Motivation for Learning as a Process of Actualisation

Registration

Arrival, coffee/tea available to purchase.

Welcome & Introduction

Professor David Murphy

Keynote - Dr Grant Ramsey: Human Nature and the Actualizing Tendency

One of the features that Carl Rogers attributed to human nature is the actualizing tendency. To understand this attribution, we need to carefully analyze what this tendency amounts to and what it means for it to be a part of our nature.  This analysis is challenging in light of contemporary discussions of human nature, particularly the problem of essentialism. It seems that humans have a nature, that perhaps we could not have the human sciences without having human nature. Yet, natures are often considered to be essences. And unlike some scientific categories, like chemical elements, species are not defined in terms of essences. On top of this, humans exhibit great diversity. Thus, how can we conceptualize human nature given this diversity and anti-essentialism? And how can the actualizing tendency fit into a non-essentialist understanding of human nature?

Morning break

Refreshments provided.

Dr Richard Doyle: Actualisation Beyond the Individual: Learning in self-organising systems

Drawing on recent work on groups as self-organising systems, this talk will consider how individual and collective processes of actualisation may align or come into tension. The implications of this for learning, development, and incongruence are explored, alongside tentative links to broader scientific ideas, the formative tendency and the conditions under which order and complexity emerge.

Lunch

A range of food and drink outlets are available on Jubilee Campus for delegates wishing to purchase refreshments.

Dr Abigail Parrish: Self-determination theory and the (languages) classroom: practical ways in to actualisation?

Self-determination theory (SDT) is a wide-ranging theory of human motivation and flourishing, linked to actualisation in some of its conceptualisation. In this talk, we will discuss how SDT's concept of basic psychological needs might help us understand the practical embodiment of actualisation, using the secondary school modern foreign languages classroom as an example and drawing on data from several questionnaire studies.

Afternoon break

Refreshments provided.

Panel Discussion facilitated by Prof David Murphy

Revisiting the actualising tendency concept: From Humanistic Psychology to Systems Science and Practice.

Arrival and informal discussion

Refreshments available to purchase.

Keynote - Dr Solange Denervaud: From Errors to Meaning: How education shapes the development of error perception, creative thinking, social engagement and self-consciousness in schoolchildren

Schools do more than transmit knowledge; they implicitly shape why and how children learn. Through daily experiences of evaluation, feedback, cooperation, and competition, educational environments calibrate children’s motivation, their relationship to ideas and others, and ultimately their sense of self.
In this talk, I present a neuroscientific perspectives on school as a motivational ecosystem, focusing on how contrasting pedagogical contexts, i.e., child-centered Montessori education and teacher-directed traditional schooling, are associated with distinct developmental trajectories. Drawing on behavioral and neuroimaging data, I examine how these environments differentially engage brain systems underlying error monitoring, reward processing, exploration, and learning.
Our findings suggest that pedagogical structures are not developmentally neutral. They are linked to differences in how children process mistakes (as informative signals versus evaluative threats), how reward systems respond to external feedback versus intrinsic satisfaction, and how curiosity-driven exploration is sustained or constrained over time. These processes are central not only to academic learning, but also to the emergence of creativity, social competencies, and self-regulation.
Rather than advocating for a particular pedagogy, this talk aims to foster a rigorous dialogue between neuroscience and education. How can we design learning environments that respect sensitive developmental windows, support intrinsic motivation, and cultivate a constructive relationship to effort, error, others, and oneself?

Morning break

Refreshments provided.

Professor Tim Jay: Pedagogy, learning and motivation in early years mathematics

As part of the ESRC Centre for Early Mathematics Learning, we having been investigating children's experiences of thinking and learning about mathematics at 3-4 years of age, before they start school. We have interviewed pre-school practitioners about the ways they create opportunities for mathematics learning, carried out observations of pre-school practice, and have recorded more than 100 hours of video of naturally occurring interactions in preschool settings. There are some striking variations in the ways that pre-school settings are designed, and in the ways that practitioners approach the promotion and support of mathematical thinking and learning in their settings. We have been reflecting on what these different approaches mean for children's learning; both in terms of their developing mathematical knowledge and skill, and in their developing understanding of what it is to think mathematically. This talk will explore some of these reflections further, and with a particular focus on children's agency and motivation in their mathematics learning.

Lunch

A range of food and drink outlets are available on Jubilee Campus for delegates wishing to purchase refreshments.

Open discussion facilitated by Dr Smaragda Kampouri and Jen Holland

Actualising education - Designing Environments for Growth: pedagogy, psychological safety, equity, and institutional constraints.

Afternoon break and ending

Refreshments provided.