Abstract:

Students’ engagement in their learning processes and school-related activities is a perceivable reality of modern educational settings and is considered to have high potential for school-based interventions (Frawley et al. 2014) that aim to foster students’ academic success and reduce dropout levels. Over the course of the last decade, numerous studies have shown that self-concept is directly related to academic achievement (Marsh & Martin, 2011; Nagengast & Marsh, 2012; Preckel, Niepel, Scneider, & Brunner, 2013; Singh, Chang, & Dika, 2010). Less, however, is known about the role played by positive self-concept in school engagement. Therefore, this study focuses on the interrelationship between the dimensions of school engagement (cognitive, affective, behavioural and agency) and the multidimensional self-concept in the Piers-Harris sense in Slovak adolescents. Another aim is a gender analysis of school engagement in adolescents and an analysis in terms of the type of school attended. Research sample: 1013 secondary school students aged 15-20 years (AM = 17.00, SD = 1.27) from all regions of the Slovak Republic. Research instruments: the SES-4DS/Student Engagement in Schools - Four-Dimensional Scale (Veiga, 2016) and the ASCSS/Adolescents' Self-concept Short Scale (Veiga & Leite, 2016). The results of the correlation analysis indicate a strong positive relationship between adolescents' overall self-concept as measured by Piers-Harris and their overall school engagement (.542***). The closest relationship is between the adolescent's overall self-concept and the affective component of school engagement (.631***). There were no gender differences or differences in school engagement in terms of school type. The results are discussed in the context of ontogenetic specificities of the adolescence period. These results can be used for the creation of educational programmes focused on students with critically low academic performance.

The paper is a part of the project VEGA 1/0765/21 Multidimensional self-concept of the digital adolescent generation in Slovakia and its contexts.

Keywords:

School engagement, self-concept, adolescence.