Students’ situational engagement and its association with overall engagement : the application of the InSitu instrument in the context of a Norwegian lower secondary school

Abstract

Context is considered to greatly impact student engagement. However, little is known about the association between students’ situational engagement in a particular lesson and their overall engagement with school and learning over time. The current study aims to validate the InSitu measure of situational engagement in a Norwegian context and to explore the relation between situational and overall engagement to add empirical evidence about the association between them. The sample consisted of 419 students (grades 8-10, ages 13-16), who reported their situational engagement through a web-based questionnaire at the end of six separate lessons. In addition, they answered a questionnaire concerning their overall engagement twice. The results supported the current factor structure of the InSitu instrument in a Norwegian lower secondary school context. The results showed substantial variation in student engagement between lessons. Structural equation modelling indicated significant associations between situational engagement and overall engagement.