School context,achievement motivation,and academic engagement: A longitudinal study of school engagement using a multidimensional perspective

This longitudinal study adopts a multidimensional perspective to examine the relationships between middle school students' perceptions of the school environment (structure support, provision of choice, teaching for relevance, teacher and peer emotional support), achievement motivation (academic self-concept and subjective task value), and school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement). Participants were from an ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1157 adolescents. The findings indicated that student perceptions of distinct aspects of the school environment contributed differentially to the three types of school engagement. In addition, these associations were fully or partially mediated by achievement motivation. Specifically, student perceptions of the school environment influenced their achievement motivation and in turn influenced all three types of school engagement, although in different ways. Moderation effects of gender, ethnicity, and academic ability were also discussed.     

Factors affecting the motivation to learn among United Arab Emirates middle and high school students

This study was designed to examine the relative contributions of student and parents’ socio‐demographics, students’ beliefs about learning, parental support of children’s learning, peers’ attitudes towards learning, teacher–student interaction and curriculum content to students’ motivation to learn. The sample consisted of 275 school‐age children ranging from 12 to 16 years old. All measures were constructed for the purpose of this study. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict student motivation to learn. Results indicated that students’ beliefs about learning, teacher–student interaction and curriculum content contributed to the United Arab Emirates middle and high school students’ motivation to learn. Implications for research are discussed.     

Motivating young language learners: A longitudinal model of self-determined motivation in elementary school foreign language classes

Promoting intrinsic motivation is often a central concern in teaching foreign languages to elementary school children. Self-determination theory posits that intrinsic motivation develops through the interaction of the person and the environment. The present study investigated how elementary school students’ motivation develops over the course of a school year in Japanese public schools. Five-hundred and fifteen Japanese elementary school children were surveyed over the course of one school year. Self-reported motivation, perceptions of teacher support, need satisfaction, and engagement were measured at different times. External raters observed students’ engagement, while classroom teachers assessed the quality of students’ motivation and learning. Structural equation modeling results indicated a positive, dynamic relationship between motivation, perceptions of the learning environment, and engagement. External raters’ assessments showed significant positive correlations with students’ self-reported engagement. Findings indicate how the instruction offered in these Japanese elementary schools supported students’ foreign language learning motivation.     

Editorial

This paper analyses the experience of a teacher and her Year 6 class (10–11 year‐olds) over a school year, while participating in a pilot project introducing Personal Digital Assistants as a learning tool. The intervention was initiated and supported by the local City Learning Centre, which was concerned with how best to use technologies for learning, and the teacher was prepared to take risks to learn how to use the technology and apply it within the national curriculum. This paper focuses on the roles the teacher played in designing, managing and mediating multi‐modal approaches to teaching and learning, while meeting the curriculum requirements. Her creative approach was rewarded with high levels of student engagement, motivation and autonomy across the class, and higher than expected results in the national tests.     

Teacher expectation effects on need-supportive teaching,student motivation,and engagement: a self-determination perspective

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that teachers differentiate their behaviour based on their expectations of students. Self-determination theory (SDT) makes explicit how teacher behaviour relates to students’ motivation and engagement, namely, via need-supportive teaching. In the present study, we combined both research traditions and examined associations of teacher expectations with need-supportive teaching and thereby students’ motivation and engagement. Two-hundred-and-seventy-six secondary school students and their teachers (N?=?11) completed questionnaires. The results indicated that teacher expectations were moderately but positively associated with students’ intrinsic motivation and engagement, and negatively with amotivation. These relationships were fully mediated, although with small effect sizes, by need-supportive teaching. These findings highlight the value of combining research on teacher expectations and SDT, to gain further understanding of how teacher expectations may cause teachers to provide more need support to some students than to others, thereby affecting students’ motivation and engagement.     

