XSEED Education conducted its latest Foundation e-training for teachers in December to help teachers understand and develop student engagement in classrooms. The training was titled ‘Student Engagement: What Is It, and Why Is It Needed?” and was attended by 172 teachers from 15 schools.

The session was led by Nicholas Edwards, Vice President of Academics at XSEED’s Singapore headquarters, and Nishi Jauhar, General Manager of XSEED Philippines. Teachers were introduced to a research-based framework on student engagement (Schlectly, 2002) that features 5 levels: authentic engagement, strategic compliance, ritual compliance, retreatism, and rebellion. The session further discussed ways of building and nurturing authentic engagement in classes where students are self-motivated and involved in the concept being taught.

“Teachers often mistake compliance for engagement, and they think that just because students are following instructions, they are engaged. Or they may confuse engaging students with entertaining them,” said Edwards. “Engagement is not about fun and games, but getting students really interested in learning for its own sake. I think the session helped clarify this for many teachers, as well as giving them specific strategies for making it happen in their classrooms.”

XSEED Foundation’s e-training program is strongly focused on the professional and skill development of teachers, and it recognises new skills with certifications. This latest interactive session gave teachers a chance to share their views and experiences, ask questions, and create a personal student engagement strategy for use in their own classroom, before concluding with an individual certification test. Of the 172 teachers certified for having completed the test, twenty-one were also awarded a proficiency certificate based on their strong performance.