As a subjective experience, engagement encompasses several dimensions, including emotions, cognitions and behaviors. How can we promote students’ educational development in an integrated and holistic perspective? Paulo Moreira from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation explains the importance of students' engagement with school in dropout preventive measures.

1. Students’ Engagement with School
2young2fail – Final Conference
Paulo Moreira
Calouste Gulbenkian Founda9on, Portugal
Fondazione per la Scuola, Torino, Italy
6 luglio 2016

2. Why are we here today?
Under the scope of the project Too Young To Fail, we
are here today to beCer understand how to prevent
school dropout.
But we all know that prevenHng school dropout is a
complex issue, that requires that we considere and
intervene effecHvelly in several dimensions:

3. Why are we here today?
The main objecHve of EducaHon is to create the
condiHons for students’ educaHonal success;
In order to do that, we need to consider several
dimensions of students, families, schools and
communiHes;

4. Why are we here today?
How can we promote students’ educaHonal
development in an integrated and holisHc perspecHve?

6. Students’ engagement with school is being increasingly
aknowledged as a privilegied plaTorm for the
integraHon of the different contribuHons, concepts and
constructs about the several aspects of students
experiences with school (Moreira et al., 2009).

7. What is engagement with school?

8. What is engagement with school?
Engagement with school has been described as the
students’ subjec9ve experiences of connectedness
and iden9fica9on towards school aspects
(Archambault, Janosz, Morizot & Pagani, 2009;
Fredricks, Blumendeld & Paris, 2004; Moreira et
al., 2013).

9. What is engagement with school?
Engagement is a mulHdimensional construct, meaning that
it is composed by several dimensions:
At individual level
-CogniHons; EmoHons; Behaviors;
At contextual level
- Family; Peers; School; Comunity

10. Engagement
Individual
Contextua
l
CogniHve
Behavioral
EmoHonal
Parents S
Teachers S
Peers S
Organiza
Hons S

11. What is engagement with school?
As a subjecHve experience, engagement encompasses
several dimensions, including emoHons, cogniHons and
behaviors.
And each one of these dimensions are important
aspects for the undertanding students experiences
towards school, reason why they are considered as
dimensions of engagement.

12. What is engagement with school?
Cogni9ve engagement refers to the representaHons
students have about school, including moHvaHons,
expectaHons and concepts and believes about the self,
the others in school and about the school itself
(Appleton et al., 2008; Moreira et al., 2009);

13. What is engagement with school?
EmoHonal engagement refers to the affecHve
dimensions of the experiences with school, including
emoHons and feelings, such as joy, interest, or distress
(Fredricks et al., 2004; Ladd & Dinella, 2009)

14. What is engagement with school?
Behavioral engagement refers to the acHons of the
students’ towards school, including following rules,
aCendance to classes, and parHcipaHon in school-
related acHviHes (Fredricks et al., 2004; Ladd & Dinella,
2009).

15. Why is students’ engagement important?

16. Why is students’ engagement important?
The reason why the construct of students’ engagement
with school has reached a so impressive consensus
relies on its predicHve power of a wide range of
students’ present and future processes and outcomes.

17. Why is students’ engagement important?
- Academic performance;
- Academic achievment;
- Learning;
- DisrupHve behaviors at school;
- Early school dropout;
- Lifelong status of ocupaHon, etc…

18. Why is students’ engagement important?
Different dimensions of engagement are differenHally
associated with different academic experiences,
processes and outcomes (Archambault, Janosz, Morizot, & Pagani,
2009; Ladd, & Dinella, 2009; Li & Lerner, 2011; Wang & Eccles, 2012a;
2012b;Wang, Brinkworth, & Eccles, 2013; Wang, & Eccles, 2013)

19. Why is students’ engagement important?
Because engagement is both a PROCESS and an
OUTCOME
And this fact, puts Students’ engagement with school
at the CENTER of the daily educaHonal pracHces.

20. How and what basic condi9ons to engage?

21. How and what are theb basic condi9ons to
engage?
1. Approaching students engagement with school as a result in our
daily educa9onal prac9ces;
2. Approching students’ engagement with school as a process in our
daily educa9onal prac9ces;
3. Iden9fying signs of engagement and disengagement;
4. Promo9ng and fostering (by crea9ng the needed condi9ons for)
students engagement with school in our daily prac9ces;
5. Intervene on the early signs of disengagement with school in
order to prevent cascades of disengagement, nega9ve outcomes
and ul9mately school dropping out;

22. How and what are the basic condi9ons to engage?
Individual dimensions
Students’ characterisHcs
-Prior academic performance;
- Prior engagement with school;
-Age
-Gender
-SES
-Personality

23. How and what are the basic condi9ons to engage?
Contextual dimensions
Family characterisHcs
School characterisHcs
Community

24. How and what are the basic condi9ons to
engage?
Family characterisHcs
- family’s resources
- family’s structure
- family’s processes and dynamics
- family’s orientaHon towards schools

25. How and what are the basic condi9ons to
engage?
School characterisHcs (Prof. Valerie Lee’s typology)
- school structure;
- school social composiHon;
- school social organizaHon;
-school academic organizaHon;

26. Conclusions
We need to have an integrated and holisHc approach to
students educaHonal experiences;
Considering students’ engagement with school is an
organized and empirically-based approach to students
educaHonal trajectories.
We learn more about what research tell us about what is
eficient in promoHng each one of the dimensions of
students’ engagement with school, both individually and
in an integrated way.

27. We are fully available for what you considere relevant!
paulomoreira@por.ulusiada.pt

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