The Teachers’ Role in Student Engagement: A Review

Abstract

Student engagement is considered to be a malleable, multi-dimensional construct which combines the three dimensions of behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement. Importantly, the literature reveals a solid understanding of how teachers influence student engagement, highlighting the teacher’s role as paramount to ensuring students are able to experience meaningful engagement. This review includes Australian state educational frameworks, and considers the impact these may have on teaching as a profession. All states and territories include some, or all, of these dimensions in frameworks that address students’ engagement and wellbeing. However, variations in terminology, structure and definition make it challenging for the teaching profession to clearly understand what is required to support student engagement at a nationally consistent level. Research has found that teachers tend to hold quite disparate conceptualisations of student engagement, as well as employ engagement strategies that are often contrary to these conceptualisations. With this in mind, a key purpose of the current review is to provide clear guidelines of student engagement as a tri-dimensional construct, accompanied by research-based definitions and strategies to support engagement more consistently, to inform a framework for teaching professionals to implement effective engagement pedagogies in the classroom.