The decline in pupils' emotional engagement with school. How does England compare to other countries?

John Jerrim () and Neil Kaye ()
Additional contact information
John Jerrim: UCL Social Research Institute
Neil Kaye: UCL Social Research Institute

No 25-03, CEPEO Working Paper Series from UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities

Abstract: Research has indicated how, in England, pupils' emotional engagement at school drops rapidly in the first stages of secondary education (Key Stage 3). But to what extent is a similar pattern observed in other countries, and is the fall steeper in England than elsewhere? This paper presents new comparative evidence on this issue, drawing on multiple waves of data from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Our results show that between the end of primary and mid-secondary school, pupils' level of emotional engagement falls in almost every country with data available. The magnitude of this fall is, however, more pronounced in England than elsewhere. In several areas the drop is greater for girls than boys, though with little difference according to immigrant status. We also illustrate how secondary school pupils' emotional engagement with school has fallen significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: School engagement; international comparison; school belonging; COVID-19. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2025-04, Revised 2025-03
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https://repec-cepeo.ucl.ac.uk/cepeow/cepeowp25-03.pdf Initial version, 2025 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucl:cepeow:25-03

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