Social Psychology of Education最新文献

Team teaching is a popular and intense form of teacher collaboration with several advantages for both students and teachers. To successfully implement team-based practices such as team teaching, previous studies highlight the pivotal role of teachers’ attitudes, which are subject to several personal and interpersonal processes. Stakeholders willing to implement team teaching require a deep understanding of teachers’ attitudes toward the practice and their relation to prominent (inter)personal variables in teacher collaboration research. To date, however, little quantitative research exists on teachers’ attitudes toward team teaching and even less on factors that may explain these attitudes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how teachers value the implementation of team teaching in their teaching practices and to what extent prominent (inter)personal variables such as teachers’ self-efficacy, perceived collaboration, and team similarity are associated with these attitudes. The empirical data were collected through a cross-sectional survey (N = 555) conducted in Flanders (Belgium). The findings showed that teachers had a positive overall attitude toward team teaching, but this was not always strongly expressed. In particular, teachers’ attitudes toward enhancing the learning gains of students through team teaching were fairly neutral. Nonetheless, based on structural equation modeling, a proposed hypothetical model wherein self-efficacy beliefs, perceived collaboration, and team similarity were positively associated with teachers’ attitudes toward team teaching showed adequate predictive validity. Furthermore, all three of the studied factors had a significant effect on teachers’ attitudes, with teachers’ self-efficacy exerting the strongest effect.

Classroom group characteristics are not only related to student outcomes, but also have an impact on classroom instruction. This study investigates an integrated model that examines the direct or indirect relationships among classroom-level adversity (CLA), instructional clarity, student academic self-concept and achievement in math lessons. Using TIMSS 2019 data from five East Asian regions and five Western countries, this study examined eighth-grade students (N = 30,115 in Western; N = 21,340 in Eastern) and their teachers in math lessons (N = 2,082 in Western; N = 1,242 in Eastern). Through multilevel analyses, we found the relationship between CLA and math self-concept was negatively mediated by instructional clarity. In the Eastern regions, CLA did not have a significant indirect effect on math achievement through instructional clarity, but in Western countries, a positive indirect effect was observed. In addition, a direct negative relationship between CLA and student outcomes in both Eastern and Western samples was detected.

Past research identified various psychosocial indicators of college students’ academic success. Using the affordance ecology framework, the present study explored the complex relations among different psychosocial indicators with a Bayesian Gaussian Graphical Model approach. Specifically, this study aims to uncover the general patterns of the psychosocial indicators, central variables, and the network centrality indices (network betweenness, closeness, and strength). The final sample consisted of 997 college students. Results showed that after accounting for the complex covariances of all indicators, sense of belonging, having the highest strength, was one of the most central factors in the network of psychosocial indicators and demonstrated a strong direct link to the rest of the psychosocial indicators. Variables relating to the family background and socioeconomic status, including perceived parental support, perceived family social status, and perceived personal financial situation, demonstrated high betweenness and closeness in the network. Implications for higher education research on the psychosocial experiences of students were discussed.

The teaching profession profoundly changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether these changes were for the better or worse depends on individual teachers’ perceptions. Pre-service teachers watched from the sidelines and their perceptions of the profession changed too, potentially implicating future career outcomes including career commitment, value of belongingness, teaching efficacy, and career anxiety. We used a person-centred analysis to cluster pre-service teachers (n = 146) based on their perceptions of changes to job demands and returns during the pandemic using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice Scale. Three clusters emerged: a Neutral Group, a Valued Group, and a Busy Group. We used ANOVA to determine mean level differences between these groups on our career outcome variables. Significant mean differences emerged only for the value of belongingness and career anxiety variables. There were no significant differences between clusters on the commitment, right career decision, and efficacy variables, which is encouraging from a teacher retention perspective. Pre-service teachers generally remained committed to the teaching profession with the same career plans that they had pre-pandemic. We discuss the implications of this study for teacher education programs, policy, and research.

Grades are the universal tool for measuring students’ performance at school. However, other competency-based evaluation methods have shown to have a stronger impact on the learning quality. We investigated how different methods are collectively represented and discursively constructed among students at an Italian high school class. Thematic analysis was applied to 4 focus groups of about one hour conducted with 18 students (F = 12, M = 6) attending the second year of a scientific high school, at the end of the second year of “At School Beyond the Grade” project. The main themes emerged were linked to the cultural and communicational meanings constructed around each method, showing how they are used for different purposes and yet stay strictly related. Comments were used in a self-reflective manner to improve learning competencies individually. Grades were used to communicate with others their position as a socially shared code. The emerged narratives show the students’ expectations about the way teachers manage evaluation tools and their struggles on translating one into the other. Considerations on the shared ideal of both methods as complementary were discussed in terms of intercultural, identity and learning process.

