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Session 1. Why Students Engage: Autonomy, Competence, Relatedness
Objective. Use self-determination theory to diagnose which need a lesson is failing to meet and choose one small move that supports autonomy, competence or relatedness.
Every teacher meets the pupil who 'does not care'. Usually the pupil cares about something else: avoiding embarrassment, finishing quickly, keeping a friend. Self-determination theory gives you three questions to ask before you reach for a threat or a prize: does this pupil have a say, can they succeed with effort, and do they feel they belong? This lesson goes beyond the key ideas and shows how to read the signs in a real lesson and how to answer them with moves that cost almost no time.
Key ideas
Motivation has kinds, not just amounts
- Asking 'is this student motivated?' is less useful than asking 'why is this student working?'. A pupil can work out of interest, because the task matters to them, to please someone, or from fear of a low mark.
- Deci and Ryan call the first two kinds more autonomous and the last two more controlled. Both produce work today, but autonomous motivation tends to go with better understanding and persistence.
- Your job is not to 'switch motivation on' but to build a classroom in which students find their own reasons to work.
Three needs
- AUTONOMY: feeling that I have some choice and that the task makes sense to me. COMPETENCE: feeling that I can succeed with effort. RELATEDNESS: feeling that I belong and that my teacher and classmates care.
- When a need is met, effort feels natural. When it is blocked, you see the signs: refusing, copying, silence, 'why do we need this?'.
- Different students may be missing different needs in the same lesson. Diagnose before you choose a remedy.
Support, do not control
- Autonomy support is not 'do what you like'. It means a clear reason for the task, a real choice inside clear limits, and language such as 'you could' instead of 'you must'.
- Competence support means tasks that are hard enough to need effort but possible with it, plus clear steps and feedback on progress. Relatedness support means knowing names, greeting each pupil and treating errors as normal.
- Control is not the same as order. You can keep high standards and a calm room and still support autonomy.
Start with one small move
- Pick the weakest need in one class and one move: a choice of 2 from 4 tasks (autonomy), a first question everyone can answer (competence), or greeting by name at the door (relatedness).
- Try it for a week and check with an exit ticket and a 5-minute observation, not with a feeling.
- Level 1 gave you engagement routines (course 5.4). Here you ask why they work, so you can choose the right one.
Three needs: signs and small moves
Autonomy
I have some say
- Sign: 'why do we need this?', copying
- Move: one-line reason, choose 2 of 4
Competence
I can do it with effort
- Sign: empty page, 'I can't'
- Move: easy first question, steps
Relatedness
I belong here
- Sign: silence, sitting alone
- Move: greet by name, kind partner
Reading the signs of a missing need
Each unmet need has its own signs. Missing autonomy often looks like resistance or compliance without thought: 'why do we need this?', copying exactly, doing the minimum. Missing competence looks like avoidance: an empty page, 'I can't', jokes to hide confusion. Missing relatedness looks like withdrawal: sitting alone, silence in group work, arriving late and leaving fast.
Treat signs as questions, not verdicts. One sign can have two causes, and a pupil who is tired from field work may show all three. A short private question, 'What would make this easier for you?', is often the quickest test.
Support is not softness
Teachers sometimes worry that autonomy support means lowering standards. It does not. The research on autonomy-supportive teaching describes clear structure, high expectations, a reason for each task and respect for the pupil's view at the same time. What changes is the way the demand is delivered: 'you could' and 'let us see why' instead of 'you must' and 'because I said so'.
A useful test is the sentence you would say to a respected colleague. If you would say it to an adult as 'please do X because it helps Y', say it that way to the pupil.
Examples from the classroom
Two lines for the map
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 7 geography in Fergana. Pupils usually copy a map exactly. Today he says, 'This map will help us decide where to plant cotton, so use any region from the list.' Pupils pick Navoi, Bukhara or Fergana. At the exit ticket, 22 of 31 say 'yes' to 'Did you have a say?', up from 9 of 31 last week. Work quality is similar, but fewer pupils stop halfway.
Insight. One sentence of reason and a choice inside limits supports autonomy without losing control.
The empty page
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 5 mathematics in Bukhara. Several pupils write nothing when the first problem is a word problem with two steps. She changes the start: the first problem is a one-step problem everyone can solve in a minute, then two steps with a model, then the original. Pupils start in the first minute, and in the exit ticket most tick 'with effort' rather than 'not yet'.
Insight. Competence grows from a first step that is possible; the hard task comes after, not before.
The new boy
Scene. In a village school near Jizzakh, Rustam joined Grade 10 in October. Malika, his physics teacher, greets him by name every lesson for two weeks and puts him with a calm partner for the practical. By the third week he asks a question aloud. She writes in her notes that he sat with others at break for the first time.
Insight. Belonging is built with small repeated signals, and it often precedes effort.
Common pitfalls
- Reading a missing need as a bad attitude and answering with punishment.
- Offering 'free choice' with no limits, so the lesson loses its aim.
- Using a pupil's first name only when they are in trouble, not when they do well.
- Changing three things at once and not knowing which one helped.
Diagnose the Missing Need
- Open the Activity Kit: six short classroom scenes (A to F) and the 'need-support moves' table. Each scene is a SAMPLE written for this course.
- Pairs (12 min): for each scene decide which need is most at risk (autonomy, competence or relatedness) and write the clue that told you. Some scenes show two needs; choose the main one and say why.
- Pairs (10 min): choose a small, realistic move for three scenes from the table or of your own. Say how long it takes and what you would look for in the next lesson to see if it worked.
- Groups (8 min): one scene you disagree on. Argue it out; a scene may honestly have two answers if you can give evidence.
- Alone (5 min): write your classroom action task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which scene was hardest to decide, and what evidence would you want from a real class?
- Which need do your own lessons support least? Where did you see the signs?
- What is the difference between giving a choice and losing control of the lesson?
Reflect
- Think of a pupil who works hard only for marks. What might they lose?
- When did you last give a pupil a real choice? What happened?
- Which pupil in your class would not notice if they were absent? What does that say about relatedness?
Try it tomorrow
- Pick one class and one need; write down three pupils whose signs you have seen this week.
- Use one move from the table for 3 lessons and ask the exit-ticket question every time.
- Write a 5-minute observation: who worked in the first 3 minutes, who did not, and what you said.
Further reading and links
Ask why a student works, find the missing need, and try one small move that supports it.