Seeing eye to eye on student motivation: Moderators of student–teacher agreement

Beck, J., Hornstra, L., Flunger, B., & Dutke, S.

Zusammenfassung

Teachers informally assess student motivation daily, yet they often struggle to align with students’ self-view. This study explores the factors moderating agreement between students’ and teachers’ judgments of students’ motivation for school. A total of 5,514 secondary school students and their 212 teachers judged motivation on single-item scales. Moderator variables (gender, migration background, age, teaching experience, acquaintance, match in gender and migration background) were tested to elucidate agreement discrepancies. Overall, agreement was weak (β = .26). Teachers with a migration background seemed to have a better grip on students’ self-rated school-specific motivation than teachers without a migration background. No other moderator was significant. Regarding over- and underestimation, teachers tended to underestimate motivation of boys and students with a migration background, whereas experienced teachers rated student motivation more positively. Results demonstrated the need to further identify meaningful ways to promote student–teacher agreement—possibly by making motivational processes in education more visible.