After completing basic education, students in Finland typically participate in upper secondary education, that is, typically either in the academic (i.e., general upper secondary education) or vocational (i.e., vocational education and training) track (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2021). However, transitioning to upper secondary education entails changes in the learning contents, requirements and learning environment, and this may pose a range of challenges for both academic performance and student well-being. This phase can be considered as critical in terms of not only learning but also student well-being. Student well-being can be seen as consisting of school burnout and student engagement. School burnout is a prolonged stress syndrome related to schoolwork (Schaufeli et al., 2002), which can lead to depression (e.g., Koutsimani & Montgomery, 2023) and dropping out of studies (May et al., 2015). Simultaneously, student engagement, defined as the level of interest and commitment a student exhibits towards their educational experience, plays an important role in academic achievement, including higher grades (Fredricks et al., 2004), and in personal development (Appleton et al., 2006). Understanding the development of student well-being and the factors contributing to it is essential due to its longer-term effects on academic performance and positive youth development (Lerner et al., 2011; Maslach et al., 2001).
The guiding questions for this study are:
1. How student engagement and school burnout change from Grade 9, Year 1 to Year 3 in vocational and academic track?
2. How are these changes in different engagement and burnout dimensions interrelated in vocational and academic track?
3. Do changes in student engagement and school burnout predict graduating on targeted time from vocational and academic track?
