ABSTRACT School disengagement has become acritical policy concern worldwide. Taking the Australian context as an empirical case, this paper aims to understand how school disengagement has been framed as apolicy problem and what issues remained unproblemised. Guided by policy frame as aconceptual tool and frame analysis as the methodological approach, the paper analyses two purposefully selected national policies relevant to school disengagement. The findings are categorized into three themes: policy problem, policy response, and policy silence. The findings show that the problem of school disengagement is narrowly framed as passive learning, disruptive behavior, and parents’ lack of reliable information about their children’s progress. The policies call for schools to improve student transition and work on understanding the root causes of behavior problems. The analysis also highlights apolicy silence: the impact of adverse learning environments on student engagement, wellbeing, and learning. In closing, the paper emphasizes the importance of framing school disengagement as aform of educational disadvantage that necessitates transformative policy measures.
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