A Relational and multidimensional model of student engagement

Student engagement is broadly conceptualised in current research and application according to three dimensions: behavioural, cognitive and emotional, with some authors also including a social-cultural perspective. The current primacy of behavioural and cognitive models of student engagement, characterised by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its derivatives, is challenged, seeking to redress the balance by including more affective aspects of engagement. This chapter reviews contemporary representative research, critically examining the findings against the author's empirical research before setting out an alternative model of student engagement that places a Sense of Being and a Sense of Transformation at the heart of student engagement, about which other foci of attention rotate. The model illustrates a variety of phenomena that students focus on at various times during their experience of 'engagement' and consequentially the elements policy-makers and practitioners might seek to enhance in order to support student engagement.