SUPPORTING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION: THE PATHWAY BETWEEN PARENTS AND TEACHERS AUTONOMY SUPPORT AND STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT

Grounded in Self-Determination Theory this paper presents initial data of a longitudinal study on the effects of autonomy support provided by parents and teachers on students’ motivation to learn, focusing on the relation between students’ autonomous motivation and academic achievement. Students’ motivation is relevant for the quality of their learning experience and parents and teachers’ behaviours are a key factor that can influence students’ motivation to learn. According to SDT several different styles of regulation reflect the extent to which students perceive their behaviour as originating within themselves. These types of regulation can be placed along a self-determination continuum ranging from amotivation to intrinsic motivation. Self-determined students tend to perceive their behavior as originating within themselves, and intrinsic regulation was found to be a strong predictor of students’ academic achievement and well-being. By contrast, extrinsic motivation is rarely associated with students’ perceptions of well-being. Given the benefits of intrinsic regulation for learning, SDT emphasizes the importance of helping students become more self-determined in their behaviors at school. Students’ autonomous motivation is fostered when their parents and teachers support their autonomy. In the educational context, parents and teachers providing support for autonomy take the students’ point of view, provide explanatory rationales, rely on non-controlling language, display patience to allow students the time they need for self-paced learning to occur, and acknowledge and accept expressions of negative effect. To the best of our knowledge, many empirical studies have shown that both parents and teachers contribute independently to students’ motivation and well-being, but a few studies have looked at the joint influences of teachers and parents on school outcomes. The present study aims to investigate the relation between autonomy support provided by both parents and teachers and students’ autonomous motivation, with a further analysis between this motivation and students’ academic achievement. The convenience sample consists of 361 students from a middle school (grades 6-8), near Rome (Italy). Autonomous motivation was calculated with The Relative Autonomy Index, a scoring method in which each regulation sub-scale is calculated according to their assumed position on the SDT-continuum. The process of data analysis was carried out using a Path Analysis, assuming that a higher level of support perceived by students is positively related to their autonomous motivation, which in turn improves their academic achievement. Results show that support for autonomy has a significant effect on students’ motivation when provided by their mother and teachers, but not by their father. Moreover, motivation shows an important effect on students’ achievement (β 0.41). These findings highlight the need for further study to understand the different role of parents and teachers in students’ motivation. The implications of SDT educational research for parenting and teaching style are manifold; in recent years, many SDT researchers have emphasized the importance of training programs for parents and teachers to foster their autonomy-supportive practices.