Understanding school engagement of immigrant, ethnic minority and underprivileged youth in Hong Kong

Change of student demography has been one of the key concerns in school engagement in Hong Kong, especially given that many teachers appear to be deficient in intercultural sensitivity. This study draws on the findings of 5247 6th – 12th graders, from 11 multicultural schools to examine the correlation between demographic variables and school engagement. A stratified sampling method was utilized to target schools with high concentrations of Chinese Immigrant Students (CIS), Cross- Boundary Students (CBS), Non-Chinese Speaking Students (NCS) and underprivileged Hong Kong mainstream Chinese Students (HKMCS). School engagement was conceptualized as a multidimensional meta-construct comprised behavioral, cognitive, and emotional domains (Appleton et al., 2008; Fredricks et al., 2004). Multiple regression was utilized to examine the predictive power of demographic variable, academic variable, and student group for school engagement. Significant student group differences were noted in all of the four aspects of school engagement: parents, friends, teachers and self. Whilst the NCS reported the highest level of school engagement the HKMCS reported the lowest. Student ethnicity, religious faith, relationship with parents, sex and grade levels are significant factors contributing to positive school engagement. Resilient factors are delineated and implications for teacher professional development will be discussed.