Junior Secondary Students' Perceptions of Influences on Their Engagement with Schooling

Various explanations and solutions have been proposed over the last decade in relation to the implications of students' apparent lack of engagement with middle years schooling in Australia. This article reports on responses to a questionnaire by 333 Year 8 students (aged about 13, in the second year of high school) on perceptions of factors relating to their engagement with the academic curriculum. While the majority of students reported a strong sense of the importance of, and opportunities in, schooling, and saw English, mathematics and science connected to those opportunities, this orientation was not matched by corresponding positive engagement with these same subjects. There was diversity in the responses of students, and it is recommended that schools take steps to identify individual students' perceptions of factors influencing their engagement, and where appropriate, deal with those perceptions.

[1]  N. Goren-Inbar,et al.  Framework of Research , 2010 .

[2]  Janet Taylor,et al.  Life chances at 16 Life Chances Study stage 8 , 2008 .

[3]  Student engagement in the middle years: A year 8 case study , 2007 .

[4]  R. Azevedo,et al.  A Theoretical Review of Winne and Hadwin’s Model of Self-Regulated Learning: New Perspectives and Directions , 2007 .

[5]  Lisa K. Hunter.  Machinations in the middle [Editorial.] , 2007 .

[6]  K. Main,et al.  A framework for research into Australian middle school practice , 2007 .

[7]  Peter Sullivan,et al.  Eliciting positive student motivation for learning mathematics , 2007 .

[8]  M. Boekaerts,et al.  How Far Have We Moved Toward the Integration of Theory and Practice in Self-Regulation? , 2006 .

[9]  P. Sullivan,et al.  Perhaps the Decision of Some Students not to Engage in Learning Mathematics in School is Deliberate , 2006 .

[10]  Andrew J. Martin,et al.  Academic resilience and its psychological and educational correlates: A construct validity approach , 2006 .

[11]  V. Prain,et al.  Student Engagement in the Middle Years :Describing Influences and Possible Teacher Actions , 2006 .

[12]  J. Onyx,et al.  Social Capital: A Rural Youth Perspective , 2005 .

[13]  Jennifer A. Fredricks,et al.  School Engagement: Potential of the Concept, State of the Evidence , 2004 .

[14]  Cushla Kapitzke,et al.  Beyond the middle: A report about Literacy and Numeracy Development of Target Group STudents in the Middle Years of Schooling. , 2003 .

[15]  Deborah Bybee,et al.  A possible selves intervention to enhance school involvement. , 2002, Journal of adolescence.

[16]  B. Zimmerman.  Theories of Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: An Overview and Analysis , 2001 .

[17]  A. Elliot.  Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals , 1999 .

[18]  C. Dweck.  Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. Essays in Social Psychology. , 1999 .

[19]  M. Boekaerts.  Coping in context: Goal frustration and goal ambivalence in relation to academic and interpersonal goals. , 1999 .

[20]  John McCormick,et al.  Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Components of Musical Practice , 1999 .

[21]  J. Beane,et al.  Democratic schools : lessons from the chalk face , 1995 .

[22]  Carole A. Ames.  Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. , 1992 .

[23]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. , 1990 .

[24]  B. Zimmerman,et al.  Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Theory, research, and practice. , 1989 .

[25]  L. Delpit.  The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children , 1988 .

[26]  Anne Cockburn,et al.  Understanding the Mathematics Teacher: A Study of Practice in First Schools , 1987 .