Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

Education is widely recognized as one indicator of development. Student

engagement is dynamic and is dependent on many factors, both within, and outside, the
institution’s sphere of influence. In the first year student engagement is influenced by
the students’ prior experiences of education, their expectations and aspirations which
influence their perceptions of various measures of engagement. In addition, integration
into both the academic and social community at the university is important for instilling a
‘sense of belonging’ or ‘sense of being a student’ which is a precursor for engagement
(Hardy and Bryson, 2009). chool engagement is an important factor in a student’s
school career, as high engagement levels can enhance academic motivation and
achievement (Connell et al., 1995; Fredricks et al., 2004; Appleton et al., 2008),
whereas students’ disengagement may induce negative consequences as severe as
school dropout (Finn, 1989; Fall and Roberts, 2012; Henry et al., 2012). The decline of
emotional and behavioral school engagement in adolescence is a well-documented
phenomenon in the modern world (Lam et al., 2016). At the same time, it is difficult to
disentangle the factors that might support positive development of school engagement
due to the fact that it is both influenced by environmental factors (Skinner and Belmont,
1993; Fredricks et al., 2004; Wang and Eccles, 2013) and vice versa (Skinner and
Belmont, 1993; Van Ryzin, 2011), as well as by personal factors, particularly a student’s
self-estimation of his or her abilities, intelligence and achievement related to school
(Green et al., 2012), namely the school self-concept.

Globally, education is accorded as a weapon which can be used to eradicate the

illiteracy raise the social status of human beings as well as building a nation
(Ajegbomogun & Salami, 2011).

In the Philippines, a study conducted on children funded by the UNICEF in 2004,

presents reasons why some children are not in school (Orbeta, 2005). The primary
reason for not being in school among high school students is lack of personal interest. It
is interesting to note that this reason of lack of personal interest starts early among
those with some elementary education and is considerably lower among those with
some high school education (Orbeta, 2005). Engaging students in school is one of the
challenges faced by educators especially those who teach secondary school students.

Meeting difficulties in a new environment is a normal thing and it is also common

to pass through problems but what is important is to rise above them and to not let them
affect your attitude and school performance. Students can better cope with this
transition once they and the people around them understand exactly what they’re going
through. Saint Michael’s School of Padada in particular as one of the prestigious school
in Davao del Sur caters students from different parts of the province with different
backgrounds and history. On the other hand, the school has new students every year
which are the Grade-7 who is new to the environment of the school considering its large
population size. This research paper will determine the factors that affects the school
engagement of the grade-7 students.

Statement of the Problem

This study seeks to know the factors experienced by grade-7 of Saint Michael’s
School of Padada that affects their school engagement.

Specifically the researchers will provide answers to the following questions:

A. What are the demographic profile