PRAXIS: Southern Cross University HDR conference

Description

Presentation title:
The influence of teachers’ conceptualisations of student engagement on their teaching practices

Abstract:
Student engagement literature delineates student engagement as a malleable construct, involving a student’s thoughts, feelings and actions, which can be influenced by the learning context, and more specifically, by the teacher. Teachers’ skills and practices can actively engage students in learning, support them to be successful in the classroom and promote positive student outcomes. For this reason, investigating teachers’ understandings of student engagement and how this links with teachers’ classroom practices to positively influence student engagement forms the core focus of this research.

This research uses a pragmatic research paradigm and a mixed method approach to collect data.  This ethically approved (ECN-17-238) study establishes how teachers conceptualise student engagement in relation to three key dimensions (behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement) that are derived from the literature. The investigation further identifies strategies teachers believe to be important in promoting student engagement in the classroom and how these conceptualisations impact on their pedagogy. Initial findings from qualitative and quantitative data from the pilot study, cognitive interviews, national questionnaire, in-class observations and interviews with teachers will be presented to demonstrate how teachers conceptualise the multi-dimensional construct of student engagement and connections between these conceptualisations and teacher practices.

The implications for this research are valuable for providing insight into secondary school teachers' understandings of behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement in the classroom. It will also provide insight into the teaching strategies teachers believe to be important in supporting each dimension of student engagement in the classroom and how these understandings ultimately impact on their teaching practices.

Period	25 Jun 2018 → 26 Jun 2018
Event type	Conference
Location	Gold Coast, Australia, QueenslandShow on map