Bio
Professor John Wang is the inaugural E. W. Barker Chair Professor in the Physical Education and Sport Science (PESS) Academic Group. He graduated from Loughborough University (UK) with a Ph.D. in Sport and Exercise Psychology, supported by an Overseas Graduate Scholarship from National Institute of Education (NIE) and an Overseas Research Students Award from Loughborough University. Professor John Wang is a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is registered with the Health Professions Council of the UK as a Sport and Exercise Psychologist. Professor John Wang was the former Dean of the Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning, Head of the Physical Education and Sports Science Academic Group, Programme Director of the Sport Science and Management Degree, and Associate Dean for Research Management and Programmes at the Office of Education Research. He was also a former President of the Singapore Physical Education Association from 2012 to 2016.
Professor John Wang has been involved in more than 50 research projects with a total grant amount of more than $6 million Singapore dollars. His research has resulted in many international and national collaborations, and a highly productive publication record with more than 200 refereed journal articles, books, and book chapters, in high-impact peer-reviewed journals in Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Educational Psychology, Health Psychology, Outdoor Education, and Physical Education. He has presented more than 100 conference paper presentations and made various keynote and invited speeches at international conferences. His works have been widely cited internationally and his research has also impacted policy changes and practices in education and physical education in Singapore. His research expertise is on sport ability beliefs, achievement goals, intrinsic motivation, emotion, and self-concept. Many of his published papers are on motivation and emotion in the contexts of physical activity, and sport and exercise. He has also published papers on education, outdoor education, project work, internet gaming and national education. As part of his work on motivation, Professor John Wang leads a group of staff from NIE at the Motivation in Educational Research Lab (MERL).
Abstract
Creating A Motivating School Through Autonomy-Supportive Teaching
Chee Keng John, Wang1,2,
1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
2National University of Singapore
IIn recent years, Singapore's education system has received international recognition due to our students continued and sustained high performance in internationally benchmarked tests of student achievement. Despite the stellar achievements, there are concerns that our students may be too focused on academic grades and not enjoying their learning. The launch of the Singapore Teaching Practice model in 2017 provides a guiding curriculum philosophy, pedagogical practices and knowledge bases for Singapore teachers to enhance teaching and learning Alongside with the launch of the STP, a master document on Motivation and a factsheet on motivation were circulated to all schools in Singapore. These two documents focus on motivation from the self-determination theory's (SDT) perspective, emphasising that teachers can motivate their students using an autonomy-supportive teaching style. Singapore is probably the first country in the world to include SDT at a system level in its continuum of teacher education. Grounded in a SDT framework, this presentation examines the factors influencing teachers' motivating style and the effectiveness of an autonomy-supportive intervention offered to secondary school teachers and their students in Singapore. In the first part of the presentation, the extent to which school-related factors (factors from above), the teacher-related factor (factor from within) and student-related factors (factor from below) influence teachers' motivating style will be examined. In the second part, the effect of an autonomy-supportive intervention programme on teachers and students will be presented. Data were collected via questionnaires and in-depth interviews from both the teachers and students' perspectives. This presentation provides an overview of a whole school approach in motivating teachers and students.
Keywords: leadership, autonomy-supportive, motivation, teachers, student outcomes.