Explore the vast range of titles available.

Notwithstanding its crucial role in facilitating desired outcomes of schooling, educational psychology researchers have recognized the conceptual haziness of student engagement as a multidimensional construct. With the main purpose of refining its conceptual definition, this paper aims to attain the following four goals. First, we seek to highlight theoretical, conceptual, and operational concerns about the student engagement construct, and synthesize these concerns into four related areas: overgeneralization, jingle-jangle fallacies, object ambiguity, and under-theorization. Second, we conduct a comprehensive review of prevailing perspectives on student engagement and critically examine their strengths and limitations. Building upon such extant models, third, we offer the Dual Component Framework of Student Engagement, which differentiates learning engagement from school engagement, and articulates the conceptual definition and scope, as well as the objects and dimensions, of the two engagement constructs. Lastly, we underscore the theoretical, research, and applied implications of the proposed framework in advancing the field of student engagement.

Boarding school has been a feature of education systems for centuries. Minimal large-scale quantitative data have been collected to examine its association with important educational and other outcomes. The present study represents one of the largest studies into boarding school conducted to date. It investigates boarding school and students' motivation, engagement, and psychological well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, interpersonal relationships)—controlling for sociodemographic, achievement, personality, and school covariates. The main sample comprised 5,276 high school students (28% boarding students; 72% day students) from 12 high schools in Australia. A subsample of 2,002 students (30% boarding students; 70% day students) had pretest data, enabling analyses of gains or declines in outcomes across the school year. Results indicated predominant parity between boarding and day students on most outcome factors, some modest positive results favoring boarding students, and no notable differences in gains or declines on outcomes between boarders and day students over the course of one academic year. Implications for researchers, the boarding sector, parents, and students are discussed.

Our understanding of multiple goals has been advanced through the lines of research that focus on their pursuit of academic achievement goals and of academic and social goals. These prior efforts, however, are not free from conceptual and methodological limitations. To further advance the field, we put this paper together with two purposes in mind. First, we propose a goal complex model as a new approach to studying the coordination, consequences, and social contexts of pursuing multiple goals. In doing so, we highlight the role of academic goals as the means towards pursuing social goals as the end goals. Second, we proffer a model that explains sociocultural influences on the development of social and academic goals as well as goal complexes. To this end, we highlight the role of parents, teachers, and classmates/peers in promoting students’ social and academic goals and in facilitating the formation of goal complexes through these key social agents’ influences on the students’ goal-related beliefs. Conceptual implications and methodological recommendations for future research on students’ multiple goals are discussed. Together, the goal complex approach and the sociocultural model we present in this paper provide the field with directions for future research that seeks to better understand students’ pursuit of multiple goals as they navigate complex sociocultural demands in their day-to-day tasks.

This study used latent class analysis to examine whether multiple subgroups can be identified based on rule-breaking and aggressive behavior in school-based and at-risk adolescent samples. These groups were tested for differences in behavioral, emotional, personality and interpersonal correlates. Rule breaking and aggressive behavior co-occurred across all classes. School-based adolescents were classified as having minimal, minor or moderate antisocial problems. At-risk adolescents were classified as having mild, medium or severe antisocial problems. Generally, at-risk adolescents had higher levels of antisocial behavior, and greater severity of antisocial behavior was associated with more problems in various domains. Results differed however, for the school-based and at-risk samples with respect to emotional problems, sensation-seeking and peer conformity pressure. There is a need to jointly consider both non-aggressive rule-breaking behavior and aggressive behavior in prevention and intervention work, as it is insufficient to address isolated symptoms and problems in children and adolescents.

Background With children today being tested at younger ages, test anxiety has an earlier onset age. There is relatively limited research on test anxiety management programs with elementary school children. The theoretical basis for this nonrandomized pre-post intervention study is grounded in cognitive and behavioral interventions for test anxiety found to be efficacious with children. Objective The purpose is to examine the impact of a school-based test anxiety prevention program on a sample of Singaporean fourth grade students relative to their levels of academic achievement and to identify active treatment components. Methods 115 children aged 9–12 were assigned to group-based cognitive-behavioral treatment ( n  = 58) or control condition ( n  = 57). They completed the Children’s Test Anxiety Scale and Cognitive-Behavioral Skills Checklist at pre-, post-treatment, and 2 months’ follow-up. Anxiety ratings were hypothesized to be lower for the intervention than the control group at post-treatment. Skills that contributed to treatment outcomes were identified. Results A mixed-design analysis of variance revealed significant test anxiety reduction with medium treatment effect that was maintained for the intervention group across time. There was no change in the control group. Behavioral skills (e.g., relaxation exercises, study skills) contributed to treatment outcomes. Cognitive skills such as calming self-talk did not. Conclusions The study provided preliminary evidence on the utility of brief, school-based anxiety interventions in test anxiety prevention for children. It added credence to adopting behavioral over cognitive strategies in treating test anxious children. Children with severe test anxiety at baseline benefited particularly from treatment.

