What motivated you to learn when you were at school?

Perhaps it was the hope of a high exam mark so you could bask in the adulation of your friends. Maybe you wanted to impress that teacher you thought was the bees’ knees. Or was it to get on a particular university course or to get the job of which you’d always dreamed?

Whatever it was, many of today’s children appear not to share it. A survey by the Department for Education has found that over a quarter of secondary school pupils are not very or not at all motivated to learn – a significant rise from even a year ago.

It’s tempting to say that they should get a grip. Take primary school. Where children were once spurred on by a small bottle of mid-morning milk and the thought of being caned by the headteacher, today’s school kids are

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