ABSTRACT

Following on from the discussion of school ethos, this chapter by Learning School 1 students probes more deeply into students’ views of their schools, their liking for schools, their sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and their general motivational level. This is a valuable contribution to our understanding of student motivation through comparisons of high and low motivated students and the range of attitudes to class work and homework, to teaching approaches and learning styles which are associated with that. The similarities between two schools of very different types and in very different countries are striking. The differences also raise important questions. Gender differences in and out of school are also explored in both countries and again some of the constants pose questions about issues that lie deeper than the individual school or classroom and its power to shape human beings.