Implications for teaching and learning The research reported in this paper has some implications for educators and administrators working with early adolescents， in particular those involved in middle An important implication for educators and administrators that emerged from this study was the significant influence that extrinsic reward and behavioural control systems had on students’ Students reported the negative influence such systems had on their sense of school belonging， school affect， perceptions of teacher support， academic engagement and As a result of the data revealed in the study， schools hoping to create a more positive motivational environment may wish to re-consider use of behavioural control systems and， as Brophy (1999) suggests， consider focusing on the implementation of motivational Most students described in this study acknowledged a desire to protect their sense of self-worth in school contexts and this in turn influenced their pursuit of performance avoidance Students were also able to describe characteristics of the school and classroom context they perceived threatening to their sense of self-worth， some of which had the potential to be altered through teacher behaviour or contextual These data suggest that educators and administrators could work towards making school and classroom contexts less threatening for some students and thus encourage more positive motivational One notable finding of this study was the impact that 11 and 12-year-old students’ desire for parental approval can have on the motivational goals they pursue at In particular， for some students， desire for parental approval governed their academic related behaviour and Such information could be of benefit to teachers and administrators who could take steps to work more closely with parents for the benefit of the The data reported in the study highlighted the impact of perceived teacher support and teacher / student relationships on students’ feelings about school and ultimately their academic and social goal The data indicate that students who perceive high levels of teacher support adopt more positive motivational patterns than those perceiving low levels of teacher Such data emphasises the importance of students perceiving supportive relationships with teachers to maximise positive motivational
