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This work has its origins with research into the effects of pedagogy on student engagement and learning outcomes. It summarises the development of self-report and observation instruments for measuring student engagement suitable for early years to senior secondary. The measures are sensitive to the context and experience of learning rather than, as is more common, a general disposition towards learning or school. The measures are distinctive in three ways: (1) they avoid the use of proxies such as attendance which link only weakly to learning outcomes; (2) they are designed to be sensitive to the effect of learning environments and quality of pedagogy on engagement; and (3) they do not assume that the learning environment involves conventional schooling. However, the use of the instruments has also revealed a deep structure to engagement which is a distinctive contribution and links prior research into learner dispositions and interest to the engagement construct.

In this chapter, we present an analysis of a learning to learn change initiative within the state education system in South Australia. The programme was first introduced in 1999 and in this boutique phase involved some 77 schools – approximately 13% of the total public schools in the State. Following its success, it has been extended and widened to provide a foundation for pedagogy development under the banner of Teaching for Effective Learning. Research has been undertaken at all stages, involving teachers, students, school leaders, and key policy officers in order to identify the effectiveness of strategies and the outcomes. Here, we highlight some of the lessons drawn about school change and compare these with the more general findings on school-based reform drawn from the literature.