Abstract:

The aim of the study was to explore how primary school teachers’ classroom practices – autonomy supportive and structured teaching – are related to students’ learning engagement in second grade in Estonia. We hypothesized that balanced teaching style results in students’ high learning engagement. Primary school teachers’ autonomy supportive and structured teaching were rated by two trained observers in 11 public school classes, observers followed the class for one full school day and were allowed to take additional notes of teachers’ practices for clarification. Students (N = 224) learning engagement was reported by self-report questionnaire after each lesson. We found students’ learning engagement to be highest when teacher was balanced in autonomy support and structured teaching, rather than having dominance of either. Although it is not always the case, as a lot depends on the situation and activities in the lesson where teachers make choices for classroom practices – observers’ notes provided us information to clarify what and why teachers did. Balanced teaching style, with positive attitude and flexibility from the teacher, supports students’ learning engagement in primary school the most.

Keywords:

Autonomy support, structure, learning engagement, primary school.