STUDENT MOTIVATION IN MIDDLE SCHOOL - THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED PEDAGOGICAL CARING

This study examined adolescents' perceptions of pedagogical caring in relation to their motivation to achieve positive social and academic o utcomes in middle school. A longitudinal sample of 248 students was fo llowed from 6th to 8th grade. Perceived caring from teachers predicted motivational outcomes, even when students' current levels of psycholo gical distress and beliefs about personal control, as well as previous (6th grade) motivation and performance, were taken into account. Eigh th-grade students characterize supportive and caring teachers along di mensions suggested by N. Noddings (1992) and models of effective paren ting (D. Baumrind, 1971). Teachers who care were described as demonstr ating democratic interaction styles, developing expectations for stude nt behavior in light of individual differences, modeling a ''caring'' attitude toward their own work, and providing constructive feedback. T he implications for understanding links between teacher behavior and s tudent achievement are discussed.