The psychology of being engaged and its implications for promoting engagement

No-one could seriously doubt that student engagement and its promotion always has been, and always will be, a key concern of the genuine educator. In view of this, the recent upsurge of interest in the concept of student engagement may be deemed somewhat curious. This upsurge of interest can be understood, however, when considering it within the context of the more general forces of change impacting on contemporary higher education institutions. These changes have been well documented in the higher-education research literature during the past decade. Survival within the changing higher education landscape requires adaptation to those changes. It is this 'evolutionary pressure' that has produced the increased interest in student engagement, for innovative approaches to engagement provide one means of adaptation.