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Face-Sensitive Relational Support and Classroom Re-Engagement among Chinese Secondary Vocational Students

Author(s)

Xin Chen, Runhua Li*

Affiliation(s)

College of Applied Science and Technology, Beijing Union University, Beijing, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

This study, based on the EmpowerVET theory, examines how interpersonal support influences the re-engagement of middle school vocational education students in class. Existing European studies on vocational education have shown that teacher support, peer relationships, school resources, and practical learning have protective effects on problem students; however, the situation in China is different - the stratified admission system, the social prejudice against vocational education, and the face culture are all shaping students' classroom participation patterns. How these factors affect the above-mentioned causal pathways still lacks sufficient local empirical evidence. Based on a questionnaire survey of students majoring in e-commerce, online marketing, and new energy vehicles at a secondary vocational school in Beijing, the study used a 20-item scale to measure low classroom participation, face risk, teacher support, peer climate, successful practical-training experience, and willingness to re-engage. Reliability testing, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, difference analysis, and hierarchical regression were used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that face risk was positively associated with low participation and negatively associated with willingness to re-engage. Teacher support, peer climate, and successful practical-training experience, by contrast, positively predicted re-engagement after grade, gender, and major were controlled. The study interprets looking down as a possible self-protective response to interactional risk, rather than as a simple sign of disengagement. Looking up, accordingly, reflects renewed participation under safer relational conditions. The article proposes face-sensitive relational support as a contextual extension of European VET re-engagement theory.

Keywords

Secondary Vocational Education; Student Engagement; Relational Support; Face Risk; EmpowerVET

References

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