Relationships

The quality of relationships within a school is one of the most consistent predictors of student engagement. 

This collection examines how student-teacher relationships, peer connectedness, sense of belonging and family involvement shape whether students feel safe, valued and motivated to participate.

 It pays particular attention to autonomy support, perspective-taking and behaviour management — not as a disciplinary function, but through its relational impact on the conditions for engagement.

School climate, student engagement and academic achievement across school sectors in Australia.

This study picks up where much of the school sectors debate in Australia has stalled — at the level of NAPLAN scores — and asks a more searching question:...

Perceived teacher support, student engagement, and academic achievement: a meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis synthesises 71 empirical studies to answer three connected questions: how strongly does perceived teacher support relate to academic...

Impact of school-based interventions for building school belonging in adolescence: a systematic review.

This systematic review addresses a gap that sits at the heart of the belonging literature: while research consistently shows that sense of school belonging is...

“Unlearning Control.” In Cultivating Cultures of Thinking in Australian Schools.

The best piece of feedback Cameron Paterson ever received came from his Year 9 students. When asked what advice they would give teachers, two responses stopped...

School Staff, Parent, Carer and Community Partnerships in Victoria’s Public Schools.” What the Profession Needs Now for the Future, Discussion Paper 3.

This is the third in a series of discussion papers commissioned by the AEU Victoria to examine what Victoria's public school system needs to change. This paper...

Combating Crisis and Despair. Chapter 15 in Voice, Choice, and Agency for Active Citizenship.

This chapter considers opportunities for education to mobilise student agency, through authentic voice and choice, in order to respond to pervasive social,...

The Teachers’ Role in Student Engagement: A Review

This review article argues that teachers are the single most significant factor in student engagement, and that a persistent gap between what teachers know...

How teachers can support students’ agentic engagement

This study makes the case for change by highlighting how teacher motivating styles (autonomy supportive, indifferent, controlling) impact student motivation...

A Multidimensional and Multilevel Examination of Student Engagement and Secondary School Teachers’ Use of Classroom Management Practices

This large-scale quantitative study investigated how secondary school teachers' classroom management practices relate to multiple dimensions of student...