Social Psychology of Education最新文献

Abstract

A growing body of research has demonstrated that teachers’ judgements may be biased by the demographics and characteristics of the students they teach. However, less work has investigated the contexts in which teachers may be most vulnerable to bias. In two pre-registered experimental studies we explored whether the quality of students’ work, and the cognitive load placed on the grader, would influence the emergence of biases relating to socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity. In Study 1, teachers (N = 397) graded work of either high or low quality that had ostensibly been written by a student who varied in terms of SES and ethnicity. We found that SES and—to a lesser extent—ethnicity biases were more likely to manifest when the standard of work was below average, largely favouring a student from an affluent White background. In Study 2, an undergraduate sample (N = 334) provided judgements based on an identical piece of work written by a student who varied by SES and ethnicity. Importantly, they formulated these judgements whilst working under high or low cognitive load, which was manipulated via a simultaneous listening task. Results showed that under high cognitive load, a student from an affluent White British background was afforded a boost in grading that was not afforded to Black Caribbean and/or lower SES students. These findings highlight contexts in which teachers may be most prone to biased judgements and should be used by educational institutions to de-bias their workflows, workloads and workforces.

Cultural diversity has recently been discussed as a potential stressor for teachers. The present study contributes to this discussion by examining the role of cultural diversity in the development of emotional exhaustion among teachers. Using the teacher stress model as a framework, we investigated if working conditions, such as cultural diversity (1), value beliefs, such as cultural beliefs or stereotypes towards students with an immigration background (2), and perceived professional competence, such as teaching experience and self-efficacy (3), predict emotional exhaustion. The data comes from a longitudinal study with 291 German pre-service mathematics teachers (M = 9.5 month). Results from robust multiple regression analyses showed no relation between cultural diversity and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion was significantly predicted by prior emotional exhaustion, frequent class disruptions, and large classes. Regarding cultural beliefs, participants with more stereotypes towards students with an immigration background experienced a higher level of emotional exhaustion, whereas the actual cultural diversity in their class had no impact. Contrary to our hypotheses, no effect was found for cultural beliefs. Taken together, our results suggest that it is not cultural diversity per se that leads to emotional exhaustion but evaluative processes of seeing students with an immigration background as burden that reflect beginning teachers' stereotypes. Practical implications are that teacher training should aim to reduce candidates' stereotypes towards students with an immigration background and allow more hands-on teaching experience.

Abstract

Teacher burnout is a worldwide problem, and discontent of the educators often leads to social action in forms of demonstrations and strikes. Studies often link teacher burnout to interpersonal and workplace factors. Social and societal factors, however, are rarely considered in the development of the symptoms. Our study aimed to reveal how the strength of teacher identity and different types of relative deprivation are associated with teacher burnout. A representative sample of 1797 Hungarian teachers participated in our survey study which aimed to measure exhaustion and disengagement as symptoms of burnout beside strength of teacher identity, working hours, egoistic and fraternalistic relative deprivation. The results of the Structural Equation Analysis showed that teacher identity is negatively linked to burnout symptoms. On the other hand, both types of relative deprivation and working hours are positively linked to burnout. The analysis of mediating paths also confirmed the Janus-faced effect of teacher identity: contrarily to its direct negative link to burnout, a positive mediating effect of teacher identity was revealed through fraternalistic relative deprivation. The findings indicate that the general judgement of teachers within society may contribute to burnout. Therefore, burnout research should focus on social comparison processes beside exploring intrapersonal and workplace factors.

