Constructivist, behaviourist teaching approaches and student engagement in secondary schools in Arua city, Uganda

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between constructivist, behaviourist teaching and student engagement in secondary schools in Arua City, Uganda. The objectives of the study were to; find out the relationship between constructivist teaching approaches and student engagement, establish the relationship between behaviourist teaching approaches and student engagement, and determine moderating influence of behaviourist teaching approaches on the relationship between constructivist teaching approaches and student engagement in secondary schools in Arua City. The study adopted correlation and cross-sectional research design on a sample of 341 students and 15 teachers. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire for students and interview guide for teachers. Data were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics specifically frequencies, percentages, means, and inferential analysis by means of Structural equation modelling using Smart PLS. The findings revealed that constructivist teaching approaches positively and significantly predicted student engagement while behaviourist teaching approaches negatively and significantly predicted student engagement. The findings further revealed that behaviourist teaching approaches had a positive insignificant moderating effect on the relationship between constructivist teaching approaches and student engagement. Therefore, it was concluded that constructivist teaching approaches are imperative for student engagement, behaviourist teaching approaches are not essential for student engagement and combining behaviourist teaching approaches and constructivist teaching approaches is not a probable requirement for promoting student engagement. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers should adopt the constructivist teaching approaches to enhance student engagement, teachers should make effort to limit the use of behaviourist teaching approaches in teaching learning process and teachers should make effort to minimize combining constructivist and behaviourist teaching approaches in an effort to promote student engagement.