Earlier this year, all our students completed a questionnaire, “Me and My School Survey” about student engagement in their learning at our school. This survey has been developed by NZCER (NZ Council for Educational Research) and is standardised across all schools in NZ.

Research shows that student engagement is associated with positive academic and health outcomes and that changes in school policies and practices can influence engagement.

Student engagement was measured by students answering questions such as these: participation in school and learning, staying on task in class, contributing to activities at school, liking school, feeling valued by their teachers, commitment to learning etc. The students answered the questions on a 4 point scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree and strongly agree) to show their level of agreement with each statement.

Some of the results are:

Overall student engagement

• Year 7: All classes are at (one class) or above the national norm for Year 7 students (one class well above)
  
• Year 8: All classes above the national norm for Year 8 students (one class well above)
  

Gender:

• Year 7: Boys are a little less engaged than girls
  
• Year 8: Boys are very slightly less engaged than girls
  

Engagement in reading:

• Year 7: Girls are decisively more engaged than boys
  
• Year 8: Girls are a bit more engaged than boys
  

Maori students

Year 7 Maori students are a little less engaged in their learning than Year 8 Maori students

Overall Maori and non Maori students’ engagement is extremely similar

Some individual items that were above the reference sample norms for Year 7 and Year 8:

· I am proud to be at this school

· I think it is important to behave at school

· I respect other people’s property and space

· I am comfortable talking to teachers at this school about problems

· I feel like I am making progress

· I find it easy to concentrate in my class

· I talk to other people about what I am learning at school

· My family’s culture is respected by the teachers

These are very pleasing results and confirm that our students overall are highly engaged in their learning at our school. This engagement increases in Year 8.

Next steps

Identify why Year 7 Maori students are less engaged than Year 8 Maori students.

Develop ways to engage Year 7 boys more in reading.

Finally, a reminder about helping us on our Careers morning which is coming up. Our students love to hear about your job so please complete the form and come along and talk about your career journey.