1. University College South Denmark
Youth and learning
International week for academic staff
University College South Denmark
April 26th. 2016
Presentation of CeFU and my self
The presentation today:
this presentation touches on key issues regarding young people, motivation and learning: What characterizes youth today? What characterizes their relationship to learning and education? What challenges do young people in Denmark face at the moment in relation to education and learning? And not least: What motivates young people for learning and education?
Arnt Louw,

2. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Headlines of the presentation
The societal framework for education
- trends and tendencies
Youth today
- some characteristics
Youth and motivation
learning culture / performance culture
Examples
Key questions
Præsentation af CeFU og mig selv
Arnt Louw,

3. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
The societal framework for education
- trends and tendencies
Speed view on youth in the educational system
Goal oriented youth
Competition – from education for all to competitiveness
Polarization – between NEET and the young people who manage it
- Education for all – an imperative for the individual!
Fusion between education and employment policy
- demand of compulsory training in order to claim benefits
Complex educational and vocational choices
Speed view: Fast through the educational system. No detours. No wrong choices.
Goal oriented: this is the norm amoung youth today – it has become more dificult to be undecided and searching
Competetition: Transition to a global economy means that education becomes an important factor for society as well as for the individual in competetion with the world!
Polarization: The 16 year old chair for a youth political party – and the 16. year old on the edge of education.
Complex educational and vocational choices: Difficult for the young people to grasp the consequences of their choices – postpone narrowing educational choices.
Fusion between education and employment policy: Paradoxes in VET. Three times on the basic course then no more options. But the employment office will some kind of compulsory training from the young in order to claim benefits – but VET I closed country…!
Arnt Louw,

4. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
The societal framework for education
- trends and tendencies
An age of measurement:
”The past twenty years we have seen a remarkable rise in interest in the measurement of education or, in the lingo of the educational measurement culture, in the measurement of educational ‘outcomes’ ”.
An age of Measurement:
PISA, PIRL etc… League tables to compare schools.
Arnt Louw,

5. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
The societal framework for education
- trends and tendencies
Evidence, impact measurements – what works...
Rise in learnings concepts:
Corporative Learning - Instructional Design - Inquiry Based Learning…
Effective learning – but effective for what, whom, how?
Learning concepts: An instrumental approach to education. De-professionalization of teachers.
No evidence! that what worked in the past will work in the future… 
Arnt Louw,

6. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
The purpose of education?
Qualification
Socialisation
Subjectification
(Biesta 2016: 82)
Arnt Louw,

7. The societal framework for education - trends and tendencies
Deficit view on the youth – especially with in Vocational Education and Training
The computer room is locked during the break and everybody have to leave. Several students want to stay and work on but they are apparently not allowed to.
Some of the student discover an open garden door and open the front door to us all. We enter and start working on our drawings.
When the teacher returns after the break he simply says:
Teacher: ”How did you get in? Who has opened for you”.
Det centrale argument: Eleverne efterlyser, at lærerne aktivt støtter dem i deres faglige udvikling. Uden denne aktive støtte bliver eleverne uengagerede og demotiverede og risikere at droppe ud. Det er særligt tydeligt i starten af grundforløbet.

8. - some characteristics
Youth today
- some characteristics
High degree of deficit thinking towards youth in many studies – dropout, lack of academic or vocational prerequisites – lack of motivation – an individualization perspective that place the responsibility with(in) the youth.
Arnt Louw,

9. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth today
- some characteristics
Explosion in expectations – perfect body, perfect marks, perfect social life…
You got to have fun
You have to look good - fitness
You have to have a lot of friends
You have to choose the right education - and work
You have to have a lot of options
You have to have a lot of stuff
Mange af de overordnede tendenser sætter sig igennem hos de unge, som krav og vilkår, de pålægger sig selv. Og så kommer det til at se sådan her ud:
Arnt Louw,

10. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth today
- some characteristics
One should be in control – balance:
“There is the girlfriend, homework, assignments, family, and friends – and then there are the parties and all that. There are a lot of things. And if you want good marks and if you would like to hold options open… It becomes a very stressful life and you don’t get much sleep because you also want to do your homework. So I would say I am pretty stressed at the moment. So to me it is about prioritizing my time. But it is hard for me”.
Young man, 19 years, upper secondary education
Præsentation af CeFU og mig selv
Arnt Louw,

11. - some characteristics
Youth today
- some characteristics
Education:
Performance oriented culture rather than learning culture:
“You ought to work to learn, but you're working really to get a good grade”
Præsentation af CeFU og mig selv
Fusion between educational policy and employment policy
Arnt Louw,

12. Youth motivation has changed
90s - choose what you like – discourse
(identity)
My mom always told me not to think about job-options or money – to choose what I like. In my opinion that is also what creates a complete human being some how.
(Youngster 1999)
2000s - Goal oriented discourse
(Contract management)
It would be nice to know, what I am going to do and then after a while accomplished my goal. This is what I need to do and this is my goal. To complete a upper secondary education…
(Youngster 2006)
2010s – competition discourse
(winners and losers)
If someone comes up and ask me for help – if it is something I know and we are graded for it, I don’t want to help. I think like, they should do it themselves. I just think they should pay attention…
(Youngster 2011)

13. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth today
- some characteristics
The liberated youth: The message young people are brought up with go something like:
You can be anything you want? But you also have the responsibility to be anything you want and thus responsible for any failure if you don’t become anything you want…:
”My parents would never force me or put pressure on me to do better. But yet I really feel that I have to do well because my sister has done well and my parents have done well. So I really feel that I must get very good grades. I think that is how it is for many…”
Young man, 19, upper secondary school
De selviscenesættende unge: Vant til at synliggøre sig selv og sit liv, Profiler på facebook. Twitter m.m., Mødes på nye måder., Profilen er vigtig, Læreplaner, port-folio, Vant til stort fokus på dem som individ og person – både i institutioner og i deres private liv.
Arnt Louw,

14. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth today
- some characteristics
Choosing and education is not only about choosing what to do, but also who to be!
The performative youth – profiles… Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tinder…
Mange af de overordnede tendenser sætter sig igennem hos de unge, som krav og vilkår, de pålægger sig selv. Og så kommer det til at se sådan her ud:
Arnt Louw,

15. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth today
- some characteristics
Overall very narrow ideals for the good youth life despite many different terms and conditions for the young people growing up today
Mange af de overordnede tendenser sætter sig igennem hos de unge, som krav og vilkår, de pålægger sig selv. Og så kommer det til at se sådan her ud:
Arnt Louw,

16. Youth and motivation for learning / education
Præsentation af CeFU og mig selv
Arnt Louw,

17. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Motivation
A psychological understanding of motivation
Motivation as something within the young
Motivation as the prerequisite for learning
“72% of all VET teachers thinks that the share of unmotivated students has risen”.
(Weekly Newsletter A4, 2012)
Motivation enten som noget, der er der eller ikke er der. Noget nogle elever har og andre mangler.
”The problem is illustrated by the ongoing complaints on the part of vocational colleges and employers that many students lack the skills and motivation required to fulfill their vocational education and training”
(Juul & Jørgensen 2012: 295).
Arnt Louw,

18. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Motivation
A sociological understanding of motivation
Motivation as something contextual
Motivation as a result of learning
Motivation er dermed også noget, man kan arbejde med og som skifter fra fag til fag og fra time til time. Fra skole til skole. Motivation hos elever er ikke bare noget der er eller ikke er, men i langt højere grad noget der opstår i læringssituationer og pædagogiske møder. Dermed bliver det også relevant at kigge nærmere på disse møder. Og det er lige præcis det, jeg har gjort i min afhandling.
”An understanding of how students engagement and motivation i created, developed, blocked in the student-teacher encounter (Louw 2013)
Arnt Louw,

19. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
Motivation is created in interaction
Focus on youth orientation and motivation for participation
Focus on youth learning orientation in different educational settings
Consequences of the shift in perspective on youth motivation. You discover something else than you used to about youth and motivation.
Arnt Louw,

