As we offer our students more and more rewards in school, we ask the very simple question......Why?
This doesn't need to be a very long blog entry, its sole purpose is just to get people questioning why schools are so keen to offer so many rewards in school. Rewards for behaving in an appropriate way in class, rewards for bringing the right equipment, rewards for getting the highest grade in a test. One school we have seen bases its whole rewards policy on a points system to control student behaviour by linking it to whether or not students should go to the end of year ball. How can we expect our students to be intrinsically motivated if we are surrounding them with extrinsic rewards. There is too much research out there which shows how extrinsic rewards stifle intrinsic motivation (see earlier blog post) yet we continue to 'bribe' our students into learning.
