Can educational engagement prevent Early School Leaving? Unpacking the school’s effect on educational success

Abstract

There is growing evidence that school engagement, or more specifically disengagement, is a key indicator for predicting Early School Leaving. The aim of this article is to explore the impact of secondary schools in student (dis)engagement and subsequent opportunities to succeed in school. Drawing on data from a qualitative study in five secondary schools in Barcelona, the article discusses the role of school context in inhibiting or facilitating school engagement by exploring compositional effects, organisational and pedagogical practices, and teachers' expectations. To do so a twofold perspective is adopted: firstly we look at the main school features and their impact on students' educational opportunities; and secondly a systematic analysis of the dimensions of school engagement (behavioural, emotional, and cognitive) is carried out. As a result, the article contributes to the identification of the most significant variables at school level that influence student engagement and their opportunities for school success.

Student Disaffection: The Contribution of Greek In-service Kindergarten Teachers in Engaging Each Preschooler in Learning

“…In other words, in-service teachers recognise that student engagement levels affect students relationships with classmates and teacher, confirming the existing literature [3,16]. They also identify that disengaged students have increased opportunities to gradually become students at-risk confirming relevant educational research which indicates that school disaffection is the key indicator for predicting early school leaving [11,13,17] In addition, the participants identify that motivating each disengaged student is of utmost importance. According to their reports, teachers consider student engagement as being the means for the education to provide equal learning opportunities and perform compensatory work.…”

“…The disaffected students risk low academic performance [6,12,15] and so, feel ineffective and marginalised having more possibilities to join disengaged peer groups [10,11,16]. When students experience school as unsupportive, constraining, and unfair, they have increased possibilities to become disaffected and drop out both figuratively (being present, but not taking part in tasks) or literally (early school leaving [13,17]). There is a great deal of evidence that dropping out of school is a gradual process that occurs over many years and often begins in elementary school [18].…”

“…16% of the interviewees argue that disengaged preschoolers need more instructional support since they usually spend insufficient time-on-task, delay or even fail to complete a task and have difficulty in meeting the requirements of school life. (References in the interviews: 1,8,14,17,22,27,41,44,56,57,63,79 [N = 12, Σ = 77]).…”

Parental Illness and Young People’s Education

“…Familial role redistributions of the kind described above can deplete a child's coping resources and reduce their school engagement. A large body of evidence indicates that school disengagement is an important educational indicator and a strong predictor of early school leaving (Appleton et al 2006;Lee 2014;Skinner and Pitzer 2012;Tarabini et al 2018). The concept of engagement, as defined by Fredricks et al (2004), has three dimensions.…”

Constructing School Belonging(s) in Disadvantaged Urban Spaces: Adolescents’ Experiences and Narratives in Mexico City

“…School belonging in these public upper secondary schools seems to be placed on a continuum between adaptation and resistance. There is a widespread consensus in the literature on "school belonging" about the crucial importance of students' relationships with teachers and also with classmates (Tarabini et al, 2018). The idea behind this assumption is that a supportive, caring, and respectful relationship with tutors and a friendly integration with peers, foster a sense of school belonging (Demanet and Van Houtte, 2012;Slaten et al, 2016;Uslu and Gizir, 2017).…”