The impact of extra-curricular activities on student engagement: In what ways does participation in Symposium affect Higher Prior Attaining students’ engagement in English?

Purpose Are students using their free time effectively? Are students aspiring beyond their current context? Are students able to access information and experiences that enlightens them to move beyond their current context?

Aim To give the HPA students an opportunity to engage with challenging content and make a choice about their area of interest and create a project To give the students (and staff who choose to be involved) an opportunity to develop their English Language, Literature and Media knowledge Develop students’ participation with extracurricular activities in the school & see whether it would have a direct impact on their participation during lessons

What is Symposium? The titles of these six sessions are: An Introduction to Ways of Reading and Literary Theory Working in the Theatre Modernism and Philosophical Literature What is Behind the Door? A Creative Writing Workshop The Evolution of British Poetry Postmodernism: Alienation in Modern Society

Summary of Literature Extracurricular activities Engagement American scholars dominate the research field due to its importance to high school students’ graduation. Generally, research in this field is conducted on a large scale research using quantitative methods. Research has established a number of advantages of extracurricular activities (academic, social and cultural capital, cognitive abilities and a sense of belonging), it is an effective way for disadvantaged students to use their ‘free-time’ actively. Extracurricular activities are not heavily promoted in the UK state system and are swiftly removed when there are financial constraints. Research continues to contend with these leadership decisions and stress the importance of designing structured academic activities. Questions about definitions and the distinction between engagement (external evidence) and motivation (of an internal drive). There is a distinction between engagement within the school and engagement within the classroom. Both forms of engagement are said to have an impact on the students’ academic outcomes. Students’ perspectives of their own engagement is very significant. Students’ engagement as the teacher’s responsibility– how can the classroom pedagogy influence the students’ engagement? Some researchers argue that some of the best ways to increase students engagement is by giving them a choice – ownership and empowering; discussions – connection and responding. (TEACHING DOES NOT necessarily HAVE TO BE FUN!)

Research Questions My research questions are: How does the design of Symposium begin to address barriers to participation in extracurricular activities in schools? To what extent can Symposium be considered an effective academic extracurricular activity? Does Symposium impact student engagement in English classrooms and if so, how?

Findings Students were more inclined to do further research into Symposium topics than their classroom topics Students found that what they learnt in Symposium made them more equipped for lessons 7/10 students reported that they listened, asked and answered questions and completed their written work to the best of their ability more confidently since Symposium LPA students cannot cope with the demand of this extracurricular activity, even though it does have a positive impact on their engagement within the lesson itself This project only impacts students who have a genuine interest in English in the first place 2/7 reported preferring the way they learnt in Symposium over the way they learnt in English 2/7 refused to answer the question All of the students were pleased and remained pleased to be a part of the project and 5 students specifically considered more sessions to be an effective way to improve the course

Conclusions & Limitations Small research group. Little research into the students who weren’t involved and the students who did not participate in the presentation evening. How can this be spread effectively to other subjects? How can the structure be implemented into English lessons?

References Some Key References: Bryson, C., (2014). Understanding and developing student engagement. Routledge. Christenson, S.L., Reschly, A.L. and Wylie, C. eds., 2012. Handbook of research on student engagement. Springer Science & Business Media. Feldman-Farb, A. and Matjasko, J. L.(2012) ‘Recent advances in research on school-based extracurricular activities and adolescent development’, Developmental Review, 32(1), pp. 1–48. Holland, A. and Andre, T. (1987) ‘Participation in extracurricular activities in secondary school: What is known, what needs to be known?’, Review of Educational Research, 57(4), pp. 437–466.