By definition, motivation is, “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something”. Motivation is single handedly what pushes us as individuals to act in the ways that we do, and drives us to persevere towards success.
After the tumultuous year we just experienced, it is safe to say that motivation levels were at an all-time low. Staying home all-day, everyday, combined with a lack of certainty in the outside world left us all feeling a little helpless and ultimately, lazy.
Hit hardest by the pandemic, however, were students.
Let’s look at some statistics…
According to Statistics Canada, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 60% of young Canadians aged 15-24 reported that they had relatively good mental health. Since the pandemic, that number has declined from 60% to only 40%. In addition to this, an article written by La Presse at the beginning of 2021 states that 63% of young Canadians reported having been psychologically affected by COVID-19. In a survey conducted by Sick Kids on parents and children, 70% of children aged 6-18 reported a deterioration in their mental health, with 66% of children aged 2-5 reporting the same.
To say these statistics are troubling would be an understatement. From the constant switching between remote and in-person learning to feeling like we are living the same day, every day, anxiety levels in young people have increased, while motivation levels have decreased.
Digging deeper
Ultimately, motivation comes down to how well one’s needs are being met; according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we are only motivated to move forward with anything once any of our other needs are satisfied.
So how does this relate to students?
As young people, our most important level in Maslow’s hierarchy is love and belonging. For most of us, having strong and supportive relationships with our friends and family are what gets us through the day. We crave social interaction, whether it is in-person or on social media, and ultimately, we long for a sense of connection.
This is why the pandemic had such devastating effects on the motivation of students. Sudden isolation and lack of interaction was a tremendous change from our usual bustling lives. The longer it continued, the more we had to ask ourselves: do we even have anything to look forward to anymore?
Our school days consisted of spending two and a half hours in a silent classroom, masked and physically distanced from our peers. Every school event and extracurricular was cancelled. When we transferred to full remote learning, we spent almost four hours a day staring at black squares on a computer screen.
Our need for connection was not able to be fulfilled. Staff and students all tried their hardest to make the most out of what they had, and for that, we should all be grateful. We simply just found ourselves caught in a rather unfortunate situation.
How can we fix things?
Having been the Prime Minister at my school during the pandemic, I learned that in order to improve the motivation of students in the coming school year, focusing primarily on connection and mental health is key.
- Make the most out of going virtual
Hosting virtual movie or game nights, posting frequently on your school’s social media account(s), or even adapting extracurriculars to a virtual setting are just some of the ways that schools can make the best out of remote learning, and bring back that sense of connection in students. The more opportunities they have to interact with their classmates and peers, the more they will have to look forward to at school, which will drastically improve their willingness to put in more effort.
- Provide mental health resources
As proven by the statistics mentioned earlier, the mental health of young people today is slowly deteriorating, which is why promoting mental health resources is so necessary. For example, I, alongside the student council, created a virtual calming room, a website equipped with calming music, inspiring videos, textlines, hotlines, and more, that students could access at any time. Providing them with outlets that they can use to help reduce stress will play a key role in boosting their motivation.
- Factor in some fun!
One of the main causes of stress in people is when there is poor design: repetition of the same tasks over and over again that eventually becomes boring and demotivating. To avoid burnout in students, teachers should aim to implement at least one “fun day” a week. Put on a movie! Provide students with recipes and have a class baking day! Even take them outside for a quick walk! Factoring in some sort of break from the usual repetitive work can make all the difference in students’ attitudes towards school and their work.
What’s next?
While COVID restrictions are slowly beginning to ease in Canada, that does not mean that this upcoming school year will automatically return to normal. Tailoring to the motivational needs of students as much as restrictions can allow is essential in ensuring that we do not find more and more young people succumbing to poor mental health and demotivation.
The change begins with schools. Let’s make it happen!