CORRELATION BETWEEN SCHOOL MOTIVATION AND ANXIETY IN 7TH-GRADE STUDENTS WHO PASSED A LONG PERIOD OF DISTANCE LEARNING

Abstract

A high level of nervous tension and stress among schoolchildren is one of the problems of modern education. This problem has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains unclear how the pandemic affected pupils’ anxiety and motivation to learn. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between the levels of motivation and anxiety among schoolchildren of the second stage of general education. The pilot study was conducted in the 7th grade of a general education school in Moscow, which involved schoolchildren (25 in total) aged 13, boys (13 in total), and girls (12 in total). The collection of empirical data was carried out using the questionnaire “Assessment of the level of school motivation” by N.G. Luskanova and the Phillips School Anxiety Inventory. To check the normality of the distribution of the studied samples, the D'Agostino-Pearson test was used; statistical analysis of the data was performed using the Mann-Whitney test. According to the data obtained, 7th grade students of a secondary school in Moscow who have gone through a period of long-term social isolation and distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic are characterized by a low level of motivation for learning and a moderate level of anxiety. A negative correlation was found between indicators of school motivation and anxiety: “lack of need to achieve success” and “fear of not meeting the expectations of loved ones and significant people.” Practical recommendations are offered to school psychologists, teachers and parents on the need to increase school motivation and control the level of anxiety, psycho-emotional state of students who have gone through a period of social isolation and long-term distance learning in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research is expected with an increase in the sample population, the expansion of methodological tools and, thereby, the refinement of the hypotheses put forward.