Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2015
Student motivation as an organised system of relations between the self and learning involves a set of beliefs and intentions that function as motives for action. The present research programme proposes that students in formal leaming settings come equipped with particular views of what school learning is all about, the purpose of their learning, and of themselves as learners. Findings from a longitudinal study investigating student motivation as expressed in curiosity and approaches to school learning are described. The ways adolescents connect themselves (or fail to connect themselves) with their learning are examined in two cohorts of female students assessed in Years 7, 9, and 11.