The influence of an educational leader on sustained motivation to achieve: a case study

The purpose of this study was to look at the relationship between educational leadership and sustained student achievement motivation through the lens of Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) theory of flow and Rea's (2001) theory of the motivated mind. An intrinsic qualitative case study was conducted in order to understand the impact of an educational leader on student motivation to achieve in one particular school. Data for the study was gathered through data collection methods commonly used in qualitative research (Patton, 2002): a questionnaire, interviews, observations, field notes, and archival documents. Data was analyzed, interpreted and written up using qualitative methods. Themes that emerged from this study of educational leadership are (1) the headmaster practiced proactivity and participatory leadership, (2) the culture of the school was strong, accepted, and had a powerful effect on students' attitudes and levels of academic achievement, (3) the headmaster respected that culture and did not try to change the established traditional culture of the school, (4) teachers exhibited the freedom to teach the challenge to learn, (5) teachers challenged the students with difficult, yet attainable, lessons, (6) classroom teachers and environments encouraged creativity, and (7) academic success and the motivation to learn were expected and rewarded. The findings of this study support Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) theory of flow and optimal experience and Rea's (2001) theory of the motivated mind. Csikszentmihalyi (2003) reported that teachers who were sensitive to students' goals and desires, who articulated pedagogical goals as challenges, who empowered students to take control of their learning, and who provided clear feedback to students' efforts without making them self-conscious were teachers who allowed students to enjoy learning and taught them to face the world with curiosity and interest. A major implication of this study is that the behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes of the educational leader and teachers are paramount if they desire to educate students with challenges and motivating methodology. A second implication of this study for educational leadership is that educational leaders need to be informed of the motivational needs of students and learn that in the classroom where serious fun is nurtured, optimal motivation emerges as a generative system that dynamically balances positive and negative feedback. The study found that the environment of ACES supports Rea's (2001) theory of the motivated mind in which intelligence, creativity, and achievement motivation interact and evolve with dynamic potential in classroom environments encouraging creativity modeled by the teacher. Findings of the study support Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) and Rea's (2001) theories which emphasize the educational leader's high support for fun challenges and high expectations for serious mastery of those challenges. A third implication for educational leadership is that the leader demonstrates and supports high expectations of students by teachers, students, and parents by setting high standards for students, letting them know that they are expected to meet them, and providing intellectually challenging lessons that correspond to the expectations (Rea, 2001).