An alternate approach to educational reform in the United Arab Emirates : exploring students' motivation through Pisa 2012

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] For over a decade, the public education system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has engaged in educational reform with varying degrees of success. The reform initiatives mainly targeted administrative, curricular and instructional areas. However, student-centered factors (e.g. achievement motivation) were not included. This study explores the UAE's students' achievement motivation towards mathematics to provide a preliminary student-centered angle in formulating educational reform programs. This study applied the Expectancy-Value Theory of achievement motivation on a student sample from the UAE. The sample was obtained from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2012). In addition to the overall motivational patterns, the findings revealed significant differences in achievement motivation beliefs between native and non-native students. The findings were discussed and interpreted in the UAE's cultural context.