A preliminary analysis of teacher perceptions of the effects of NAPLAN on pedagogy and curriculum

This paper reports preliminary survey findings of Western Australian and South Australian teacher perceptions of the impact of NAPLAN on curriculum and pedagogy in their classroom and school. The paper examines how teachers perceive the effects of NAPLAN on curriculum and pedagogy and whether these perceptions mediated by the teacher’s gender, the socioeconomics of the school, the State and the school system in which the teacher works. Teachers report that they are either choosing or being instructed to teach to the test, that this results in less time being spent on other curriculum areas and that these effects contribute in a negative way to the class environment and the engagement of students. This largely agrees with a body of international research that suggests that high-stakes literacy and numeracy tests often results in unintended consequences such as a narrow curriculum focus, a return to teacher-centred instruction and a decrease in motivation. Analysis suggests there is a relationship between participant responses to the effect of NAPLAN on curriculum based on the characteristics of which State the teacher taught in, the socioeconomic status of the school and the school system in which they were employed (State, Catholic, and Independent).     

Effects of naturally existing peer groups on changes in academic engagement in a cohort of sixth graders

This study examined the effects of peer groups on changes in academic engagement in 11- to 13-year-old children. From the entire cohort of 366 sixth graders in a town, 87% participated at the beginning and end of the school year. Peer groups were assessed using socio-cognitive mapping; as an indicator of motivation, teachers reported on students' classroom engagement. Peer groups were homogeneous in terms of engagement, and despite considerable member turnover across time, their motivational composition remained fairly intact. Peer group engagement levels in the fall predicted changes in children's motivation across time. Although the magnitude of effects was relatively small, evidence for group influences persisted when controlling for peer selection and the influence of teacher and parent involvement.     

Developing Curriculum Leadership in Schools: Hong Kong perspectives

This study is designed to investigate the impact of school‐based curriculum development teams on teacher development within the tradition of school‐based curriculum development in a primary school in Hong Kong. Teacher interviews were used to evaluate the extent that teacher engagement in curriculum decision‐making processes within two school‐based curriculum development teams has led to teacher professional development which were triangulated with the videotaped meetings and tryout lessons. Qualitative evidence has revealed positively that participating teachers have developed themselves professionally through the process of planning, experimenting and reflecting (PER model) upon curriculum practice and innovation under certain conditions. However, the complexity of the structures and processes that were established for involving teachers in curriculum decision‐making processes needs further empirical and theoretical work. This paper only looks at data relating to teacher development in curriculum leadership collected in the second action cycle of the project from January to June 2005.     

Pathways to Parental Engagement: Contributions of Parents,Teachers, and Schools in Cultural Context

Research Findings: This study examined correlates of parents’ reported school engagement in an ethnically diverse, rural sample (N = 346) of parents and teachers in kindergarten through Grade 2. Of particular interest were role expectations and family–school relationships in American Indian families, who historically have been marginalized by schools. In terms of role expectations, parents and teachers agreed that they should support each other’s roles, parents should have more responsibility than schools for teaching social skills, and families and schools should have shared responsibility for children’s academic success. Teachers had higher expectations than parents for parent engagement, which in turn was greater when parent–teacher communication was more frequent and the school climate was more welcoming. American Indian parents more strongly endorsed a separation of family and school roles and felt less welcomed at school; ethnicity moderated correlates of reported parent engagement. Practice or Policy: These findings have practical promise given that parent–teacher communication, school climate, and role expectations are more easily altered than are structural barriers that also may hinder parents’ involvement in supporting their children’s early education.     

An Integrative View of School Functioning: Transactions Between Self‐Regulation,School Engagement,and Teacher–Child Relationship Quality

This study investigates the dynamic interplay between teacher–child relationship quality and children's behaviors across kindergarten and first grade to predict academic competence in first grade. Using a sample of 338 ethnically diverse 5‐year‐old children, nested path analytic models were conducted to examine bidirectional pathways between children's behaviors and teacher–child relationship quality. Low self‐regulation in kindergarten fall, as indexed by inattention and impulsive behaviors, predicted more conflict with teachers in kindergarten spring and this effect persisted into first grade. Conflict and low self‐regulation jointly predicted decreases in school engagement which in turn predicted first‐grade academic competence. Findings illustrate the importance of considering transactions between self‐regulation, teacher–child relationship quality, and school engagement in predicting academic competence.     

