Student engagement profiles and the role of support in general upper secondary education

• Published in: Learning and individual differences 2023-05, Vol.104, p.102289, Article 102289
• Main Authors: Söderholm, Fiia, Viljaranta, Jaana, Tuominen, Heta, Lappalainen, Kristiina, Holopainen, Leena
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Affective engagement; Cognitive engagement; General upper secondary education; Perceived support; Student engagement
• ISSN: 1041-6080; 1873-3425
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lindif.2023.102289

This study examined student engagement profiles, their stability and change, and the role of perceived support in engagement. The general upper secondary education participants (T1, N = 464) were followed yearly. Latent profile analyses identified four profiles at Year 1, four profiles at Year 2, and five profiles at Year 3. Three profiles, disengaged, moderately engaged, and highly engaged, were identified each year. The barely engaged profile was identified at Years 2 and 3, and the highly engaged, extrinsically motivated profile at Years 1 and 3. In general, the profile membership showed some stability, and the transitions were more likely from the higher to lower engagement profiles than vice versa. Multinominal logistic regression analysis revealed that perceived support predicted more likely belonging to the high-engagement profiles. The findings indicate that it is essential to recognize and support students with low engagement already in the beginning of general upper secondary education. •Five profiles were found, three of them identified each year of academic track.•The profiles differed especially regarding extrinsic motivation.•It was more typical to move from higher to lower engagement profiles than vice versa.•The number of low-engaged students was higher at years 2 and 3 than at year 1.•Perceived support predicted more likely belonging to the high-engagement profile.