ABSTRACT
The chapter seeks to help the education studies student engage with the concept of motivation and its relationship with learner performance and psychological wellbeing. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory as an appropriate model of motivation, the chapter focuses on the role of the educator to promote positive learner behaviours through the satisfaction of the learner’s psychological needs, specifically autonomy, competence and relatedness. Educators are also compelled to see themselves as a distinct part of the learning environment and a potential driver of positive learner self-perceptions, including esteem, malleability, optimism and resilience, each of which is intrinsically connected to the satisfaction of those same ‘psychological needs’. I conclude that educators need to understand theory and practice at a level that includes both the potentially positive and negative consequences of their application in order to promote and maintain optimum levels of student performance and wellbeing.
