Persistance in french secondary education – PERSCOL

This project focuses on the sustained motivation (persistance) of learners in distance learning in secondary education in France, and more precisely among students over the age of 16 (in vocational tracks) whereas almost all the studies concerning the topic are related to higher education. We want to identify the factors that contribute to students’ sustained motivation in their distant studies, by adopting a multifactorial and interdisciplinary approach (information and communication sciences, educational sciences, psychology). We will study the motivation factors following two dimensions: 1. Psychosocial, regarding students as psychological beings, taking into account the impact of social relationships. 2. Practical: to understand how students engage in their learning activities, organize them, mobilize resources (human, info-documentaries, technical, etc.), within their own eco-system of apprenticeship. The research participants are students from CNED and AgroSup (who gave their consent), constituting a potential sample of several thousand students. We plan a longitudinal approach by evaluating sustained motivation and the influencing factors on a regular basis (in particular, identifying the periods of time when motivation falls or increases and the reasons for these changes); the methods used are mixed (questionnaires, interviews, audio or written logbooks).