I came across a question while looking through my research which stated; In your contexts, what would student agency and student engagement look like in the classroom?
- Firstly the author needs to determine what student engagement looks like in theory and according to an article in the ‘Education Hub’ this definition is as such; within an educational context, engagement means students directing their attention and energy ‘in the moment’ towards a particular task or activity. In the classroom, the term ‘engagement’ is often used to refer to the extent of students’ active involvement in a learning task.
In our context, students are engaged in a similar way but it is dependent upon the task and what their role in the task is. When asking the question, “What would make you come to school everyday to help you with your learning goals?” There was a myriad of answers ranging from, “more sports, more trips, my friends”, and then the one lone voice (not my own), “learning to help me achieve my goals, oh and making it fun!”
Student engagement at times seems quite dictatorial as our students want to be at school, but being engaged to me means they are part of the planning, and the learning experiences are authentic and meaningful to what they want to achieve. It is generally believed that engagement stems from 3 dimensions, Behavioural, Emotional and Cognitive. According to Schindler, 2017 as shown in Figure 1, For students who are engaged behaviourally, they tend to comply with behavioural norms (e.g., attendance and peer interaction) without demonstrating disruptive behaviour; for students who engage emotionally, they would experience affective reactions such as interests, enjoyment, or sense of belonging, which are helpful to promote their learning in the classroom/school (see Ted Talks Emotional Engagement in Learning for details); Cognitively engaged students are more likely to be motivated in their learning and go beyond the requirements with greater self-efficacy and self-regulation (Schindler, 2017).
In this respect, our context would show a few impressions of both Behavioural and Emotional dimensions. Given culturally responsive contexts and learning which our students are involved with developing, including STEAM projects which highlight their talents in the Arts, our students will likely increase their input and not just grow their engagement but we will empower them to seek the knowledge. Growth Mindset will help with this massively. However, when it comes to Agency, what does that look like for our learners? We would hope that we would have the skill to wrap our students up in an embrace where they feel valued, and where they feel that I (their teacher) has high expectations and high belief in them as students to empower them to learn and to believe in themselves as learners.
- What might students or the teacher be doing?
As an educator, time is never enough, but the good ideas set in and the body does not always keep up with the good ideas. Developing the skills to question, engage, challenge and definitely empower our learners with courage and determination helps. Unpacking and letting go of the habits which were previously built upon makes us determined just to do more. The constant change of the environment, the rigour to which we empower, the iterations of tried lessons and the discussions and the despair when we fail are all but cogs in the wheel of learning. In our context, we have to work extra hard because of the deficit theorising from Society, and sometimes the cruel adverse effects of generational poverty. Unlearning habitual harm caused over the years, causes more angst for our learners, but only to be extinguished by the glint of hope we can see. “Aim High, Be Determined” echoes through the classroom, “Whaia te matauranga, hei āpōpō te angitu, aye Whaea?” a question worth the collaboration and the time. Never lose focus of why we do what we do.
Reference:
Hargraves, V., Dr (2022, October 26). Seven principles to effectively support Māori students as Māori. Retrieved August 10, 2024, from https://theeducationhub.org.nz/seven-principles-to-effectively-support-maori-students-as-maori/
Hargraves, V., Dr (2020, October 20). An introduction to engagement in an educational settings. Retrieved August 10, 2024, from https://theeducationhub.org.nz/an-introduction-to-engagement-in-educational-settings/