Social Psychology of Education最新文献

This study focuses on one type of excluding and isolating behaviour, the essence of which is the breakup of social interactions with a group member, which falls within the commonly accepted definition of ostracism. Based on interviews with 29 adolescents aged 12–18 (including 15 girls and 14 boys, all of whom were students in public schools without migrant backgrounds), an analysis of the content and typology of peer ostracism in school classrooms was conducted, emphasizing the perspective of those directly involved in the ostracism, i.e., the perpetrators. Three main dimensions and behavioural aspects related to ostracism emerged from the data: “Avoidance (Zero Interaction)”, “Expulsion from Group” and “Complete Ostracism”. The results indicate that the identified forms of ostracism rarely occur in a pure form, and are most often carried out in combination with non-verbal acts of overt exclusion. Furthermore, peer ostracism in group-class communities, which is consensual and chronic in nature, may reflect a distinct variant that qualifies for independent study. The paper also discusses directions for future research and actions to improve the social classroom environment.

The present study investigated whether study engagement is predicted by personal resources (i.e., self-efficacy and psychological flexibility) and achievement goals. A total of 223 French first-year humanities and social sciences students were invited to complete an online questionnaire comprising scales measuring the three predictors. The results of regression analyses showed that 43.3% of the variance in study engagement was predicted by self-efficacy, psychological flexibility, and achievement goals, implying that these three factors could be used as levers to promote study engagement.

This study investigated the developmental impact of teacher autonomy support on changes in students’ mental well-being and academic stress throughout upper secondary school. The sample consisted of 1453 Norwegian students (baseline M_age = 17.00; 60.6% girls; 80.9% Norwegian-born). The unconditional latent growth curve model results showed that perceived teacher autonomy support and mental well-being decreased during the three-year-long education. Academic stress, on the other hand, increased during this period. Findings from the parallel process latent growth curve model indicated that the initial status and change in teacher autonomy support were positively and negatively related to the initial levels and trajectories of mental well-being and academic stress, respectively. Girls experienced a higher level of academic stress and lower mental well-being and teacher autonomy support at the beginning of upper secondary school. Students with a higher socioeconomic status reported higher initial mental well-being and teacher autonomy support than others but also a more rapid decline in teacher autonomy support throughout upper secondary school. This study provides new insights into academic, psychological, and affective processes and their interrelationships during upper secondary school.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students face victimization in multiple contexts, including the educational context. Here, teachers can serve as an important resource for LGB students. However, teachers who are prejudiced against students from sexual minorities might not be able to fulfill this role. Accordingly, it is important to find out more about teachers' attitudes and their correlates, as such information can provide starting points for sensitization interventions in teacher education programs, which have the potential to improve the situation of LGB students in the school setting. In the present preregistered questionnaire study, we investigated the attitudes of 138 preservice teachers from the University of Luxembourg toward LGB students and tried to identify predictors of teachers’ attitudes. Results suggested that Luxembourgish preservice teachers hold mostly positive attitudes toward LGB students. Using correlation and multiple regression analyses, we identified the frequency of participants’ contact with LGB people in family or friend networks, hypergendering tendencies, sexual orientation, and religiosity as reliable predictors of attitudes toward LGB students. Age, gender, and right-wing conservatism did not reliably predict preservice teachers’ attitudes in the regression models. Our findings thus offer support for intergroup contact theory and have implications for teacher education in Luxembourg.

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.