Respect for teachers is a globally recognized educational issue. Compared with Western “equality-based” respect, the traditional Confucian “respect for teachers” is a kind of “hierarchical” or “reverential” respect. In the past, respect for teachers was an unquestioned ethical value in Confucian cultural contexts, and was considered beneficial for students. However, respect for teachers has been criticized as a symbol of authority and detrimental to learning and teacher-student relationships nowadays. To resolve the “controversy regarding respect for teachers,” we used the conceptual framework of respect for teachers to investigate the predictive effects of respect-for-teachers’ dual dimensions on teacher-student relationship and students’ academic engagement. In Study 1, a scale for respect-for-teachers was developed. Two factors, reverence for teachers (RFT) and fear of teachers (FOT) were obtained, through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Study 1 (a cross-sectional design) also shows that RFT is positively associated with good teacher-student relationships and students’ academic engagement, while FOT is negatively associated these outcomes. Study 2 (a two-wave longitudinal design) reveals that controlling for social desirability, RFT at time 1 has a positive relationship with good teacher-student relationships and academic engagement at time 2, while FOT at time 1 has a negative relationship with good teacher-student relationships and academic engagement at time 2. Overall, this paper provides a solution to the “controversy regarding respect for teachers,” that is, whether respect for teachers is beneficial or harmful depends on its dimensions. This paper also contributes to a broader understanding of the concept of “respect” and offers insights into educational issues within East Asia and across different cultures.

Despite some progress towards gender equality in Western societies, traditional gender norms still shape career choices, perpetuating a gender gap where girls are more likely to pursue traditionally feminine fields like healthcare, elementary education, and domestic roles (HEED), while boys are drawn to masculine domains such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This research investigates whether, and under which conditions, the perception that gender norms are progressively changing towards less gender dichotomy can reduce this gender gap in academic fields. We recruited a sample of 642 high-school students (394 women and 248 men), and experimentally manipulated both the salience of changes in gender norm (stability vs change) and participants’ gender prototypicality. The main dependent variable was participants’ interest in stereotypically feminine (HEED) and masculine (STEM) academic fields. The results indicated a slight decrease in the gender gap for stereotypically feminine fields (HEED) among participants who saw themselves as typical members of their gender group, but no significant change was observed for stereotypically masculine fields (STEM). These findings suggest that shifting perceptions of gender norms may have a limited effect on modifying traditional educational and career choices, underscoring the resilience of entrenched gender stereotypes.

Abstract

Receiving appropriate, unbiased advice from their teachers is important for students’ smaller- and larger-scale educational decisions. However, teachers’ concerns about being or appearing to be prejudiced may interfere and lead them to provide encouraging advice to students belonging to negatively stereotyped groups even when it is not warranted (failure-to-warn phenomenon). In this experimental study, we aimed to replicate findings from the US and tested whether teacher students in Germany provided overly encouraging advice regarding the academic plans of a student with a Turkish (vs. German) name. Teacher students (n = 174) saw the overly ambitious timetable of a (supposed) student with a Turkish or German name and gave advice online on rating scales and in an open-response format. In their advice, they indicated, among others, the perceived demands of the timetable, possible affective and social consequences for the student, and the need to reconsider the timetable. Contrary to expectations and findings from the US, our analyses did not indicate differences in the advice that students with Turkish vs. German names received. Instead, teacher students warned students with a Turkish and German name equally of the difficulties associated with their potential timetable. We discuss both methodology- and theory-related potential explanations for these unexpected findings.

Abstract

This paper investigates the student-teacher relationship among minoritized primary school pupils in Flanders, Belgium, who attend both mainstream and supplementary schools, educational initiatives organized by their communities in the weekend. Despite the recognized significance of this relationship, research often overlooks the experiences of students with migration backgrounds, and especially those of primary school pupils. This study aims to comprehensively understand the student-teacher dynamic by exploring both the academic and the affective side of the relationship from the perspective of the children. While prior research mainly focuses on secondary school students and mainly uses quantitative data, this qualitative study delves into the primary school context. Minoritized pupils, who attend supplementary schools in addition to their mainstream schools, provide a unique opportunity to examine student-teacher relationships across varied educational settings. Through 13 open ended in-depth interviews with a total of 29 pupils aged 9 to 12 attending both types of schools, the study uncovers which aspects of their student-teacher relationships the pupils perceive as supportive, in each setting. The findings reveal both shared and distinct experiences within different contexts, shedding light on the intricate interplay of expectations, teacher attitudes, and relationships. By investigating affective and academic dimensions of the student-teacher relationship from the experience of minoritized pupils, this paper adds to our understanding of the student teacher relationship. The insights emphasize the need to support the diverse needs of minoritized pupils in complex educational environments, offering recommendations for policymakers and suggesting future research directions.

Abstract

In school settings, students’ mindset about intelligence (i.e., fixed versus growth mindset) and their sense of belonging to school (SBS) have both been shown to predict academic attainment. However, these constructs have rarely been examined together although both were found to be impacted by students’ socioeconomic status (SES). Across the literature, findings are inconsistent concerning this moderating effect of SES. In the present preregistered study, we used data from the French sample of the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 (PISA; N = 6308) to examine whether growth mindset positively predicted SBS and whether this association was moderated by students’ SES. Results showed that growth mindset was positively associated with SBS. On the confirmatory linear regression analyses, we found no moderation effect of any of the SES indicators on the association between growth mindset and SBS. However, pre-registered supplementary multigroup analyses showed descriptively that this association was stronger for high than for low SES students and notably when SES indicators concerned family financial resources. Limitations of this research and perspectives for future studies are discussed, with a focus on why the literature should care about the different meanings and consequences of SES indicators.