Creating and sustaining a positive school climate is not done in isolation but requires continuous ongoing work by several people within the school, and one of the most important actors are the teachers. In order to fulfil this very important task, the teachers need to collaborate with colleagues at school in an organized manner. In this study, we aim to explore and analyse teachers’ perspectives on how their teacher team might be linked to their school climate work, and what team characteristics facilitate their work to create and maintain a positive and supportive climate within their school. To understand teachers’ comprehension of their team, we applied a social psychology framework, using social interdependence theory and the concept of psychological safety. Data were collected by means of 14 semi-structured focus group interviews with 73 teachers from two compulsory schools in southeast Sweden. The findings revealed that teachers perceived the team as the most significant support structure when it comes to school climate work. According to them, the team was associated with shared responsibility, support and help, as well as safety and an open climate. By elucidating teachers’ insider perspectives regarding their working conditions aligned to their work with school climate, we conclude that well-functioning teacher teams are experienced as a safe place to work on creating and maintaining a positive school climate.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between school-based racial discrimination by teachers and peers and academic outcomes (i.e., classroom misconduct, absenteeism, academic performance, school readiness, and school behavioral problems) over one year (Time 2) through the moderation of perceived social support from friends. Participants were 599 Latinx adolescents (56% girls; M_age = 14.51, SD = .55) from middle schools located in the suburbs of a large Midwestern United States city. They completed questionnaires on their perceived school-based racial discrimination and social support from friends. Their teachers completed questionnaires on classroom misconduct and school readiness, measured twice over one year. School records of academic performance, absenteeism, and school behavioral problems were also collected twice over one year. The findings indicated that social support from friends was negatively associated with Time 2 classroom misconduct, absenteeism, and school behavioral problem, but positively associated with Time 2 school readiness and academic performance. School-based racial discrimination by teachers and peers were both related positively to Time 2 classroom misconduct, absenteeism, and school behavioral problems, whereas both types of discrimination were related negatively to Time 2 school readiness and academic performance. Social support from friends buffered against academic outcomes associated with discrimination by teachers. Similar patterns were found for discrimination by peers, but only for Time 2 academic performance and absenteeism. These results suggest that high perceived social support from friends positively impacts Latinx adolescents’ academic outcomes after experiencing school-based racial discrimination while low levels increase such negative outcomes.

Personal academic agency—the thoughts, actions, and emotions that impact individual functioning at school—is central for academic success. On average, students from low socio-economic status (low-SES) backgrounds report lower levels of personal academic agency than their more advantaged peers, but there are also many who achieve academic success. Identifying different personal academic agency profiles among students from low-SES backgrounds may assist in targeting efforts to boost these factors within that population—and to identify students who are faring well, as well as those who might require additional support. This study examined five factors of personal academic agency (perceived competence, school belonging, perseverance, academic buoyancy, and conduct problems) among 20,125 secondary school students from low-SES backgrounds at 421 Australian schools. We identified profiles of students that vary in patterns of personal academic agency, and examined teaching support predictors and achievement differences associated with profile membership. Latent profile analysis revealed five student profiles: Vulnerable (9% of sample), Resigned (27%), Precarious (28%), Average (32%), and Flourishing (14%) profiles. Students’ perceptions of teaching support predicted membership in more adaptive profiles (i.e., Average and Flourishing profiles)—with the most consistent teaching support predictors being emotional support, classroom management, and instructional relevance. In addition, the Flourishing profile displayed the highest achievement.

Abstract

Research on growth mindset, the belief that one’s cognitive abilities are malleable and can be developed through dedication and practice, has received considerable media attention and influenced educational policy and practice. However, mindset theory and measurement have also drawn criticism. In the present paper, we add a cautionary note pertaining to the conceptualization and measurement of growth mindset. Through a critical reanalysis of a large-scale representative study of adolescents from the US (N = 15,362), we show that a growth (i.e., forward-keyed) and a fixed (i.e., reverse keyed) mindset item from a widely used scale are only moderately correlated (r = −.31). Further, we demonstrate that the two items are very differently related with a range of educationally relevant criteria such as learning engagement and self-efficacy, and sociodemographic characteristics such as sex. This leads us to conclude that the growth and fixed mindset items are not mutually interchangeable (apart from keying) indicators of a unidimensional construct that has fixed and growth mindset at its opposing poles. Which items researchers choose to measure mindset (fixed, growth, or a blend thereof) may therefore have a significant impact on the findings they obtain. Our insights highlight the need for greater attention to the conceptual foundations and measurement of mindset in future studies.

Grade retention is often perceived as an academic failure and a negative response from the educational system. Hence, based on the social cognitive theory, being retained might decrease self-efficacy. This way, we expect that retainees are less likely to pursue a degree in higher education. Retainees that do enroll in higher education, are expected to opt for a college of applied sciences instead of university. We assume that self-efficacy mediates the association between grade retention and post-secondary schooling choices of retained students. In addition, based on comparative reference group taking, we expect the impact of being retained to be more detrimental in schools with a low percentage of retainees. If true, this would signal a school retention composition effect. Longitudinal, multilevel analyses were carried out on the International Study of City Youth (ISCY) dataset (1252 respondents, 30 schools in Ghent, Flanders). Results show that being retained significantly decreases the likelihood of higher education enrollment, while those students who do enroll, are less likely to opt for university. There was a mediation effect of self-efficacy with regard to program choice, but not for higher education enrollment. We did not find a moderation effect of school retention composition. Implications are discussed.