Abstract:

The importance of promoting student engagement, participation and interest in learning mathematics has long been a concern of mathematics teachers and educators (Skilling, Bobis and Martin, 2020). However, the early secondary school years are also times that can be challenging for students in respect of mathematics, often coinciding with increased expectations to reason, articulate and demonstrate mathematical thinking and understandings. In some cases these demands might reveal insecure understandings of mathematics concepts, and exacerbate fragile notions of self-efficacy and control over mathematics outcomes. This may result in threats to engagement and increases in student disengagement, where students use self-worth protection strategies as a way of coping and dealing with anxiety and uncertainty in mathematics lessons.

The influence of motivation and affective factors on student engagement for learning mathematics is considered as being crucial and complex (Eccles, 2016). Although behavioural and overtly emotional engagement are more readily observed by teachers, more subtle emotions and cognitive engagement are harder to identify and more difficult to clearly describe (Skilling et al, 2016). Two decades of engagement research has revealed that teachers hold variable beliefs about dis/engagement characteristics and how to identify these with their mathematics students (Skilling, et al, 2016). The Engagement framework proposed by Fredricks, Paris and Blumenfeld (2004), outlines behavioural (participation), emotional/affective (feelings, values, attitudes and interest) and cognitive (self-regulation and metacognition) types of engagement. Research from academic achievement have emphasized the connection between major motivational theories and how they are reflected in student engagement in classrooms. Using frameworks that include all types and levels of engagement and which reflect underlying factors (adaptive and maladaptive) can be helpful for teachers to notice engagement and to articulate their beliefs.

This paper reports on the ORRSEM Project, which is concerned with secondary mathematics teachers’ Observations, Recordings and Reports of student Engagement and Motivation during mathematics lessons. A main project outcome is the ORRSEM Teacher Template which conceptualizes the connection between engagement and motivational factors. Using an inquiry approach, the ORRSEM Project involved five phases over 16 months, to elicit individual teacher engagement beliefs and practices through survey, interviews, and collaborative workshops to refine the ORRSEM tool. The tool was trialed in early secondary mathematics classes, (ages 12-14years). The participants included 15 teachers from nine secondary schools who reported: “a protocol like this would be useful for gauging and reflecting on engagement in mathematics…to pick up on any trends and changes in engagement” (M6), and “For observation of precise behavioural, cognitive or emotional engagement characteristics and ways to enhance my practice to help improve student engagement” (F8). The ORRSEM Teacher Template has helped teachers more clearly understand the relationship between engagement and motivation and the motivations that might drive particular types of student engagement. The teacher participants also identified dis/engagement characteristics that are not easily observable but are in fact, critically important for influencing the ways that students choose to behave.

Keywords:

Teacher engagement beliefs, framing engagement and motivational factors, mathematics learning.