The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) was evaluated with 4,461 seventh to ninth graders in Singapore where a national policy of ability streaming is implemented. Consistent with the BFLPE, when prior achievement was controlled, students in the high-ability stream had lower English and mathematics self-concepts (ESCs and MSCs) and those in the lower-ability stream had higher ESCs and MSCs. Consistent with the local-dominance effect, the effect of stream-average achievement on ESCs and MSCs was more negative than—and completely subsumed—the negative effect of school-average achievement. However, stream-average achievement was stronger than, or as strong as, the more local class-average achievement. Taken together, findings highlight the potential interplay of a local dominance effect with variability and/or salience of target comparisons in academic self-concept formations.

Participation in school-organized co-curricular activities (CCAs) provides opportunities for youth to develop their interests, talents, and abilities. However, would students still reap the benefits of CCA if their participation is not voluntary? This study, conducted in Singapore schools where CCA is mandatory, investigated the impact of CCA on adolescent adjustment and factors which predict developmental outcomes. Self-determination theory (SDT) provided the theoretical basis for this study. Based on a survey research design, the study investigated the role of the quantity (i.e., breadth, duration, and intensity) and quality (i.e., motivation) of CCA participation on developmental outcomes (i.e., school belonging, lifelong learning, communication skill, confidence, and teamwork). It profiled the relationship between background variables (i.e., gender, stream, and grade) and the type of CCA undertaken by 1,190 Singaporean secondary school students, aged 12 to 19. Students completed a set of questionnaires twice over an academic year. After controlling for background variables, CCA types, and quantitative indicators of CCA participation, autonomous motivation in CCA participation positively predicted all the developmental outcomes in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Results supported SDT and highlighted the crucial role of autonomous motivation in predicting youth developmental outcomes. Implications for CCA participation that will lead to beneficial outcomes for students were discussed.

This study explored the role of student (e.g., age, language background, gender), home (e.g., parent/caregiver education), and school (e.g., school type, size) socio-demographic factors in students' school (e.g., in-school arts tuition, arts engagement), home (e.g., parent/caregiver-child arts interaction), and community (e.g., arts attendance, arts tuition) arts participation. The sample comprised 1172 elementary and secondary school students from 15 schools. Findings revealed that student and home socio-demographic factors were the most salient in predicting arts participation across school, home, and community contexts. Age, gender, and prior achievement were the key student socio- demographic factors, while parent/caregiver education and occupation were also associated with students' arts participation. Implications for practice and intervention pertinent to young people's arts participation are discussed. [Author abstract]

Participation in co-curricular activities (CCAs) has been recognized as a vital avenue for students’ holistic developments and acquisition of twenty-first century competencies. However, there is a lack of research in Singapore and Southeast Asia region that comprehensively and systematically assessed the effect of CCA participation on students’ development. Hence, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between secondary school students’ CCA participation predictors towards developmental outcomes based on self-determination theory (SDT) perspective. This research assessed students’ development within a CCA setting in the contexts of their interaction with parents, CCA instructors, and CCA peers. Additionally, it examined the role of students’ motivational orientations in mediating the relationships between students’ CCA participation predictors and developmental outcomes. Consistent with SDT, the findings established the mediational role of students’ CCA motivational orientation. It also highlighted the key role of students’ motivation and supportive interpersonal relationships in fostering students’ academic and non-academic development. Findings of this study also proved that the quality and interpersonal context of CCA participation had a more crucial role than the quantity of CCA participation in promoting students’ academic and non-academic development. It also attested to the value of CCA participation as an intervention and a key aspect of school curriculum that could foster students’ holistic development. Collectively, this research provides valuable insight for optimizing students’ development through CCA participation. Nonetheless, the views presented in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily of the Ministry of Education.

The present longitudinal investigation explored the extent to which physical wellbeing predicts psychological wellbeing in a sample transitioning from school to postschool life. The study comprised 213 young people assessed in their final year of high school (T1) and then one year later (T2). Longitudinal structural equation modeling supported hypothesised paths at each time point, with physical health positively predicting psychological health and perceived life quality and satisfaction. At T2, physical health also positively predicted a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Supplementary analysis showed a significant cross-time effect from T1 psychological health to T2 physical health. Findings hold substantive and practical implications highlighting the importance of multidimensional and integrative approaches to understanding and enhancing the wellbeing of young people who are making the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood.