One in three students in years 7–9 show signs of school disengagement. What’s causing it?
Student disengagement during the early high school years shouldn’t be dismissed as ‘just being a teenager’.
A recent study published by The Conversation AU suggests that one in three Victorian students in years 7 to 9 are experiencing disengagement from school, which can manifest as increased absence rates, reduced willingness to learn, and a sense of disconnect with their school community. The research, conducted by the Institute for Educational Reform and published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, aimed to determine whether this disengagement was primarily due to the developmental changes associated with early adolescence or the transition to high school.
By analyzing data from over 20,000 students in South Australia, where a reform shifted the start of secondary school from Year 8 to Year 7 in 2022, the study found that students' overall wellbeing declined significantly in the two years following their move to high school. The most notable decreases were in cognitive engagement and perseverance, with students becoming less likely to work diligently, persist through difficult tasks, or adapt when faced with obstacles.
Additionally, happiness, optimism, life satisfaction, emotional regulation, and levels of sadness and worry all increased during this period. While the declines in wellbeing began to stabilize in the third year after transitioning, students did not fully recover to their pre-transition levels of wellbeing throughout their high school years.
Brief written by urgent.news from The Conversation AU's own syndicated text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
