The issue of student engagement has been of interest to educators for decades. Historically, attention to student engagement was seen as a way to re-engage or reclaim a minority of predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged students at risk of dropping out of high school, by encouraging achievement, positive behaviours and a sense of belonging at school. Over time, student engagement strategies were further developed and more broadly implemented as a way to manage classroom behaviour. More recently, student engagement has been built around the goal of enhancing all students' abilities to 'learn how to learn' and become lifelong learners in a knowledge-based society. This general interest in engagement for learning informs the current article. The authors review literature on the topic published over the last decade.