How children enjoy going to school

Much too early, a little excited and with shining eyes, the child walks off on the first day of school. They return at lunchtime, happy and with red cheeks: many first-graders love finally being a schoolchild. And many parents hope that this desire for school will accompany their children right through to graduation. «My child should enjoy learning and enjoy going to school» is also the central wish expressed by around 7,700 respondents in a recent study by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland entitled «What kind of school does Switzerland want?».

We all want to learn something new and see this learning progress.

Tina Hascher, educational scientist

However, everyday life is different for many families with schoolchildren. They complain about homework, stupid teachers and annoying classmates. And studying for exams is torture anyway. Around ten per cent of pupils in Switzerland even suffer from truancy, i.e. they stay away from school without being ill. One of the most common reasons: Fear. «Enjoying going to school» looks different - but how? What does a school have to be like for children to feel comfortable? And is there even a patent remedy that works for all pupils equally?

Basic need for autonomy and co-determination

«There are at least three basic psychological needs that all people have in order to enjoy doing something. They also apply to pupils so that they feel comfortable at school,» says Tina Hascher, Professor of School and Teaching Research at the University of Bern. Firstly, there is the need to experience competence. «We all want to learn something new and see this learning progress,» says the educational scientist.

However, with the usual performance assessments at school, where grades are given, the opposite often happens: children are made aware of what they are not yet able to do. «Personal, verbal feedback and self-assessments by the children are more suitable,» says Hascher. Experiencing competence also means that pupils are neither under- nor overchallenged. «If that's the case, I can't show my competence and then I switch off as a pupil, start daydreaming or disrupt,» says Katrin Tovote, lecturer in developmental psychology at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland.

A second central basic need is for autonomy and co-determination. «This includes things like self-regulated learning, projects, group work, mixed-grade classes and teachers who see themselves as supporters of this autonomy,» says Tina Hascher.

For example, a class council can help children to actively engage with the class and the school and to see themselves as part of the community. Or teachers can work with a choice of topics in order to focus on the children's interests, says Iris Dinkelmann, lecturer in education and psychology at the Thurgau University of Teacher Education, as another example.

People who are afraid are preoccupied with their fear and not with learning something.

Katrin Tovote, Lecturer in Developmental Psychology

Being socially integrated

The third need is social inclusion - friends in the class, teachers who value you, a class community that doesn't exclude anyone. «All of this gives me the emotional security of knowing that When I go to school in the morning, nothing bad will happen to me there,» says Tina Hascher. If, on the other hand, there is a lack of a good class feeling, pupils are unable to engage with school in the first place.

«Those who are afraid are preoccupied with their fear and not with learning something,» says Katrin Tovote. She also emphasises the responsibility of parents to support social interaction at school. «This includes, for example, not scolding a teacher, otherwise the child will have conflicts of loyalty. If you don't like something, you should deal with it directly with the school and not through the child,» says Katrin Tovote.

If a child is socially integrated at school, neither under- nor overburdened and can also make self-determined decisions there, they will generally develop a positive attitude towards school. «Research results indicate that this is generally the case. Most children enjoy going to school and are motivated to learn,» says Iris Dinkelmann.

However, if teachers or parents observe over a longer period of time that school is not fun, one of the three basic needs listed is usually not being met. «It's often a mix of several things and the children can't say exactly what the problem is,» says Tina Hascher. Parents and teachers are then called upon to act as observers.

When failure takes on a different face

Development-related changes during the school years also have an influence on the fulfilment of basic needs, for example on the experience of competence. «At the beginning of primary school, children generally go to school with a high level of self-confidence. Their need to experience competence is satisfied because they often explain school failures by the fact that they simply didn't try hard enough,» says Iris Dinkelmann.

Over time, however, this view becomes more differentiated. «Linus suddenly realises: I'm trying hard in maths, but Mila is still better than me. Of course, this can lead to frustration and self-doubt,» says Iris Dinkelmann. Linus now runs the risk of no longer seeing his lack of effort as the reason for his failure, but rather his lack of talent or ability, and his sense of competence suffers.

«So that Linus doesn't give up, it's important that teachers offer other explanations and show him how he can do better next time.» With the transition to lower secondary level, the feeling of a lack of competence can increase - especially in children for whom the demands increase and the grading practice becomes stricter. In addition, during puberty, friends become the central reference group and young people increasingly distance themselves from parents and teachers. «Negotiation processes and co-determination play a particularly important role in young people's experience of autonomy,» says Iris Dinkelmann.

The wish of many parents for their children to go to school every day as euphorically as they did in their first days at school - for the various reasons listed above - will not usually be fulfilled every day. But it doesn't have to be, says Tina Hascher. «Adults don't go to work every day with an insane amount of joy either. It's completely normal to experience different emotions.» The important thing is to have a positive attitude towards school: it's okay to go there - and it's important.