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Cultural Universality and Specificity of Student Engagement in School: The Results of an International Study from 12 Countries

The study investigated how student engagement in school were related to grade, gender, and contextual factors in 3,420 7th-, 8th-, and 9th-graders from 12 countries with different levels of individualism and social economic development (Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States). The results of hierarchical linear modeling showed a decline of student engagement from Grade 7 to Grade 9 and a trend that girls reported higher engagement than boys. These trends did not vary across the 12 countries according to Hofstede’s Individualism Index (IDV) and the Human Development Index (HDI). Most of the contextual factors (instructional practices, teacher support, and parent support) were positively associated with student engagement. Parent support had stronger association with student engagement in countries with less individualism or more collectivism. Other than this, the strength of associations between the contextual factors and student engagement did not vary across the 12 countries according to the IDV and the HDI. Most of the associations at the student level were alike more than different across countries. The results indicated both universal and specific processes of student engagement in school.

Author(s):

Lam Shui-fong    
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong