Impact of School Reward System on Class Engagement

In this research, I would like to improve the school reward system in Class 7p. This is because it will not only help in improving the behaviour of the students but will also aid in enhancing the class engagement. I will focus on analysing the impacts of school reward system including praise postcards to parents from individual teachers or departments, telephone calls and letters to parents, notes in journals, positive referrals, departmental awards and Jack Petchey award. It is not compulsory that all of these reward systems should be utilised rather the impact of one of these that could help in improving the class engagement and good behaviour in short span of time can be implemented.  

Classroom association is a term which is the degree of curiosity, attention, optimism, interests, and passions which are displayed by the students (Oga-Baldwin, 2017). The rewards at education centres like School X are helpful for students as they feel motivated and involve in class activities. The way class involvement is associated with the students’ approach is fundamental because of the social environment. I have observed multiple classes in my school and I have observed that the class 7p lack in term of class association. The lack of class involvement has been observed in both girls and boys. To overcome this issue, the department has taken some initiatives for example the introduction of school rewards system. However, the class association in Class 7p is not effective, and it still lacks in terms of good behaviour (Bruhn, 2017)

If only one student is appreciated, then this may divert their engagement from the lesson and opens up the route of bad behaviour for the other students. In the quest for negative practices, the lower involvement of the students in the 7p class is associated with the teachers. The contemporary rewards system which is utilised by School X includes verbal praise, written praise, acknowledgement and assemblies as well as head teacher’s praise. I think that these rewards systems are lacking in the Class 7p as they have not been able to improve the class association in terms of the good behaviour of the students. It is not because the school rewards system is not implemented but that it’s not utilised in an appropriate manner (Caldarella, 2016).

Ineffective class association of the students may also be due to the absence of the effective appraisal by the teachers (Dumas, 2017). This is also linked with the teachers as they can motivate and praise the students in an efficient manner. The teacher’s praise may also lead to the sceptical or negative behaviour patterns, while the students can be engaged in the classroom by considering the positive approach by detailing the written praise. With the involvement of teacher’s praise and the school reward systems, the students of class 7p may start to take interest in the lessons more effectively. By considering the teachers’ attitude and adaptation of the school reward systems as suggested by (Oga-Baldwin, 2017), this research can enhance and support the engagement of the students of class 7p in the school.

Analysis of Reward System Approaches

For my school-based research project, I intend to undertake and implement research for the following research question:

• How can school reward system encourage class engagement?

• How can school reward system be improved?
• How can class engagement be improved with the use of school X’s behaviour policy?

In this research, I would like to improve the school reward system in Class 7p. This is because it would not only help in developing the behaviour of the students but would also aid in enhancing the class engagement. I will be focussing on analysing the impacts of school reward system including praise postcards to parents from individual teachers or departments, telephone calls and letters to parents, notes in journals, positive referrals, departmental awards and Jack Petchey award. Any one of the above mentioned ways can help in improving the class engagement in short span of time and can be implemented.

This enables the researcher to accumulate the information to see how to enhance the class engagement of the students in the class 7p. The inquiry is the part that you plan to find out about the subject. I would make use of the Action plan research because I believe that I will get an accurate amount of data and information. This will guide me and will help me in structuring the choice of information that would be gathered and investigated. As suggested by (Dumas, 2017), I would endeavour to have different approaches toward the start of the lesson, which would utilise all concepts. I would concentrate on the feedback of the teachers along with the departments, letters and telephone calls. I would also consider the positive referrals, and Jack Petchey award. My planning of the research and practice would work with techniques to find ways that will help in maintaining an effective class engagement. I want to attempt distinctive methods like the ones specified above. Similarly, I want to affect Class 7 p’s ability to think in a positive manner.

To undergo this research and to make the most of the Action planning methods, I would concentrate on the use of interpretative information. With respect to (Bryman, 2016), Action research encompasses the operations concerning the reality and grasps the complexity of social conditions. Interpretivism information enables me to have the correct outcomes. The majority of the information would be interpretivism as it gives the data to achieve a satisfactory conclusion. I will have the quantitative information so that a lot of facts can be concluded. As a constituent of the school’s regulations, I would start to discover interpretivism learning from the information I would gather. I will make use of the open and close-ended questionnaires; I will make use of the Interviews in this case. As per (Caldarella, 2016), open-ended questions for interviews and close-ended questionnaires for surveys can help to get detailed data. These three research techniques will enable me to obtain the critical information to achieve a decision about “How school reward system encourages class engagement?” The questionnaire will allow an individual to gain insight on the student’s thoughts about the reward systems. This will also make one understand whether these reward systems are increasing the level of engagement or not.

Research methodology

The goal of my research technique is to create the proposal for good practices which can tackle an issue or enhance the implementation of school reward system. With reference to (Menzies, 2016), Action Planning integrates the arrangements, actions, observations and reflections. This specific procedure includes the Interpretivism approach in which the consequences of changes are found, yet they are actualised and assessed. This research will also make use of the systematic observations concerning the school’s reward systems along with the class engagement of the students (class 7p) (Hansen, 2017). The action planning approach given by (Bryman, 2016) will help me in this research to consider the arrangements, activity, perception and reflection to acquire the required information and learning.

To complete and actualise the primary period of the research I would start to design the data collection techniques by making use of the questionnaires, because they help the researchers to gain the in-depth information and analysis in an effective manner. The primary approach for data collection techniques that I might want to utilise is the perception in the classroom with an emphasis on teacher’s praise. As reported by (Silverman, 2016), the prompt learning of the Interpretivism approach and Action planning perceptions enables the study to be more legitimate and considerable for its outcomes. I would mention my research objectives in demonstrating the teacher’s approaches, and whether the use of innovation and school reward systems influences the engagement of the students. Concerning (Bryman, 2016), from the use of Interviews and Questionnaires, this would create a data and it would be easy to discover the relationship between the school reward system and class engagement.

After the planning of the research, I would utilise the data collection techniques for the interviews. I will also use a progression of open-ended and close-ended questionnaires to get the adequate information concerning the class engagement of Class 7p. According to (Weyns, 2017), Open-ended Questionnaires have been linked with the free archives without other terms, and they can assess their approaches as they are completely free. For close-ended questionnaires, I will be considering the quantitative information. Along with this, these answers and responses have to be added to get the proper results. This gives the chance to express what affect the lower class engagement of the students of class 7p. The responses to the survey will be analysed, and the results can be extracted by the content analysis (Weyns, 2017).

Data Collection Techniques

This research will make use of both the surveys and interviews to get the practical results. For the data collection techniques and research planning in the school, it is imperative that the information is well disposed and the outcomes and results are more feasible and genuine. With available techniques, for example, the consequences can be as useful when it comes to the survey and the interviews. My accurate perception and surveys would concentrate on the students in the class 7P to obtain the particular consequences and answers (Weyns, 2017). I would have a casual conversation with the teachers of class 7P about past lessons and behavioural examples of the students. According to (Quinlan, 2015), this kind of discussion and interviews would be better with different strategies for data collection methods. The interviews and these types of conversations are built and originated from perceptions. This implies the fact that meeting with the teacher is linked with the students of class 7P.

According to (Menzies, 2016), the initial segment of Action Research is the arrangement of the distinct strategies for data collection from surveys with open and close-ended options and interviews. In the results approach along with case study, this research can consider the outcomes and start to choose how to utilise the results to enhance the class engagement of the students with school reward systems. The utilisation of these techniques for data collection and the utilisation of quantitative and qualitative information would result in the better outcomes. I am certain that my research planning and data collection techniques would enable me to get an approach to the higher class engagement activities by the students of class 7P. According to (Quinlan, 2015), triangulation means using more than one method to collect data on the same topic. The use of variety of methods to collect data on the same topic involves different types of samples along with the methods of data collection. By this way, the validity of the research is assured.

Before I begin examining my school research planning, I need to ensure that every single ethical issue has been considered. This involves the unbiased interviews, consent of the surveys, and authentic research techniques. It is essential that the researcher should not be biased in his school project. By uncovering the goals and objectives of the researcher and the capacity to locate a constructive approach to enhance the class engagement with Class 7P, the results can be of great help. During the data collection process, members have the alternative to leave. Furthermore, I would incorporate the privacy and confidentiality of the members to ensure their safety. (Menzies, 2016) revealed that the privacy and confidentiality of the participants have an important role in the research. Therefore, the researcher will not use the photographs of the participants and will keep the name of the school and the participants confidential. The wellbeing of the students would be considered throughout the study as recommended by (Bryman A. , 2011). I would take care of the fact that the research would be objective. The collection of the data would be based on the same topic, and I would use a different design, conduct and reporting of the research. The appropriate findings would be based on the knowledgeable agreement in writing. I would ensure that the research would not harm any teachers’ or students’ beliefs, values or considerations in any way. As stated by (Menzies, 2016), I would elaborate the research objectives by determining the teacher’s approaches and school reward system without any biases and inequality. All the agreements would be honoured while the data collection procedure to provide ethical concerns. The data collected by the students and teachers would help with the comprehensive information and evaluation effectively. If any controversial is collected then it would be assessed and followed with the great sensitivity (Menzies, 2016).

