Increasing Students’ Motivation to Study Technical Subjects through Changes in Assessment

Abstract

Various findings indicate that low motivation among secondary vocational school students remains a primary challenge in the teaching of technical subjects. Many teachers assume that a change of the traditional assessment model, which relies on a numerical scale from 1 (excellent) to 5 (insufficient), could significantly enhance student motivation to study the technical subjects. This paper proposes an alternative evaluation system based on the accumulation of points, providing both a practical example and the results of its pilot implementation. Within this framework, negative motivation is mitigated as the teacher no longer primarily seeks to highlight the weaknesses or errors of a student. Instead, the system rewards achievements through the allocation of points. Furthermore, the responsibility for the final grade is transferred from the teacher to the student, who is empowered to determine their own final outcome based on performance.