Motivational Indicators in the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China

The concern with league tables in education extends to international comparisons. In as much as the UK fairs relatively poorly in such comparisons, the motivation of students is often cited as a relevant factor. Theoretical development in the psychology of motivation suggests that motivation is a multi‐faceted concept. Cross‐cultural comparisons need to recognise this. This paper reports a small‐scale comparison of UK and Chinese school students. Measures of attributions for success and failure, goal orientations and self‐esteem were obtained. Comparisons of separate measures suggest no clear motivational advantage for either culture. However, a consideration of the relationships between measures suggests that the UK students’ cognitions are centred on a concern with ability, unlike their Chinese counterparts who tend to emphasise the strategic use of effort. However, these variations need to be understood in relation to the cultural context, suggesting that the simple extraction of good practice from one culture to another will be complex, if not impossible.