Understanding teaching, motivation and external influences in student engagement: how can complexity thinking help?

Abstract

Teachers and quality teaching influence how well students engage in learning in post‐compulsory education. This is the finding from research into factors contributing to student engagement. Indeed, a recent funded study investigating how learning environments influence student engagement in diverse tertiary settings in Aotearoa New Zealand found that teaching and teachers were more important than motivation and external influences in supporting student engagement. This paper first reports this finding. It then asks whether such a finding can be taken at face value. Using complexity thinking to explore the relationships between teaching, student motivation and external influences, the paper suggests that the pre‐eminence of teaching cannot be taken at face value. While providing a useful understanding, it neglects the complexity that underpins the relationships between these terms.

Keywords:

• student engagement
• complexity thinking
• teaching
• motivation
• external influences

Acknowledgements

I warmly thank the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) for funding this project and our research partners in the project for their commitment and contribution: Linda Leach, Helen Anderson, Alison Ayrton, Philippa Butler, Judy Henderson, Jerry Hoffman, Peter Isaacs, Jill Moseley, Catherine Ross, Barbara Russell, Gloria Slater, Kiri Solomon, Stewart Wilson and Adelle Wiseley.