Emotional and Motivational Engagement at School Transition

Abstract

Adolescents typically like school less after making age-graded school transitions. Stage-environment fit theory (Eccles & Midgley, 1989) attributes this to a mismatch between developmental needs and new school environments. Our in vivo study provides a basis for future quantitative designs by uncovering the most prevalent stage-environment interactions in adolescents’ descriptions about school. Across one school year, adolescents discussed their emotional and motivational engagement. Emotional engagement (i.e., liking) was mainly based on adolescents’ emotions interacting with their daily experiences of teachers, peers, and lessons. In comparison, motivational engagement (i.e., value) was attributed to distal interactions between the self-concept and school as a gateway to friendships and a career. Because unique stage-environment interactions occurred for each engagement type and adolescents felt simultaneously engaged and disengaged, we recommend finer grained analyses of measured engagement. Finally, we argue for discerning time periods of preparing for, encountering, and adapting to new environments in stage-environment fit models, in our proposed model of transition phase psychology.

Systematic literature review of primary‒secondary transitions: International research

“… More friends (Vaz, Falkmer, Parsons, et al , ; Symonds & Hargreaves, ; Neal & Frederickson, ) Positive friendships (Ashton, ) ‘Fresh start’ for sense of identity (Farmer et al , ; Davis et al , ) Friendships with older peers enhanced esteem (Symonds & Hargreaves, ) …”

“… Being able to move between classes (Booth & Gerard, ; Symonds & Hargreaves, ) Increased school population (Cueto et al , ; Neal & Frederickson, ) Better and more resources (Cueto et al , Symonds & Hargreaves, ) …”

“… Challenging work (Mackenzie et al , ; Symonds & Hargreaves, ), being able to learn new and interesting things in secondary school (Ganeson & Ehrich, ), opportunity for growth and development (Mackenzie et al ), Feeling of being grown‐up with more responsibility (Booth & Gerard, ; Symonds & Hargreaves, ) Diverse curriculum (Neal & Frederickson, ) …”

“…Seven studies reported positive transition experiences, namely: opportunities to make friends from a wider group of peers (Booth & Gerard, ; Vaz, Falkmer, Parsons, et al , ; Neal & Frederickson, ; Symonds & Hargreaves, ), development of friendships with new peers (Ashton, ), opportunities to change their identities in the new educational setting to create new friendship groups (Farmer, Hamm, Leung, Lambert, & Gravelle, ; Davis, Ravenscroft, & Bizas, ), as well as the option to make friends with their seniors, which was seen to be a marker of esteem (Symonds & Hargreaves, ).…”

High-Achieving, Cognitively Disengaged Middle Level Mathematics Students: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

“…On the other hand, middle level mathematics students who perceived teacher support during the transition to the middle grades (Midgley, Feldlaufer, & Eccles, 1989) and who benefited from autonomy-supportive curriculum (Middleton et al, 2013) demonstrated higher levels of belief in the utility of mathematics. More recently, Symonds and Hargreaves (2016) investigated the complexities of academic engagement for middle level students at this transitional time, indicating how students could be both engaged and disengaged simultaneously, based on ongoing environmental and emotional factors, often relating to feelings of self-concept. Schlechty's (2011) construct of engagement, including ritual and strategic compliance, is particularly relevant for this age group, which may respond to often contradictory motivational impulses.…”