Outcomes and Results

The current section deals with the descriptive analysis of data gathered by means of interviews and questionnaire from the teachers and students respectively. The analysis section involves the use of interpretivism approach while demonstrating the aspects of secondary information reviewed by means of existing literature. In the first section, the qualitative analysis is presented followed by quantitative analysis.

Student’s Encouragement and Motivation in School

As per the analysis, it has been obtained that most of the teachers seemed to favour the idea of student’s motivation and encouragement by means of reward based system. The student’s motivation and encouragement is equally important as the presence of capabilities and skills in them. The aspects of motivation are important in terms of behaviours and class activities that provide an effective means of academic growth and development of children. The motivational attributes are defined to be extrinsic and intrinsic which mainly involve tangible rewards, praises, and personally challenging tasks in the classrooms respectively.

For motivating the students to outperform in-class activities, most of the teachers unanimously agreed to the effects of delayed feedback and referral system to be the main factor affecting the motivation among the students. The role of instant feedback and interaction has a long-term effect on the learning and development of students personally. Similarly, the aspects of group learning is another factor if not adequately applied in the classroom then it will lead to de-motivate the students and reduces the impact in terms of creating a positive and collaborative environment.

The teachers signified the importance of class engagement for the students by means of tangible and tangible attributes. Most of the teachers believed to understand the scope of the tangible basis of the reward-based system in the form of awards, certificates, gifts etc, however, to some of them the intangible rewards are found to have long-term effects on the personal and academic development of the students. Among the various intangible reward attributes, the impact of scholarship and encouragement notes and praises with respect to class participation has presented subjective outcomes long-term standing for students.

Students seem to learn more in the context of intrinsic motivation as specified by most of the teachers. The guidance on the basis of intrinsic reward based system encourages the students to participate in the class activities in the most effective manner. The rewards-based system in the sense of both intrinsic and extrinsic attributes formulates the basis of displaying the number of behaviours that help in contributing to academic learning. Most importantly, the student motivated based on rewards are found to be deeply involved in whatever they go along with the feeling of joy and happiness. Not only this, it helps them seeking out for new challenges with the behaviour of conquering them in their own way.  

Conclusion

Teacher’s praises are the important element with respect to student’s motivation and class engagement. The behaviour and performance specific behaviours tend to play an important role in developing the students personally and academically. Teacher’s praise is effective in terms of motivating the students with respect to goal setting, acquisition and accuracy for selecting challenges as well as promoting fluency in responding followed by the evaluation of external standards.

The use of positive reinforcement attributes encourages the students to involve in-class activities more. Most of the teachers mentioned that impact of the reward based system on student’s motivation specifically such as ice-cream coupons, free time etc tend to show a short-term impact on the behaviours however, the simultaneous presence of intrinsic reward system in the sense of personal praises and recognition from the teachers. It is also noted that each student displayed motivational attributes based on different reward based system hence; the implication of any single type of reward system in the class would be problematic.

As per the above-mentioned analysis, almost more than half of the students seemed to show satisfaction with the respective initiative their school has applied in reference to reward based system. The implication of reward-based system is mostly in the context of intrinsic attributes which provides an effective means of having a long-term sense of contentment and satisfaction. The individual requirement of a reward-based system has been obvious based on analysing the behaviours of the students who do not agree in this respect. To them, student prefers different rewards on the basis of different activities.

Undoubtedly, most of the students prefer to understand the role of communication and feedback in reference to improved academic performance as well as constructive behaviours in other class activities. For that teacher’s skills and abilities are important which should be based on superior knowledge of content as well as evaluation medium for making respective judgments. The expertise of teachers in this respect provides a well-constructed framework for the student to get involved in class activities more than usual.

Understanding the scope of levels involved in the class engagement, most of the students seemed to demonstrate the specific and relevant scope of learning in this respect. To most of the students, the aspects of class engagement are important with respect to day to day class activities that keep them engaged; however, to some of them it has a broader scope of learning and reference to behaviours and long-term development. As per the current study, the students seem not to have a clear understanding of the level of class engagement abilities and learning.

