How did we get here?
It is now well into the school year in the northern hemisphere, and a new school year has begun in the Global South. We are still experiencing the impact of COVID-19 and the resulting move to virtual learning. These events disconnected ties to school, to peers, and to educators. In previous articles, we have talked about the rise in anxiety and the impact on emotional health and well-being in students. Issues of engagement and disengagement weigh heavily; however, educators lack coherency on understanding. What exactly is student engagement, why is it important and how do we ensure students are and remain engaged[i]?
What is Student Engagement?
“Engagement in teaching and learning is a prerequisite to success. A student is not as likely to succeed in learning if they or their school are not invested in their learning. Disengagement, by definition, is a form of alienation from what you are doing or where you are” (Stevens, Cronley, Eckert, Kidd, Liondos, Newall, Pilkington, Rekic and Ructtinger, 2018:1). Disengaged students are less likely to be successful in school, more likely to demonstrate disruptive and avoidance actions, impacting a commitment to lifelong learning (Berry, 2022; Reeves, Cheon & Jang, 2020).
Trowler defines engagement for students, as being, “concerned with the interaction between the time, effort and other relevant resources invested by both students and their institutions intended to optimise the student experience and enhance the learning outcomes and development of students and the performance, and reputation of the institution” (2010: 3). Engagement is affected by personal relationships and connections as well as a sense of belonging. Students who are invested in their learning, find school relevant and responsive; they are intellectually curious, are more likely to experience success and graduate [ii]. For Hargraves and Sahlberg (2025), in their talks to ICSEI 2025, engagement is enhanced by a sense of well-being and belonging. Increased engagement results in increased student learning outcomes. These constructs connect to student/teacher relationships, and the learning culture in the school/classroom and pedagogical practice. The Global Leadership for SEL and Knowledgehook’s session on Education for Human Flourishing has relevant information on these topics, Education for Human Flourishing. The discourse advocates that a flourishing life is defined as “reason-based, moral, meaningful, contemplative, and capable of awe” [iii].
Dada (2024) references Harvard’s Richard Elmore and his commitment that student engagement goes beyond compliance and active, attentive participation. For Elmore and others, engagement involves intellectual stimulation [iv]. This for Elmore forms the Instructional Core linking teaching, learning and the content. Elmore favoured complexity and experiential ‘hands-on’ learning (City, Elmore, Fiarman & Teitel, 2009). These become components of cognitive or intellectual engagement, as students reflect, make choices and meaning-making of their learning (Reeves, Fisher & Frey, 2023).
Munns and Martin (2005) distinguish between school and task engagement. School engagement for them is ‘big E’ engagement and the day-to-day tasks, ‘little e’ engagement.” Many students are engaged institutionally and have an emotional sense of belonging and commitment to their school. Students, who are institutionally disengaged, often experience chronic absenteeism, and are at an increased risk of non-completion of credits, and failure to high school graduation. Task engagement happens in teaching/learning in classrooms involving students and teachers. Task engagement involves agency, inquiry, and responsive pedagogy.
According to Reeves, Fisher & Frey (2023) students are more likely to be engaged if they:
· feel competent and understand what they are doing,
· understand the connections to and the significance of what they are learning,
· receive actionable feedback to improve and the next steps in their learning journey,
· have opportunities to make decisions and have choices in their learning.
Why is Student Engagement Critical to Learning and Well-being?
Notwithstanding its crucial role in facilitating desired outcomes of an ongoing commitment to schooling, educational psychology researchers have recognized the conceptual haziness of student engagement as a multidimensional construct.[ii] Engagement involves learning but has psychological and intellectual implications too. Engagement also involves issues of self-efficacy, and a feeling of belonging and respect in an inclusive, inviting and interesting learning environment (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2023; Stevens et. al, 2018; Stiggins, 2024). Students need to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and to be “critical and creative thinkers, effective meaning-makers and communicators, collaborative co-learners and innovative problem-solvers” (Ontario Ministry and Education, 2023: 31).
Disengaged students are often passive learners. Disengaged students may be sometimes compliant and sometimes not. They may become avoiders, off task, withdraw, appear uninterested, and not engaged in the learning. They can be easily distracted (Berry, 2022). If they are behavioural and disruptive, they sometimes may become apathetic and may simply fade, including manifesting chronic absenteeism (Ben-Eliyahu, Moore, Dorph & Schunn, 2018). Task and course completion suffers, and students are less likely to graduate (Fredricks, Reschly and Christenson, 2014). These authors found that school engagement, delinquency, and substance use can be mutually reinforcing over time.
Cognitive engagement was a point emphasized in Instructional Rounds for school leaders and teachers to distinguish between active attentive learning and engagement (Dada, 2024). Intentionally observing learning, engaging in learning conversations with students and viewing products are ways of pedagogical documentation and gathering evidence of learning and engagement (Freedman& Di Cecco, 2014; Sharratt, 2019).
Collaboration, communication, creative and critical thinking form global competencies for 21st century learning. They also can create learning environments that reinforce students’ sense of belonging and well-being. These competencies have been discussed in previous articles. In engaging classrooms, students can share their ideas, experiences and contexts. They become more than passive participants, feeling connected to the learning and school. They are more likely to become lifelong learners (PISA 2024 – p.121). From the Global leadership Series on SEL and Knowledgehook, OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills - SEL Global Leadership Series: OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills - Findings from the 2nd Cycle discuss the conditions and practices that support and/or hinder the development of social and emotional skills and students.
References
Allen, K., Kern, M. L., Vella-Brodrick, D., Hattie, J., & Waters, L. (2018). What schools need to know about fostering school belonging: a meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 30(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-016-9389-8.
Appleton, J. J., Christenson, S. L., & Furlong, M. J. (2008). Student engagement with school: critical conceptual and methodological issues of the construct. Psychology in the Schools, 45(5), 369–386. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20303.
Berry, A. (2022). Reimagining Student Engagement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Ben-Eliyahu, A., Moore, D., Dorph, R., & Schunn, C. D. (2018). Investigating the multidimensionality of engagement: affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement across science activities and contexts. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 53, 87–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2018.01.002.
Christenson, S. L., Reschly, A. L., & Wylie, C. (Eds.). (2012). Handbook of research on student engagement. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2018-7.
City, E., Elmore, R. Fiarman, S. & Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Boston, MA. : Harvard Education Press.
Dada, R. (2024). Richard Elmore. In: Geier, B.A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Thinkers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25134-4_140
Dolan, E. (2025). Brief intervention boosts grit in teenage boys, Social Psychology,
https://www.psypost.org/brief-intervention-boosts-grit-in-teenage-boys-study-finds/?utm_source=PsyPost+Newsletter&utm_campaign=07280f3c1c-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a44dd6ef29-07280f3c1c-127529206.
Freedman, B. & DiCecco, R. (2014). Collaborative School Reviews. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press & OPC.
Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59–109.
Fredricks, J. A., Reschly, A. L., & Christenson, S. L. (Eds.). (2019). Handbook of student engagement interventions: working with disengaged students. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2016-0-04519-9.
Hargreaves, A. (2025). Keynote speech at 2025 Annual ICSEI Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
Holcombe, A. & Wozniak, S. (2024). Using AI to fuel engagement and active learning. Education Leadership, Summer Edition: ASCD, https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/using-ai-to-fuel-engagement-and-active-learning
Munns, G. & Martin, A. (2005). It’s All About MeE: A Motivation and Engagement Framework, paper presented at Australian Association for Research in Education Annual Conference, Sydney, December.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2023). Language: Grades 1-8, Toronto: ON, Queens Park Press.
PISA 2022 Results: Learning Strategies and Attitudes for Life, Volume 5. OECD.
Reeves, J., Cheon, S. H., & Jang, H. (2020). How and why students make academic progress: reconceptualizing the student engagement construct to increase its explanatory power. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 62, 101899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101899.
Reeves, D., Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2023). Confronting the crisis of engagement: Creating focus and resilience for students, staff and community. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Sahlberg, P. (2025). Keynote speech at 2025 Annual ICSEI Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
Seligman, M. (2011). Flourish. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: William Heinemann Australia.
Sharratt, L. (2019). Clarity: What matters most in learning, teaching and leading. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.Stevens, R., Cronley, T. Eckert, A., Kidd, M., Liondos, N., Newall, G., Pilkington, M., Rekic, B., & Ructtinger, L. (2018). Cultivating student engagement – Part 1. Scan 37(9), https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/media/documents/vol-37/Scan_2018_37-9.pdf
Stiggins, R. J. (2024). Giving our students the gift of confidence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Trowler, V. (2010). Student engagement literature review. The Higher Education Academy, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322342119_Student_Engagement_Literature_Review
Endnotes
[i] Building students’ academic confidence - Kappan Online
[ii] Student Engagement: Current State of the Construct, Conceptual Refinement, and Future Research Directions - Springer Nature
[iii] Education for Human Flourishing - Signature Leadership by Knowledgehook
[iv] Student Engagement: Current State of the Construct, Conceptual Refinement, and Future Research Directions - Springer Nature
