| dc.description.abstract | This thesis examined the engagement of students at lower secondary schools in
Finland. Two independent cross-sectional data sets collected in 2010 (N = 821)
and 2013 (N = 2485) were analyzed using both variable-centered and personcentered
methods. The thesis analyzed the associations between teacher–
student relationships, family support for students’ learning, peer support at
school, control and relevance of school work, students’ future aspirations and
goals, school burnout, behavior at school, and truancy from school. The results
offered three main findings. First, the structure of Finnish lower secondary
school students’ affective and cognitive engagement, as assessed using the
Finnish version of the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI-F), approximates
the original theoretical structure. Second, three engagement and burnout
profiles among the students were identified: high-engagement/low-burnout
profile (40.6% of the sample), average-engagement/average-burnout profile
(53.9%), and low-engagement/high-burnout profile (5.5%). Third, students’
perceptions of whether they receive support from teachers at their school – that
is, affective engagement within the teacher–student relationships – were the
most consistent correlate of their behavioral and cognitive engagement.
Moreover, high support from family, good academic achievement and selfesteem,
lack of truancy, female gender, studying at seventh grade as compared
to eighth and ninth grades, living with at least one parent, and aiming to
continue studying in high school after comprehensive school were other
positive and significant correlates of engagement. Overall, the findings of this
thesis suggest that the engagement of Finnish lower secondary students can be
reliably captured using the SEI-F. The study adds to the understanding of
students’ achievement and behavior at school and of the factors that associate
positively with engagement. The results suggest that variation in students’
engagement is associated with at least partly malleable factors, such as
academic achievement, which makes fostering of student engagement an
important target for school interventions. As a practical implication of the
findings, a three-tiered model of promoting student engagement is presented. | |
