Engagement is a large issue in education. As one research study states: "numerous high school students find themselves in a state in which they do not have the desire to carry out the academic tasks required of them" (Legault, Green-Demers, 2006, p. 567). Research points to numerous factors for disengagement (Murray et al, 2004), which can summarized into 4 primary categories:

1. Intellectual Disengagement: two out of three high-school students find they are bored in class daily, with 75% reporting that the material being taught is uninteresting (Bryner, 2007).

2. Emotional Disengagement: the in-patient admissions for adolescents struggling with mental-health issues has increased by 50% over the past decade in Alberta hospitals and research has shown when the mental health of students is poor, so is engagement (Swaner, 2007).

3. Social Disengagement: only 46% of students feel valued by teachers, peers, and/or administrators in a school and research identifies how educator relationships are a large determiner of engagement (Martin, Collie, 2018).

4. Cultural Disengagement: Canada’s student body is growing in cultural diversity and most teachers are not practicing or feel uncertain how to engage in culturally responsive pedagogy (Sleeter, 2001). Recognizing cultural differences and utilizing them in the school and classroom is shown to improve engagement, school adjustment and performance (Ogbu, 1992).

 

This prompts the following question: How might we, as teachers, utilize strategies that engage unmotivated students?

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This website will guide you to begin to answer this process in a 2-step process that links to a variety of available and relevant strategies to meet the engagement needs of your specific classroom.

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