ACADEMIC MOTIVATION OF PUPILS IN REGULAR AND WALDORF SCHOOLS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine and compare different aspects of academic motivation of pupils attending regular and Waldorf schools. A total of 256 elementary school pupils from fifth to the eighth grade participated in the research. The data were collected by the mean of questionnaire. The analyses of the results indicate that pupils from regular schools achieve higher results on the scale of controlled motivation and its sub-scales (external regulation and introjected regulation), while pupils from Waldorf schools achieve higher results on the scale of autonomous motivation and its sub-scales (identified regulation and intrinsic motivation). No significant differences are identified between male and female pupils from regular and Waldorf schools regarding development of different aspects of academic motivation. On the other hand, differences are identified between younger and older pupils from regular and Waldorf schools. An increase of controlled motivation and decrease of autonomous motivation were observed among older pupils from Waldorf schools, while the decrease of the two motivation types in academic domain were observed among older pupils from regular schools.