The Narrative of This Book

a number of points in our argument. When educators volunteered their perceptions of Ontario’s standardized testing system, this also yielded significant data on the existence and manifestations of student disengagement, too.

We ourselves are also unavoidably part of what we study. We have experienced engagement and disengagement as students, as teachers earlier in our careers, and as university professors now. Andy has encountered them while being an occasional stand-in teacher for three of his grandchildren during the coronavirus pandemic, and Dennis manages them while teaching online courses for students from all over the world.

It’s a common practice for social science authors to make an opening statement about their own positionality of identity, privilege, or marginalization in their work and their lives, and then to show how this might affect their analyses of other people’s experiences. We take up this idea and then go further with it in this book, by explicitly weaving in how different aspects of engagement and disengagement have been experienced by and impacted each of us in positive and negative respects. We hope that this will encourage you to reflect on your own experiences as we take up the challenge of improving engagement for all students, whatever their backgrounds or identities.

The Narrative of This Book

This book is a kind of quest in which Engagement is engagement is both a journey and a destina- both a journey and tion. We’re not advocating student engage- a destination. ment just for its own sake. It should lead to the improved learning and well-being of students, their educators, and the broader community. A single path will not get us to full engagement, either. There are many ways to get engaged. We can and will need to take more than one path. Of course, it’s much better to be engaged than not engaged. But getting engaged is a big step on the way to learning and success within and beyond school.

The engagement journey we describe in this book is a quest to attain these ultimate goals of learning and success. In fictional and historical narratives, imperiled peoples often embark on arduous and dangerous journeys together. Similarly, this book will track the quest for engagement along sinuous trails, where adversaries and adversity are often lying in wait. If educators persevere and stay the course, resist being led astray, and confront and overcome their enemies, then the engagement journey will take them to their promised goal of learning and success for all their students.

The journey begins with a historic moment in education, when we are emerging from one age to another in which student engagement plays a prominent role. The opening chapter of this book sets the scene for understanding student engagement by describing how we are moving into a new era of educational change. This is a time of transition from an age that has been defined by individual effort and tested achievement, to one that is more focused on engagement, well-being, and identity. This chapter asks what is happening to levels of student engagement and wonders why student engagement decreases from elementary school through high school. We then examine how students’ engagement with learning and with their schools came under the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic and consider the consequences of what has been learned as a result.

As any adventurer knows, the first step in a successful journey is preparation. Chapter 2 introduces the knowledge that educators will need to bring along for their quest. We discuss some of the major psychological theories of engagement and motivation to achieve a more precise fix on what engagement might be and what factors bring it about. These theories of human development, intrinsic motivation, full engagement, mastery, and expectancy value have had a considerable influence on practice in schools. We then briefly introduce our

This book will track the quest for engagement along sinuous trails, where adversaries and adversity are often lying in wait.

sociologically informed standpoint on student engagement as a complement to the more commonly used psychological approach.

Educators who embark on this journey must be wary of three seductive myths or misleading ideas that may drag them off course or lure them away from achieving their true purpose of getting their students engaged with learning and with life. Chapter 3 identifies, then deconstructs, these three common misunderstandings about engagement and how to increase it. The first myth is that everything students learn has to be of immediate relevance to their interests or real-world problems. The second is that technology alone will eliminate disengagement. The third myth is that making all learning fun will be enough to keep students engaged. We show that engagement is more complicated than any or all of these myths. Avoiding getting waylaid by simple and seductive solutions is essential if optimum and widespread engagement is to be secured.

There are many enemies of engagement. We must learn what they are, be prepared to confront them, and know how to defeat them. Chapter 4 explores the types of disengagement that educators must battle against. This is where sociological perspectives take the stage, blending classical sociological theory with contemporary studies of schools and society. Disengagement, we argue, can adopt five different forms that often intersect.

1. Disenchantment with standardized learning and testing 2. Disconnection from an irrelevant and uninspiring curriculum

3. Disassociation from the school as a community 4. Disempowerment in relation to teaching and learning 5. Distraction by digital technologies In the quest for greater learning and well-being, educators will have to confront some or all of these formidable adversaries.

In chapter 5, these perspectives and understandings are then applied to an archenemy of engagement. This archenemy embodies all five

separate enemies of engagement in a single phenomenon: large-scale standardized testing. This chapter examines Ontario’s testing system and its effects as a key example. We propose a fundamental reconceptualization of student assessment and provide examples of how this is already occurring in many school systems.

Having resisted tempting diversions and having defeated our enemies, we will finally be on the right track to engagement. Chapter 6 integrates the psychological and sociological perspectives to set out five paths of student engagement, which mirror the five enemies. 1. Intrinsic value: Teachers should harness students’ intrinsic motivation concerning existing and new interests that arouse their curiosity and build their senses of passion and purpose. 2. Importance: Students should be encouraged and supported to work hard on topics that have importance for them, the world, or both. 3. Association: Feeling included in and belonging to the school and community should not be left to chance. Every part of the school should build belonging for everyone. 4. Empowerment: Schools must not feel like places of random adult impositions, even if they are well meant. Students must have a voice in the curriculum, assessment, ways of learning, and policies that define the life of the school.

5. Mastery: Hard-earned accomplishment provides more lasting fulfillment and continuous engagement than fleeting moments of fun. These five paths of student engagement are illustrated with detailed examples drawn from our research in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

The book closes with a short epilogue that reflects back on the nature of the engagement journey. It issues a call to action in our schools and systems to achieve the goal of ensuring engagement, and

therefore learning and well-being, for all students everywhere. We make a promise about the future of student engagement. It is a promise to draw on every psychological and sociological aspect of student engagement so we can wed young people to their learning and success.

At first sight, increasing engagement among our students may seem deceptively easy—upping the levels of inspiration, insisting on more focused attention, or making school fun. After digging deeper into the theories and the evidence concerning student engagement, though, the topic gets more complicated. Engagement is no longer obvious. It’s an enigma. But as we journey through the arguments and examples in this book, and down the five paths, we hope you will not only develop a deeper understanding of what student engagement is and what causes it, but also begin to see practical ways to increase engagement for all students, in your classroom, your school, and your whole educational system.