Engagement for What? Beyond Popular Discourses of Student Engagement

McMahon, Brendan; Portelli, John P.

doi:10.1076/lpos.3.1.59.27841

Cited by 127 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Nor do they challenge educators and students to be active participants in the teaching/learning process (Chavez & O'Donnell, 1998;Freire, 1998;McMahon & Portelli, 2004). Of importance for social justice educators, critical democratic conceptions of student engagement are qualitatively different from other meanings of student engagement.…”

Section: Student Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Engagement for Equity and Social Justice: Creating Space for Student Voice

McMahon¹,

Munns²,

Smyth³

et al. 2012

teachlearn

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper describes three student engagement initiatives that have been successfully implemented in Australia and Canada, where social justice educators are struggling with issues resulting from reforms that marginalize visible minority and low-income students. The projects envision student engagement in critical democratic ways. Using different strategies, they are informed by approaches that: respect students, educators and teaching/learning processes; connect on emotional as well as cognitive levels; and shift away from narrow notions of schooling to broader visions of education for marginalized students. Transferable to other locations, these programmes provide insights into what is possible when student engagement is enacted in equitable, socially just, and transformative environments.

show abstract

Section: Student Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Engagement for Equity and Social Justice: Creating Space for Student Voice

McMahon¹,

Munns²,

Smyth³

et al. 2012

teachlearn

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The term is used in multiple and often contradictory ways which correspond to competing ideologies regarding the purposes of schooling (see McMahon & Portelli, 2004). Although explicit references to student engagement can be seen as a relatively recent development since the mid 1990s, there is a long tradition from Dewey to Freire that connects engagement with some senses of student learning; this relationship between engagement and learning, democratic practice and social justice has more recently been taken up by critical, antiracist and feminist pedagogies.…”

Section: Contesting Constructions Of Student Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We would suggest that not only is this a descriptive continuum, but that a move from the rational, through the interpretivist, to a more critical understanding, also approaches a more socially grounded construction of 'engagement'. (Vibert & Shields, 2003, p. 237) Conversely, McMahon & Portelli (2004) contend that, while there may be differences in degree between conservative and liberal notions of engagement, there are substantive distinctions between them and critical democratic conceptions of engagement. Adopting a critical pedagogical perspective, this article seeks to compare the answers of students in Canada and Australia to the following question: How is student engagement defined and enacted within these different environments?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In both Australia and Canada, the conventional response has been to equate early school leaving and academic failure with a lack of student engagement, assuming that the problem is with the students; that is the students that are in need of changing. Subsequent research, although it still finds singular definitions difficult, suggests a critical democratic conception of student engagement that challenges the implications of conservative, liberal, and critical democratic understandings (McMahon & Portelli, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three contesting epistemological constructions of student engagement are identified and examined and linked to student and educator understandings of student engagement. Providing a forum for student voice in both continents, we compare and contrast the various and sometimes contested understandings of what an authentic or generative student engagement (McMahon & Portelli, 2004) might mean for both school leadership and classroom practice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Student Engagement: Contested Concepts in Two Continents

McMahon

Zyngier

2009

Research in Comparative and International Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The challenge of student engagement has been recognised as a serious issue in both Australian and Canadian education. This empirical and qualitative study seeks to understand the experiences of two groups of students; the first beginning their high school years and the second reflecting back on successful university and less than successful high school experiences. Students are traditionally objectified and omitted from the discourse on student engagement. Providing a forum for student voice in both continents, we compare and contrast the various and sometimes contested understandings of what an authentic or generative student engagement might mean for both school leadership and classroom practice. Adopting a critical pedagogical perspective, this descriptive article seeks to compare answers to the following question: How is engagement defined and enacted by students within these different environments?

show abstract

Learner Engagement: A Review of Approaches in the Psychology of Education and Art Education

Kinsella

Putwain

Kaye

2016

Review of Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article critically examines the concept of 'engagement' as it has emerged within two distinct bodies of literature in the fields of art education and the psychology of education. In order to grapple with the heterogeneous nature of this literature, a meta-narrative review was conducted whereby recurring narratives from various sub-fields including special educational needs, gallery education and human development, were systematically identified and analysed in order to clarify the diversity of ways in which the concept of engagement is used within different research traditions. Areas of overlap between the ways in which the concept is understood and treated within these various texts were examined, as well as a consideration of the potential for any tensions to arise between them. It will be argued that the gap between the manner in which learner engagement is conceived and employed within these disciplines is not as wide as one might presume and that rather than these being incongruous with one another, in many respects, the approaches adopted within each discipline are complementary. It will be suggested that with further disciplinary exchange, especially with respect to the role of educational artefacts and social signals arising during the learning process, wider scope arises for advancing our understanding of learner engagement. Background context to the literature review Modelling learner engagement: recent directions in the psychology of educationThe impetus behind the psychological study of engagement has been driven by a practical motivation among psychologists to understand and enhance student Engagement in the psychology of education and art education 267

show abstract

Engagement for What? Beyond Popular Discourses of Student Engagement

Cited by 127 publications

References 17 publications

Student Engagement for Equity and Social Justice: Creating Space for Student Voice

Student Engagement for Equity and Social Justice: Creating Space for Student Voice

Student Engagement: Contested Concepts in Two Continents

Learner Engagement: A Review of Approaches in the Psychology of Education and Art Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About