Associations between teaching quality and secondary students’ behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in school

Abstract

Students’ perceptions of their social and instructional interactions with their teachers play a key role in students’ engagement. Understanding how the quality of these interactions can influence students’ engagement in school is paramount to improving students’ engagement. Eighty-eight year 7 students from three schools in the state of Victoria, Australia, completed a self-report survey. Participants reported their perceptions of teaching quality, and their own behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in school. After controlling for individual (i.e., gender, age, academic grades, mental health) and family variables (i.e., parent support of education), teaching quality was uniquely associated with behavioral and emotional engagement. The findings indicated that teaching quality has an important, but not exclusive role in influencing students’ engagement in school.