Development of competencies in secondary education through the motivational style of autonomy support

Abstract

Background The aim of the study was to test the effect of a meta-disciplinary intervention based on the motivational style of autonomy support on the development of competencies in secondary school students. It was carried out by means of a quasi-experimental design and lasted for three months. Methods A total of 62 students between the ages of 12 and 16 (M = 13.61; SD = 1.16) participated, with 33 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group, along with 12 teachers (7 in the intervention group and 5 in the control group). The study measured teaching motivational style, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, motivation, and key competencies. Results The results demonstrate improvements in the autonomy-supportive motivational style, satisfaction of the basic psychological need for autonomy, autonomous motivation, and competencies in the experimental group, while the control group exhibited an increase in the chaos style. Conclusions These findings reveal the positive impact of the supportive motivational style on the development of key competencies establishing it as an active, valid, and reliable methodology to motivate secondary school students.