Meeting Students' Needs According to Maslow
- Steph S
- Nov 27, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2020
As most educators have heard of a gentleman who went by the name of Abraham Maslow and his legendary motivational theory, Hierarchy of Needs. In his 1943 landmark article 'A Theory of Human Motivation' was a study of professionals in psychology and anyone curious to understand human nature. If you're not a teacher or haven't heard about this theory, not to worry lets do a quick crash course! Ahem...
Maslow was an American psychologist who developed this theory on the hierarchy of needs which categories 'levels' of needs humans require to be and feel sustained. These needs are categorized into the following 5 categories: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. The more these needs are met the more motivated a person will be and even eventually will reach a state of self-actualization, this is when a person reaches their full potential. Maslow divided these categories into three areas: basic needs, psychological needs, and self-fulfilment needs.
For instance, if a person has their physiological and safety needs met, their basic needs have been met. So, let's give this context. Let's say a student who eats nutritious meals, sleeps 8 hours a day, drinks the daily recommended amount of water, lives in a clean and secure home, we can say this student has their basic needs met. So in accordance to this theory we can ask, are their psychological needs being met? If this student has a strong, healthy relationship with their family and friends and feels confident in themselves and feel respected by others we can agree they have a met their needs for love/belonging and esteem. Finally this student is able to reach their self-fulfilment needs by being fully engaged and motivated to complete tasks and focus on personal development.
Ha! Told you this would be quick!
Now it is important to know that everyone required various amounts of those needs to be met. I need a minimum of 8 hours of sleep to function, where as another person may need 9 hours to really feel satisfied. You must reflect and really get to know yourself in order to achieve self-actualization.
As you can imagine this is a huge resource educators can use to understand their students and assist students reach the top of the pyramid. As an educator, we try to encourage our students to be engaged in the class through our use of various teaching strategies and methodologies. Using discussion circles, restorative practices, S.E.L strategies, or any other methods teachers use to keep our students involved. This has proven to improve students academic achievement in the classroom, but what happens if the student hasn't gotten their basic needs met? What about that student who hasn't reached self-actualization because their basic needs of food or security at home have not been met?
We can only do so much as educators. There is always a limitation to our professional reach or control where we can make a difference, although I believe we can still try. We can educate ourselves in the various opportunities and community initiatives that can help students with unmet needs. Theres a lot of after school programs and initiative that can be promoted at the school which students or parents may not be aware of. This doesn't mean placing giant billboards in the school, not that students wouldn't want to advertise their latest TikTok videos on it.
Having a direct relationship with these programs by including guest speakers, fundraiser, and personal development workshops or seminars where the dialogue between the program and the student has been made. This can be further implemented by having these entities present during parent-teacher night or school events. Students and parents can develop a rapport.
As stated by Maslow, all the psychological and basic needs must be met for self-actualization. Therefore for a student to be fully motivated in the classroom and committed to learn, we must find effective means to address these unmet needs. Below are a list of after school programs, initiatives, and workshops in the City of Toronto:
If there are any others you think should be included please send me a message! I would love to hear others.
Reference (APA 7th ed.):
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346.
Comments