Engaging the early adolescent: What do stakeholders say about the keeping kids engaged in school
Publication Details
Coffey, A.,
Lavery, S.,
&
Sinclair, L.
(2024).
Engaging the early adolescent: What do stakeholders say about the keeping kids engaged in school.
Issues in Educational Research, 34 (2).
Abstract
The level of engagement of students in schooling has long been associated with the type of educational outcomes achieved. This relationship is very apparent during early adolescence. It is during this developmental period that young people navigate the transition between primary and secondary school and may disengage from schooling. The Imagined Futures’ Keeping Kids Engaged in School program is an intervention program designed to promote early adolescent students’ desire to stay connected with school. The research explored how students and their parents/caregivers, and key school informants from four participating Government schools in Western Australia perceived the program. Two forms of qualitative data were collected from four focus group interviews with 24 students in Years 5 to 8 who had participated in the program and one-to-one interviews with five of their parents/caregivers and five key school informant staff members. Results indicated that participants from all four schools strongly endorsed the value of the program. The research had a particular focus on honouring the voices of the young people to whom the program was directed. It is their endorsement of the program that is of particular import.
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