Student engagement profiles and the role of support in general upper secondary education

Abstract

This study examined student engagement profiles, their stability and change, and the role of perceived support in engagement. The general upper secondary education participants (T1, N = 464) were followed yearly. Latent profile analyses identified four profiles at Year 1, four profiles at Year 2, and five profiles at Year 3. Three profiles, disengaged, moderately engaged, and highly engaged, were identified each year. The barely engaged profile was identified at Years 2 and 3, and the highly engaged, extrinsically motivated profile at Years 1 and 3. In general, the profile membership showed some stability, and the transitions were more likely from the higher to lower engagement profiles than vice versa. Multinominal logistic regression analysis revealed that perceived support predicted more likely belonging to the high-engagement profiles. The findings indicate that it is essential to recognize and support students with low engagement already in the beginning of general upper secondary education.