School Engagement, Academic Achievement, and Self-Regulated Learning

Iris Estévez,Isabel Piñeiro,Carolina Rodríguez-Llorente,Rocío González-Suárez,Antonio Valle

doi:10.3390/su13063011

Abstract

School engagement occupies a place of reference in recent educational psychology research owing to its potential to address poor school results and school dropout rates. However, there is a need for a unifying theoretical framework. The study proposed the characterization of school engagement and explored the extent to which different profiles are associated with academic performance and self-regulation. With a sample of 717 5th and 6th year primary school students, this study was carried out via the latent profile analysis (LPA). Two groups of low school engaged students—one characterized by low behavioral engagement (5.02%) and the other by low emotional engagement (6.55%)—were distinguished. The majority of participants showed moderately high (31.95%) or moderate (56.48%) levels of school engagement in its three dimensions. Students with high engagement had the best grades and managed their time and study surroundings better, were the most strategic in seeking information, and showed less maladaptive regulatory behavior. The differences between students exhibiting low behavioral and emotional engagement and those exhibiting moderate levels in these dimensions may center upon the management of contextual resources and management of information and help. This research supports the need to approach the study of school engagement by observing the combination of its emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions.

Highlights

Over the last two decades, school engagement has acquired a leading position as a research topic in educational psychology research owing to its relationship to academic performance, maladaptive behavior, and school dropout [1,2,3]
With few exceptions [27,30,31], most of the contributions around the role of school engagement in learning and student performance have focused on secondary education, and that is why in this study we explore the interaction between school engagement and academic achievement in the last few years of primary education
This study supports the need to approach the study of school engagement by observing the combination of, at the very least, its emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions, and contributes empirical support to those theories that note school engagement as a multidimensional, integrated construct

Summary

Introduction

Over the last two decades, school engagement has acquired a leading position as a research topic in educational psychology research owing to its relationship to academic performance, maladaptive behavior, and school dropout [1,2,3]. The evidence is that school engagement is negatively linked to school dropout and positively linked to indicators of academic performance and wellbeing [4,5,6,7]. Goal (SDG), encouraging school engagement might be considered an important objective for educational reform and for the design of sustainable learning environments. Behavioral engagement covers students’ participation in school activities, and in positive activities and practices in the school, such as completing tasks [12], attending class, paying attention in class [13], making efforts in school tasks, 4.0/)

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