Students of schools in Bremen and Bremerhaven want to graduate, those with a migration background are particularly motivated to learn, and girls have a more positive attitude towards education than boys: These are key findings of a study on the motivation of students, which has now been permitted by the educational researchers Christian Palentien (University of Bremen) and Carsten Rohlfs (University of Jena). Surprisingly and in contrast to the national trend, good school performance and grades have not decreased in importance to the surveyed students in the state of Bremen. "We have also found out that young people with a migration background are extremely willing to learn," the two professors say.

The study is based on a survey involving 1689 students in their seventh and ninth year in the school year 2008/2009. Girls and boys from nine different secondary schools in Bremen and Bremerhaven were interviewed. They had to answer questions as how important education, school, school results and good grades in their school-leaving certificate are to them and how much importance they attribute to their school. The average age of the respondents was 13.6 years at the time of the survey.

The results show that 84% of the students in Bremen consider school to be important. Even more than 90% indicate that a good education is important to them personally. When asked about their own learning, the answers of the students confirm these findings: Many of the students in Bremen indicate that it is important to them to participate in classes (85%) and that in their opinion learning at school is accompanied by performance (84%) and success (84%). It turns out that the girls have a more positive attitude towards education than the boys.

Why does Bremen still do poorly in the PISA tests?

When asked why these positive attitude do not show in the results of the PISA studies in recent years, the researchers say: Although most of the students in Bremen care a lot about gaining good perspectives for their life by reaching good exam results, schools still do not make enough use of this: From the seventh to the ninth year at school, these positive emotions, the interest and motivation of students decline much more than the importance of school itself.