School effects on students' engagement with school: Academic performance moderates the effect of school support for learning on students' engagement

The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to investigate how school support-for-learning, from peers and teachers, influences the relationship between prior academic performance and an indicator of cognitive engagement (students' future aspirations and perceptions of schoolwork). A sample of 4406 adolescent students from 68 schools in Portugal completed the self-report Student Engagement Instrument as a measure of future aspirations and perceptions of schoolwork, and perceived support for learning. We obtained students' previous year exam grades in Maths and Portuguese from school records to form a composite measure of academic performance. We used Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) to assess whether school-level support-for-learning moderates the student-level effect of performance on engagement. Higher achieving students reported higher scores for our indicator of cognitive engagement than lower achieving students. This association was weaker in schools with high support-for-learning than those with low support-for-learning. Altogether, our results demonstrate the importance of supportive school environments in buffering the negative effect of poor performance on engagement and promoting educational equity.