Sustainable school environment as a landscape for secondary school students’ engagement in learning

Abstract

The sustainable school is important in today’s education system to ensure the well-being of younger generations. This research work attempted to empirically test the different predictions of a sustainable school environment for secondary school students’ engagement in learning. The following objectives were formulated: to analyse the differences of sustainable school environment and engagement in learning based on gender and SES background; to analyse the relationship between sustainable school environment variables and engagement in learning; and to examine how sustainable school environment variables could predict students’ emotional and behavioural engagement. The research sample consisted of students from three districts of Lithuania with a disadvantaged SES context. We assessed the sustainable school environment variables and students’ emotional and behavioural engagement in learning with the What Is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire, a short form of the Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ), and the Student Engagement Scale. The results showed a statistically significant difference in behavioural engagement between boys and girls. There are no differences in sustainable school environment variables and engagement in relation to SES. Teachers’ autonomy supportive behaviour perceived by students has the strongest correlation with emotional and behavioural engagement in learning. Thus, in the Lithuanian schools surveyed, a sustainable school environment is developing.