dedication to acquire practical skills and knowledge to be used in further career. This motivation can be stimulated if the institution succeeds in convincing the students that it makes sense to learn what they are taught. Students with high “professional development driven” motivation need not get so much excited about general theories but similarly to the “academic motivation”, these students are ready to work hard once they feel they can improve in what they consider important.
“At school… I feel like I am learning a lot about how it used to be [in the field] in history. It is often interesting… (…) but I have to ask myself – is it moving me forward? What’s the point of learning that? What is it good for? Where is it heading?” (B2)
“Finding a job is the most important outcome. If you get a nice job, your study was perhaps worth it. If you don’t, you can’t consider your studies successful.” (C2)
“Social” motivation is driven by one’s integration in the community. Social integration is often particularly important for first year students– they feel more secure if they enrol in the same program as at least some of their friends or if their new friends early in the first semester. Relationships with academic as well as non-academic staff are also important in this regard. In general, students who feel comfortable at school are more likely to attend the lectures and seminars and continue to study than those who feel anxious in their studies, who are stressed out by the teachers or who feel “like an anonymous number in a huge machine”. However, social integration motivates students to stay in the program and not to quit deliberately even though it may not stimulate them directly for learning and hard work towards progression.
“Most of them [the academic staff] don’t even know you study there. They don’t recognize you when they meet you at the corridor.” (B7)
“It is strange that a couple of months ago, there were 25 of us in the study group.
Now we are four. You become friends with someone – and suddenly he is gone,
you never see him again. (…) Why are they quitting? They cannot make it. Or they just don’t like it or don’t enjoy it.” (B13)
The term “extrinsic motivation“ is suggested here for the last group. Even students who lack any of the previously mentioned motivations may actually continue to study and even invest substantial effort in fulfilling the requirements. Their motivation is often extrinsic in nature – they want the diploma because it assures better job prospects and they feel a strong social pressure towards graduating. The uncertainty of future employment is related to the feeling that “without a diploma you are nobody”. In many cases, students tend to lose even this motivation of last resort whenever they see a clear career perspective ahead without the need to complete their studies. This way, many students who get a good job (measured subjectively) during studies tend to drop out later.
“As I perceive it, the gap between the school and the reality is so huge that I study only for the diploma because I am required to.” (C2)
“My parents were really upset when I dropped out from the first programme. (…) They don’t care what I study, they just want me to have a degree.” (B7)
Obviously, the individual types of motivation are not mutually exclusive and can easily interact with each other. Social integration or pragmatic interest to acquire useful skills can lead to deeper interest in the field of studies and help develop an academic motivation. The opposite is also the case – sometimes, an active social life can lead a student to focus exclusively on non-academic activities and lose interest in the learning process.
Nevertheless, experience suggests that one type of motivation is usually dominant for an individual at a given point in time. Simultaneously, in relation to a dropout decision, strong motivation in one aspect can overcome a lack in others.