Aspects of Learning Motivation of Adults with Intellectual Disability

Abstract This article examines the motivation of adults with intellectual disabilities who participate in the “Come to College!” regular educational program. This program has been implemented at the Department of Social Work and Special Education of the Faculty of Science, Humanities and Education of the Technical University of Liberec by teachers in tandem teaching together with their students since March 9, 2023. The activation program follows the trend of sustainable lifelong learning. It mainly aims to increase motivation to learn, continuous development of cognitive abilities, social interaction, and strengthening self-awareness in people with intellectual disabilities. The research is based on the reflections of these individuals in their second year of regular attendance at the university. In this paper, we present a qualitative research investigation conducted as a focus group to determine the views of adults with intellectual disabilities involved in the “Come to College!” program about education and also to define the factors that influence these people’s motivation to learn from their own perspective. The data collected were coded using thematic analysis and evaluated in the context of the three pre-defined research questions.