Observed Emotional and Behavioral Indicators of Motivation Predict School Readiness in Head Start Graduates

Emotions and behaviors observed during challenging tasks are hypothesized to be valuable indicators of young children's motivation, the assessment of which may be particularly important for children at risk for school failure. The current study demonstrated reliability and concurrent validity of a new observational assessment of motivation in young children. Head Start graduates completed challenging puzzle and trivia tasks during their kindergarten year. Children's emotion expression and task engagement were assessed based on their observed facial and verbal expressions and behavioral cues. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that observed persistence and shame predicted teacher ratings of children's academic achievement, whereas interest, anxiety, pride, shame, and persistence predicted children's social skills and learning-related behaviors. Children's emotional and behavioral responses to challenge thus appeared to be important indicators of school success. Observation of such responses may be a useful and valid alternative to self-report measures of motivation at this age.     

Student intrinsic motivation,science teaching practices and student learning

Conclusion This paper has been concerned with the application of basic understandings about intrinsic motivation and curiosity behaviour to the teaching of science, and in particular senior high school biology. The important role of student knowledge in the generation, maintenance and resolution of cognitive conflict is congruent with the renewed interest in studying students' everyday knowledge of curriculum content. However the study of classroom teaching processes in terms of their facilitation of intrinsic motivation is not common. Yet the data collected in this study demonstrates the importance of closely examining the implementation of courses such as the Web of Life, if the arousal of intrinsic motivation is an intended student outcome. Both interview and observational data indicated that the teaching styles adopted by teachers in this study were not likely to engender curiosity amongst students. Perhaps this should be expected. The use of a wide range of reference materials to investigate problems that arise in the classroom, the encouragement of students to do additional work on a topic if they are particularly interested, and a willingness on the part of the teacher to allow students sufficient time to formulate their own solutions to problems are classroom processes which necessitate a greater flexibility in curriculum presentation than can be often tolerated by teacher and school management. Such processes may be incompatible with organisational properties of the school and the pressures often placed upon students to perform to a high standard on rigidly defined examinations.     

Unconscious and unnoticed professional practice within an outstanding school for children and young people with complex learning difficulties and disabilities

This article describes a three‐year project undertaken at Pear Tree School for children and young people with severe and multiple and profound learning difficulties. Lesley Sullivan, the school's head teacher, believed that much of the value within the work of this outstanding school went unidentified by existing approaches to planning, monitoring and evaluation. Richard Crombie, educational psychologist, was engaged to work on the project. Also involved were Kate Walker and Rebecca Warnock, deputy head teachers, as well as the whole staff, children and some parents. The project takes as its starting point that essential, but very often unnoticed and unconscious, professional practice is rooted in implicit processes learnt experientially. We set ourselves the task of finding meaningful frameworks for identifying and developing that practice. This meant close observation within and outside school coupled with feeding back to staff, and their subsequent engagement with and use of explanatory frameworks.     

“Poetry is happening but I don't exactly know how”: Literacy Subject Leaders’ perceptions of poetry in their primary schools

Evidence suggests (Ofsted, 2007) that the role of the Subject Leader is crucial in how well poetry is taught in schools. This paper attempts to provide some insights on “what it is like” to coordinate poetry teaching in a primary school. Some of the data confirm elements of the findings from earlier research on the state of poetry in schools, particularly concerning space in the curriculum, teacher subject knowledge and personal interest in poetry. However, we attempt to show that, much to the surprise of some of the Subject Leaders, where poetry teaching in the participants’ schools was perceived to be successful it was often nourished by the combined enthusiasm and ‘zeal’ of the teachers and children experiencing poetry together, which in turn was maintained by an empowering synergy of professional/personal pleasure and engagement with poetic texts experienced by some of the teachers while in school.     

