Pedagogies of Engagement:
Teachers’ engagement practices in
English and Mathematics at Key Stage
Two of the primary school

Abstract

Engagement of students in their learning is a positive approach to enhance their educational experience. Engagement is, however, a broad term with a variety of meanings. When attempting to engage students in order to raise their academic attainment it is likely that teachers’ beliefs about engagement will influence pedagogical practices. A review of 720 articles, published since 2000, found six kinds of engagement, with cognitive and emotional engagement being most strongly linked to academic attainment. The review found that studies often focused on older learners, while elementary students were under-represented.

This study aimed to explore primary teachers’ notions of engagements, what had influenced these notions and how they affected classroom pedagogies . A mixed method approach was used over two stages of data collection. Stage One comprised 16 semi-structure interviews with primary school teachers. Phenomenological analysis of teacher interviews identified five ‘Engagement Pedagogy Types’ with distinct Engagement notions and classroom strategies. These Types were then confirmed through the responses of 600 Key Stage Two teachers who responded to the questionnaire. A further exploratory study using classroom observations was conducted to test whether these pedagogies were visible in classroom and explore the use of a practical classroom tool teachers could use to gauge engagement level.
The study found teachers tended to have rather narrow notions of engagement and this was reflected in their pedagogies, which remained unchanged across the primary curriculum. Engagement pedagogies tended to focus on other emotional or intellectual needs and many teachers also believed that no special effort to engage higher ability children is needed. Statistical analysis of the survey data indicated these pedagogies may be influenced by teachers’ previous education, experience level and job satisfaction.
Without recognition that all need to be supported to engage in their learning, some teachers risk failing to provide for more able students. We recommend that there should be theory-guided training to help teachers identify indicators of emotional and intellectual engagement, to help them vary their strategy, and which points to the need to consider all students, including those of high ability.