A limited number of empirical studies have beenconducted to explore how students perceive schoolengagement and the factors influencing their engagementin school, particularly amongst Asian students. The pur-pose of this qualitative study was to understand schoolengagement from the perspectives of twenty-two secondaryschool students through two group interviews. Analysiswas conducted using thematic analysis yielding themesbased on deductive reasoning. Findings showed that theconcept of school engagement was complex with rela-tionships with peers and teachers emerging as the mostdominant theme. The second most prominent theme wasschool participation and rules, followed by academic pur-suits. The theme of school-contextual factors also emerged.Interestingly, a negative valence to school engagement wasfound. The findings of this study have the potential toinform researchers and practitioners in the on-going effortsto examine the concept of school engagement to furtherimprove school system wide practices.

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• Voices of Adolescents on School Engageme