I’ve been enjoying making my way slowly through Disengaged Teen by Anderson and Winthrop.
Engaging young people in school is a worthy aspiration and it has been focusing our attention for many years.
Many of us have hunches that young people are less engaged than they may have been in the past. Sometimes there is clear evidence to support these hunches:
Our government tells us kids are disengaged because of PISA results evidence
Our government tells us kids are disengaged because of attendance statistics
Parents tell us kids are disengaged because, especially in their teens, they often seem reluctant to go to school or to give it their very best while there
Teachers tell us that students seem more difficult to engage and often put this down to the pandemic experience
These beliefs then set us off in the direction of measuring engagement and the impact of any interventions on things like achievement data and attendance data. But might we be looking at this incorrectly.
What do the students say?
Well, the authors, on the 3rd page of their book, report:
“A shocking number of young people don’t see the point of school anymore.”
They produce evidence that the decline in achievement and engagement has been occurring around the world for at least 10 years, well before the pandemic.
Their years of research led them to develop this framework which identifies 4 modes of engagement:
Their work describes the importance of agency in achieving meaningful engagement; a type of engagement that enhances their ability to learn and adapt, which the authors argue:
“is not a nice-to-have but a must-have. It is the price of entry for a meaningful life.”
They certainly have sympathy for teachers who, “are sandwiched between a system that demands preparation for tests, restrictive accountability standards, and parents who insist their kids excel in a system not serving them well.” But they report that, “In classrooms where teachers encourage agency, kids who explore get better grades.”
Whenever I talk with adults about how they learn best in their current lives they often talk about needing to feel some level of control in how they go about the learning, that they are stretched to reach a goal but also have support to get there, that something is challenging but achievable.
The authors claim that this is also true for young people:
“The magic place for learning lies between challenge and support.” and:
“Rigorous research across multiple countries shows that in classrooms where teachers support students’ agentic engagement, kids get better grades and do better on tests.”
The book delves deeply into the 4 modes of engagement identified in the above framework.
The 4 modes of engagement they identify are Resister, Passenger, Achiever, and Explorer. Resisters use their agency to let you know school is not working for them. Passengers coast in low gear (scarily they suggest this may be 50% of kids). Achievers work hard and 'do well' but are often fragile as it's all about the grades. Explorers are deeply involved and engaged in their own learning.
Passengers
"They don't see the relevance of what's being taught to their life and ability to solve problems in the world. Math becomes a series of formulas to memorize instead of tools to use to build new technology to solve climate change. History becomes a series of dates to remember rather than the forces that shape our current politics."
We can move students out of the Passenger zone (disengaged and coasting) by linking learning to what the student is interested in.
Achievers
Being in Achiever mode may seem to be the ideal place to be.
“Young people in Achiever mode have internalized that doing well at school is important, and it has become a central motivation for them. Thus they build excellent work habits and real-life skills : time management, getting things done, doing things well.”
But, the authors found that many kids in Achiever mode are not enjoying school even though they are performing well:
“These students in unhappy Achiever mode are often plagued by perfectionism and haunted by fear of failure. They have the worst mental health outcomes of all students, even those who are deeply engaged.”
We can move students out of the Achiever zone by supporting them to practice trying things, falling down, reflecting on why they fell, and getting back up and trying again.
Resisters
Resisters show they have agency but point it away from learning because they are not engaged. They show this by avoiding going to school, or by quietly avoiding work and missing deadlines, or by disrupting class.
We can engage them simply by linking learning to their interests. In fact, one of the easiest shifts through the zones is from Resister to Explorer zone simply by linking learning in such a way.
Explorers
Explorers have agentic engagement:
"[Explorers] connect their interests to what's being taught...they make suggestions about how to do the work they are asked to complete...they seek help to investigate things they are interested in...they express their preferences."
I’m only halfway through the book and plan to post on how we move students into the Explorer zone (engaged and agentic) and how we keep them there.
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