As per the above-mentioned analysis, it is apparent that there is a significant relationship between the school rewards based system and class engagement of students. It corresponds to indicate the aspects of long-term learning which highlight the scope of the reward based system especially in the sense of behaviour specific attributes among the students. As per a current study, the reward system involves both extrinsic and intrinsic attributes hence; both of them are widely effective in terms of promoting the idea of class engagement with students.

Similarly, the reward based system also show enormous popularity among the student in terms of motivating them to do new and challenging things which provide a new prospect of learning and personal development. The idea of school reward system has a long-term effect on the student if properly addressed and communicated to the students based on which they are able to set their prospect goals and expected achievements.

The implication of reward system in the school is particularly based on the obtained outcomes which indicate a positive agreement in reference to applied strategies and specifications. As per above analysis, the implementation of reward system in the school require extensive support and understanding from the students as well as teachers.

Conclusion

The study is based on analysing the scope and effectiveness of reward-based system on student’s motivation and engagement in class activities. As per evaluation, it has been obtained that there is a significant relationship between class engagement activities and effective reward based system in the sense of extrinsic and intrinsic attributes. In general, the intrinsic attributes tend to have long-term effect while the extrinsic attributes tend to show short-term effects. In the light of reward-based system, students frequent the most in terms of class activities which helps them in growing in terms of physical and psychological aspects. The students were also seemed to understand the level and different scope of the reward based system which has provided them with the effective domain of learning and development respectively. In order to address the first research question, the research is divided into two categories which are based on analysing the steps to be taken for improving the reward system and the student’s engagement and satisfaction aspects on the other hand.

From the teacher’s perspective, it has been studied that students seem to be more inclined with respect to extrinsic attributes of the reward system which mainly include the provision of free periods, pizza parties and ice-cream or meal coupons etc; however, it does not demonstrate long-term effects in general. In the same manner, the intrinsic attributes are found to show long-term effects on the student which mainly involve scholarship plans, verbal and written appraisals and the presentation of personally challenging tasks to make them learn new things other than academic lessons. Similarly, the students tend to show strong recognition and learning by means of a reward based system that facilitate them to experience constructive feedback measures and improved performances in the most effective manner.

As per the study, it has been studied that the reward-based system in the schools can be further improved in the context of providing an open medium to the students for taking challenging approaches and measures.  The reward based system should not be generally applied in the whole classroom as each student reacts differently to respective motivational measures provided in the sense of reward system. In the same manner, the aspects of behaviour specific reward system encourage the students to contribute not only in the sense of academic achievements but in reference to personal development and growth.  In a similar manner, it has also been noticed that offering rewards to students prior to action may lead to generate a concept of doing something only to gain reward hence, student’s engagement and motivation will be only with respect to reward and not learning from the tasks. The positive effects in the sense of extrinsic rewards are temporary, however; the intrinsic motivation by means of reward plays an important role in the long-term development of students in the sense of behaviours and performance.  The formulation of effective reward based system is entirely meant to promote the aspects of goal setting and fluency and accuracy for actions hence, the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes should characterise individually for each student.

The child’s strength and competencies should be utilised most effectively based on which the entire educational setting require changes that could show impressive growth in terms of personal and academic development. The current study has highlighted different areas of improvement in terms of reward based system for promoting student’s engagement and motivation in the class. However, the further scope of learning and analysis could be conducted in order to understand the scope of behaviours specific praise or intrinsic rewards among the students.

The student’s ability is the strength is focused on proper guidelines and coaching that he or she obtained from their teachers hence, the study can further be made in order to demonstrate the learning in terms of student’s interests and strengths. There is number of concepts related behaviour specific attributes that should have been addressed by means of meeting the different needs of the students for which the teachers should be able to recognise those needs respectively. The entire study involves only one school for considering the impact on student’s level of motivation and engagement where the scope is limited hence, the data collected from different schools in future studies is helpful in determining the effectiveness of each and every intrinsic and extrinsic aspect of reward system.

The presence of perception is important among the students for achieving goals academically and other than this for this specific teaching method should be evacuated to study the effects of their motivation and engagement. Similarly, the aspects of culturally diverse strengths in the school also affect the provision of the reward based system that must be evaluated in advancing the teaching and training approaches respectively. A reward system is an effective approach to motivating and encouraging students to take part in class activities and help in growing mental and physical capabilities.

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