The importance of motivation has long been a contentious topic in education. At first sight it seems straightforward: if our pupils are motivated, they will learn better. After all, isn’t that also true of ourselves, don’t we work harder when we do something that motivates us? No surprise then that there have been many initiatives and attempts to increase the motivation of pupils, from giving stars to ‘gamification’, or connecting the curriculum to the interests of pupils. This has not always been for the better. Often making lessons ‘fun’ has led to little learning, or little content, which is especially detrimental to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. So it is also not surprising that there has been a backlash to some of the well-meaning but misguided approaches to improving motivation used in classrooms and schools. Many (including me in ‘Effective Teaching, Evidence and Practice’) have pointed out that research shows that…