School enjoyment plays a significant role in encouraging engagement
Student Engagement and Wellbeing
A whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing supports student engagement and builds a positive environment that encourages academic achievement and social adjustment. Schools that prioritise mental health perform better, attract and retain more students, have better staff morale and build a strong reputation in the community. Mental wellbeing is a key foundation for school success.
Children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social, and school wellbeing, on average, have higher levels of academic achievement and are more engaged in school, both concurrently and in later years.
Children with better emotional wellbeing make more progress in primary school and are more engaged in secondary school.
Children with better attention skills experience greater progress across the key stages of schooling in Australia. Those who are engaged in less troublesome behaviour also make more progress and are more engaged in secondary school.
Children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social, and school wellbeing, on average, have higher levels of academic achievement and are more engaged in school, both concurrently and in later years.
Children with better emotional wellbeing make more progress in primary school and are more engaged in secondary school.
Children with better attention skills experience greater progress across the key stages of schooling in Australia. Those who are engaged in less troublesome behaviour also make more progress and are more engaged in secondary school.
What to expect with a student engagement and
wellbeing program in your school
Better emotional wellbeing is associated with higher achievement in primary school,
Children’s attention problems have been shown consistently to predict lower academic achievement at all ages,
Problematic behaviour becomes associated with poorer academic achievement as children grow older,
Being bullied is associated with lower achievement for both primary and secondary school pupils, and
Children’s measures of school wellbeing have been found to be associated with academic progress in secondary school, but not in primary school.
Children’s attention problems have been shown consistently to predict lower academic achievement at all ages,
Problematic behaviour becomes associated with poorer academic achievement as children grow older,
Being bullied is associated with lower achievement for both primary and secondary school pupils, and
Children’s measures of school wellbeing have been found to be associated with academic progress in secondary school, but not in primary school.
Overview of engagement and wellbeing programs
Attention problems and troublesome behaviours have a marked relationship with later educational outcomes. Strategies are needed to identify and support children with attention difficulties at an early stage in the schooling process, especially girls who are often under- diagnosed. Early interventions with primary-age children who exhibit signs of troublesome behaviour may also help prevent a downward spiral of disengagement and low achievement. Young children may also benefit from increased support for their emotional wellbeing.
Implications of engagement and wellbeing for educational outcomes
Studies demonstrate the importance of wellbeing for children and adolescents throughout their primary and secondary school education. There are critical periods, however, when specific dimensions of wellbeing are most crucial. For academic progression, better emotional wellbeing is a key factor in primary school, whereas low levels of troublesome behaviour and more school engagement emerge as significant in adolescence. Good attention skills, on the other hand, are important for academic progression in both primary and secondary school. For school engagement, victimisation appears to have a greater impact in primary school, whereas better emotional and behavioural wellbeing and positive friendships are supportive in secondary school. School enjoyment plays a significant role in encouraging engagement in both primary and secondary school.
A successful whole school engagement and wellbeing strategy leads to:
A successful whole school engagement and wellbeing strategy leads to:
- improved academic results
- fewer behavioural issues
- greater student, staff and family engagement in school activities
- better student and staff retention
- positive word of mouth about the school
- a positive school culture.
Themes
- Building a positive school community
When asked what makes education positive and engaging, Australian teachers and students said that the answer is ‘relationships’. Relationships between staff and students, between students, between staff and parents and between staff. Positive relationships are at the core of effective academic, social and emotional learning in school and beyond. - Resilience skills for students
Resilience frameworks are a way of working with children and young people that offers a framework for finding the best ways of helping young people to get through when life is particularly tough. - Connectedness
School connectedness—the belief held by students that adults and peers in the school care about their learning as well as about them as individuals—is an important protective factor. Research has shown that young people who feel connected to their school are less likely to engage in many risk behaviours.
Students who feel connected to their school are also more likely to have better academic achievement, including higher grades and test scores, have better school attendance, and stay in school longer. - Safe environment
Everyone in the education system must do what is sensible to keep pupils safe and healthy. This includes making the school environment as safe as possible. - Learning engagement
Active participation encourages students to take more responsibility for, and have ownership of, their learning, thus enhancing their academic experience. Student engagement in learning and teaching recognises the different goals, approaches and motivations of each individual student as well as the collective student voice. Active engagement of students is the main channel through which schools are able to get feedback from their students, helping them to develop and improve all aspects of school life - Social and emotional learning
SEL interventions have an identifiable and significant impact on attitudes to learning, social relationships in school, and attainment itself (four months' additional progress on average). SEL interventions almost always improve emotional or attitudinal outcomes. Improvements appear more likely when approaches are embedded into routine educational practices, and supported by professional development and training for staff. SEL programmes appear to benefit disadvantaged or low-attaining pupils more than other pupils. - Cultural competence
Cultural competence is the ability to successfully teach students who come from a culture or cultures other than our own. It entails developing certain personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities, understanding certain bodies of cultural knowledge, and mastering a set of skills that, taken together, underlie effective cross-cultural teaching and culturally responsive teaching. - Family partnerships
Family engagement in education is defined as the active participation of parents, family members or other caring adults in the education of children through: academic support, advocacy, and partnerships in the school system. The ultimate goal of family engagement is to effectively contribute to preparing students to graduate ready for college, careers and life.
Strategies for Student Engagement and Wellbeing in Primary School
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Buy this resource for use throughout your primary school (includes a whole school license).
Please supply a copy of Strategies for Student Engagement & Wellbeing in Primary School Tool Kit CD $49 includes GST and postage
Name
School
Order number
Postal address
Postcode
Send to info@moned.net
- Primary Engagement & Wellbeing (pdf)
- Primary Engagement & Wellbeing Cards (jpeg)
- 99 Boy-friendly classroom strategies
- 99 Girls-friendly classroom strategies
- Being me journal
- Girls activity journal
- Michael Auden's teaching boys
- Risk taking and problem solving journal
- Boys in trouble journal
- Sometimes this is how I feel user manual
Please supply a copy of Strategies for Student Engagement & Wellbeing in Primary School Tool Kit CD $49 includes GST and postage
Name
School
Order number
Postal address
Postcode
Send to info@moned.net
Strategies for Student Engagement and Wellbeing in High School
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Buy this resource for use throughout your secondary school (includes a whole school license).
The Strategies for Student Engagement and Wellbeing in High School CD contains:
Please supply a copy of Strategies for Student Engagement & Wellbeing in High School Tool Kit CD $49 includes GST and postage
Name
School
Order number
Postal address
Postcode
Send to info@moned.net
The Strategies for Student Engagement and Wellbeing in High School CD contains:
- Secondary Engagement & Wellbeing (pdf)
- Secondary Engagement & Wellbeing Cards (jpeg)
- 99 Boy-friendly classroom strategies
- 99 Girls-friendly classroom strategies
- Boys can be heroes logbook
- Dangerous lives on boys
- Girls activity book journal
- Jack hates high school
- Mum #1
- Parents Guide to teen identity
- Strong parent strong son workbook
- Sometimes this is how I feel user manual
Please supply a copy of Strategies for Student Engagement & Wellbeing in High School Tool Kit CD $49 includes GST and postage
Name
School
Order number
Postal address
Postcode
Send to info@moned.net
