Study reveals that Year 7 holds the key to keeping pupils engaged in education

A groundbreaking, high-level commission to research the links between student engagement, attendance, wellbeing and attainment, has today revealed interim findings which make clear that Year 7 may hold the key to ensuring young people stay engaged in school.

The Research Commission on Engagement and Lead Indicators (RCELI), established by ImpactEd Group and convened by representatives from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Confederation of School Trusts (CST), The Reach Foundation and Challenge Partners, includes representatives from 18 academy trusts and local authorities from across the country.

The Commissioners, under the research direction of Professor John Jerrim, have shaped England’s largest study on student engagement, which is using The Engagement Platform (TEP) to collect data from over 100,000 children across the country at different points throughout the academic year.

The research aims to determine whether student engagement – the level of commitment, involvement and emotional investment a student has with their school – is a powerful signal of their future attendance and attainment. Based around a fixed question set, the study examines the cognitive, emotional and behavioural factors influencing a child’s engagement. If the level of engagement is indeed an early warning signal, this may be a crucial missing piece of the puzzle needed to help drive positive outcomes for all students.

In addition to tracking national trends, the Commission gives participating schools, trusts and local authorities reports on their own organisation’s results, enabling them to compare themselves to national benchmarks and act on these new insights.

The project’s first data drop has been analysed ahead of a full research report on the findings of year one, which will be published in May.  Early findings indicate Spring and Summer terms in Year 7 may be the key tipping points which determine how engaged a young person will be throughout the rest of their time at school.

Data shows that levels of school engagement remain fairly high during primary school, with pupils reporting between 8.3 and 7.7 (out of 10) between Years 3 and 6. However, between Autumn term in Year 7 to Autumn term in Year 8, levels of school engagement drop from 7.3 to 5.9. Levels then take a smaller dip to 5.4 in Year 9 and then remain steady before a small increase between Years 10 and 11 from 5.4 to 5.5, respectively.

The research also shows a clear gender divide as girls report feeling more worried about school than their male peers. Meanwhile, boys report being more trusting of both peers and teachers and are more likely to have higher perceptions of people at school receiving help to do well than girls do.