20. Different orientations for motivation at play
Motivation palette
Knowledge motivation
Discover, produce, connections, creativity, fantasy, curiosity
Challenge: Boredom, lack of connection
Relations motivation
Recognition, communities
Challenge: School fatique
Coping motivation
Mastering, progressin, feed back
Challenge: Despair, lack of self-confidience
Performance motivation
Grades, goal orientation, self discipline, optimizing time, competition
Challenge: school exhaustion
Involvement motivatoin
Open learning processen, experiments, creativity
Challenge: very narrow approach to learning
Different orientations for motivations can be at play at different times
The motivations orientations are changeable over time
Not good og bad motivation but unbalance between the different motivatoin orientations
Arnt Louw,

21. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
Some tendencies in light of this understanding of motivation
Among young people at risk: The coping motivation is under pressure
Increased performance motivation creates de-motivation – fear of failure
Lack of involvement motivation detaches the youth and lead to a narrow and strategical understanding of learning
Arnt Louw,

22. Motivation in practice
Youth and motivation
Motivation in practice
– some examples
Arnt Louw,

23. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
The teacher lectures for an hour and a half about roof structures, vapor barriers, tie beams and so on, involving the students with questions that are sometimes based on information just given in the lecture and sometimes based on previous teaching as part of the basic programme. The teacher relates his explanations to the huts the students are currently working on in the workshop. During the lecture the teacher tells anecdotes from his own life as a self-employed carpenter and outlines financial consequences of planning roof constructions right from the start. At the end of the lesson, several students approach the teacher with follow-up questions.
Observation notes, school A
Arnt Louw,

24. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
The teacher is lecturing for 45 minutes by one of the carpenter benches. He is showing how to cut out the mortise and tenon joints for the window frame. He is doing everything himself, showing how to do the different things.
Conversation with a student afterwards
I:”Do you learn anything from seeing the teacher doing everything?”
Student: ”Yes, a lot. I see, how to do the different things and learn some tricks”
Knowledge motivation
Relations motivation
Coping motivation
Arnt Louw,

25. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
The teacher walks around in the work shop helping different students. A lot of students wants help. Kim and I are also waiting for help, but other students keep jumping the line in front of us – getting the teachers attention before us.
Lunchbreak – and we didn’t get any help.
Involvement motivation!
Relations motivation
Coping motivation
Another student: "There is a lot of waste-time. A lot of the young students are lost on account of that!”.
Arnt Louw,

26. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
The teacher takes hold of the two wooden beams Magnus is holding and explains and shows what to do with them. They are both seated on the floor and Magnus listens very intensely to the teacher’s instructions with one hand rested on his forehead. He doesn’t quite get it. He seems very interested and engaged. In the end he gets it and is about to leave to continue his work, when the teacher says:
“Come and see me before you move on. There is something I need to show you about the next step.
Magnus: “OK”. Magnus leaves, visibly pleased and eager to move on
Coping motivation
Relation motivation
Involvement motivation
Knowledge motivation
Arnt Louw,

27. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
The teacher: ”This is called a ‘saddle mark’. It is used when constructing rafters and roofs. It is important to keep 3/5 of the thickness of the beam. This is good to remember. No matter how thick the beam is you keep 3/5 of the thickness. You will be asked this many times.
Eks. På tydelig rammesætning!
Arnt Louw,

28. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
Overall points about youth and motivation:
Different orientations for motivations can be at play at different times
The motivations orientations are changeable over time
Not good og bad motivation but unbalance between the different motivation orientations
Eks. På tydelig rammesætning!
Arnt Louw,

29. Arnt Louw, avl@learning.aau.dk
Youth and motivation
For reflection…
Focus on motivation is about bringing the student perspective into the discussion and the pedagogical practice
The motivations model contributes to reflection and inspiration for professionals – not as yet another tool or concept
The motivation model not as a governmentality technology or competitive factor
Arnt Louw,

30. Thank you for your attention
Arnt Louw,