This study investigated school connectedness, student engagement, academic grades, and student affect. Factor analyses of 331 adolescent students (Years 7, 9, and 11 in Australia), validated a four-factor model of school engagement. The factors revealed in the analyses were described as (1) future and task focus, (2) planning and motivation, (3)…

In today's data-centric world, knowledge and skills in business analytics (BA) have become critical for business professionals to the extent that Foundation BA courses are increasingly being recognised globally as the core component of business programs. However, these courses are characterised by large cohorts of students from diverse backgrounds…

It has been argued that the establishment of single-sex classes for females can increase their motivation and participation in physics. This paper reports on findings from a multi-occasional study among 90 female year 11 physics students across single-sex and co-educational high schools in Australia. The aim of this study was to identify the…

Among a sample of 472 Indigenous high school students, juxtaposed with 15,884 non-Indigenous students from the same 54 schools, we investigated variation in motivation and engagement from school to school, and the role of motivation and engagement in predicting various academic outcomes (aspirations, buoyancy, homework completion, and…

The barriers to school attendance that affect young Aboriginal people in Australia are diverse, immense and well documented; however, except for a handful of studies, Aboriginal students' voices receive no platform for policy makers to hear them. In this paper, we present results from yarning circles about barriers to school attendance conducted…

This paper focuses on using sociocultural theory to support a context-based approach to teaching mathematics. A goal of the research was to explore the opportunities-to-learn of using a context-based approach to enrich student engagement with mathematics. This paper focuses on the practice of one female secondary school teacher as expressed…

An enduring educational dilemma is that young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds do not have their needs met in conventional schooling. As a result, many have left school by Year 11. To counter this trend, some schools in disadvantaged areas introduce targeted in-school interventions before Year 11 to meet the needs of their…

Space to Grow is an Australian Research Council Grant that engages high school students in real science and supports their teachers in implementing inquiry-based approaches using astronomy as the focus. Currently, Grade 9-12 students and their science teachers from three educational jurisdictions in one Australian state are acquiring, and making…

This paper reports on an evaluation of a distinctive university-school partnership program, Curriculum Bridges. Curriculum Bridges aims to develop the enthusiasm and capacity of students from disadvantaged schools in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These objectives are sought by developing a theme in the…

A number of research studies have linked poor school performance to declining motivation to learn, disengagement from school and early leaving (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Kaplan et al, 1997). Research into student engagement distinguishes between behavioural engagement (participation in school-related and extracurricular activities), emotional…