Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Abstract
Various explanations and solutions have been proposed over the last decade in relation to the implications of students’ apparent lack of engagement with middle years schooling in Australia. In this article we report on responses to a questionnaire by 333 Year 8 students (aged about 13, the second year of high school) on perceptions of factors relating to their engagement with the academic curriculum. We found that while the majority of students reported a strong sense of the importance of, and opportunities in, schooling, and saw English, mathematics and science connected to those opportunities, this orientation was not matched by corresponding positive engagement with these same subjects. We also found that there was diversity in the responses of students, and recommend that schools take steps to identify individual students’ perceptions of factors influencing their engagement, and where appropriate, address those perceptions.
Recommended Citation
Campbell, C., Deed, C., Drane, S., Faulkner, M., McDonough, A., Mornane, A., et al. (2009). Junior secondary students' perceptions of influences on their engagement with schooling. Australian Journal of Education, 53(2), 176-191.
Comments
The authors' final version of this article is available for download.
Staff and Students of the University of Notre Dame Australia may access the published version of this article here
This article may be accessed from the publisher here
The Australian Journal of Education may be accessed from the National Library of Australia here
The Author:
Dr Chris Campbell