Issues of agency,discipline and criticality: an interplay of challenges involved in teachers engaging in research in a performative school context

While the engagement of teachers in research about practice is becoming a prevalent feature of professional learning and career development in the United Kingdom, there is still a lack of research about the challenges of teachers raising questions in the current school setting. Drawing on the principles of teacher research, this article reports on a small-scale study based on the experience of primary and secondary teachers conducting action research as part of a development project promoted by a school alliance with university researchers working as facilitators and conducting a study about teachers performing research. Interviews about their motivations, experience and perceived outcomes revealed a singular interplay of variables influencing the way they engage in, use and share research and see themselves as researchers. We argue that management directives and contextual factors are influencing the teachers’ engagement, with attitudes oscillating between their commitment to deal with assigned projects and pursuing issues emerging from practice. Moreover, entering a research community with its agreed practices and approaches was received with reluctance, with teachers struggling to embody an enquiring approach within their demanding professional lives. Nevertheless, according to the participants, action research allowed them to listen to the children’s voices, needs and interests, and inspired the adoption of a more systematic approach resulting in pedagogy shifts and gains in motivation, engagement and attainment.     

Teacher led school improvement: Teacher leadership in the UK

Teacher leadership is increasingly being seen as a key vehicle for school improvement and renewal. However, research on this phenomenon is limited, especially outside of the US.This article presents findings from an empirical study of teacher leadership in the UK, aimed at exploring both the ways in which teacher leadership can influence school and teacher development, and what in-school factors can help or hinder the development of teacher leadership in schools. The study was undertaken using a qualitative case study approach, purposively selected as being sites where teacher leadership was operational.Data indicated that teacher leadership was characterised by a variety of formal and informal groupings, often facilitated by involvement in external programmes. Teacher leadership was seen to empower teachers, and contributed to school improvement through this empowerment and the spreading of good practice and initiatives generated by teachers.A range of conditions needed to be in place in schools for teacher leadership to be successful, including a culture of trust and support, structures that supported teacher leadership but were clear and transparent, strong leadership, with the head usually being the originator of teacher leadership, and engagement in innovative forms of professional development.     

Reproduction of social class in the teaching and learning of science in urban high schools

The study examines the teaching and learning of science in an urban high school characterised by African American students from conditions of relative poverty. An interpretive study was undertaken involving a research team that included the teacher in the study and a student from the school. Despite the teacher's effort to enact a curriculum that was transformative the students resisted most of his efforts to enhance their learning. The study highlights the difficulties of engaging students when they lack motivation to learn and attend sporadically. In an era of standards-oriented science in which all students are expected to achieve at a high level, it is essential that research identify ways to tailor the science curriculum to the needs and interests of students.     

Is Teacher Accountability Possible? The Case of Norwegian High School Science

What influence does the teacher exercise over their students' learning outcomes? This study investigates the impact of teacher quality on student learning outcomes in science halfway through the first year of high school. A multiple‐measurement model estimates the potential impact of teacher influence on learning outcomes for 1,060 secondary school students (16‐year‐olds), as well as the influence on student engagement, motivation, and self‐discipline. Teacher quality has a very weak effect on student learning outcomes. However, teacher quality seems to influence student motivation and self‐discipline to a significantly larger extent. Further, there is an indirect effect of teacher quality on learning outcomes in science via student engagement, motivation, and self‐discipline. Holding the science teacher accountable for pupils' learning outcomes is highly problematic.     

FORMATIVE,INFORMATIVE, AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT: THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG CURRICULUM‐BASED MEASUREMENT OF READING,CLASSROOM ENGAGEMENT,AND READING PERFORMANCE

This study explored the relationships among formative curriculum‐based measures of reading (CBM‐R), student engagement as an extra‐academic indicator of student motivation, and summative performance on a high‐stakes reading assessment. A diverse sample of third‐, fourth‐, and fifth‐grade students and their teachers responded to questionnaires about student engagement in academic tasks. These questionnaires were collected about the same time as fall CBM‐R oral reading fluency and maze screening tasks. Results indicated that fall student and teacher reports of engagement and a composite score of reading competence derived from CBM‐R screening tests uniquely predicted student performance on year‐end standardized reading tests. Profile analyses indicated that student engagement was associated with better reading performance among students with low competence, suggesting that engagement may be particularly important for increasing student performance for struggling readers. Implications for interventions targeting both student motivation, as well as reading skill development, are discussed.