Theoretical research on the concept of school attitude school attitude, well-being, and engagement

Abstract

Students’ positive or negative feelings associated with schooling, and the quality of their engagement in school life can be described by a wide lexicon of terms (see Libbey, 2004; Stern, 2012). The different constructs capturing student attitudes are based on different theoretical frameworks and focus on the different aspects of school life, however, conceptual similarities can also be discovered. Consequently, the overlapping definitional spectrum can also be a barrier to empirical research (see Libbey, 2004). The present theoretical research study aims at revealing and analysing the different constructs of school attitude that describe the students’ cognitive, affective and behavioural patterns and their engagement in school related activities. The constructs of ‘school connectedness’, ‘belonging’ or ‘bond’ put primary emphasis on the affective and social components and reveal the nature of social relationships and the students’ perceptions about social support and acceptance (see Lohmeier és Lee, 2012; Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Jenkins, 1997). Furthermore, the concept of ’engagement’ – as a meta-construct – encompasses the affective, cognitive and behavioural characteristics of students, but similarly, it has not had consistent terminology in the literature concerning the nature and number of its components (see Fredricks et al.,2004; Appleton et al., 2008; Griffiths et al., 2009; Reschly & Christenson, 2012). The multi-component models of engagement can enhance the complex understanding of school attitudes. The relevance of the theoretical research of school attitude constructs lies in the fact that attitudes towards schooling have a significant impact on student motivation, on the formation of social relationships and on the subjective sense of well-being that affect self-efficacy and student achievement.