A piece of the puzzle to understand the association between instructional support and student engagement

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the variation in students' perceived instructional support and their behavioral and emotional engagement across three timepoints. The extent to which students' gender explained these associations and whether observed instructional support was associated with students' engagement were also investigated. The data included a sample of 1306 students (aged 10–15) and 79 teachers from 15 Norwegian public schools. Cross-classified multilevel modeling was applied to investigate these associations. The results revealed variation across the three timepoints in students' perceived instructional support and their behavioral and emotional engagement. Students' gender explained the association between students' perceived instructional support and behavioral engagement, with girls showing a stronger association. The study's results and practical implications are discussed, considering the importance of teachers' instructional support quality in enhancing students' engagement and learning.

Educational relevance statement

Students' engagement in tasks and schoolwork is important for their learning and developing. The results indicate that students' engagement varies with the quality of teachers' instructional support; thus, when teachers provide high-quality instructional support, students report high levels of engagement. Consequently, teachers will benefit from improving their instructional support quality to engage their students in learning activities. Teachers' instructional support is malleable and can, unlike individual and family factors, be improved by schools and teachers. Professional development for student engagement benefits from including instructional support.