What role do students’ enjoyment and perception of ability play in social disparities in subject choices at university?

Prior research has shown that students from less educated families are less likely to study both science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and arts and humanities subjects. This article used a large representative sample of university students in England to explore the relationship between students’ enjoyment, perception of ability and socio-economic disparities in subject choices. Although these attitudes differed by students’ parents’ education level, and were associated with subject choices, disparities in choices persisted when accounting for these differences. Students with less educated parents were less likely to choose arts and humanities and more likely to study social sciences, law and business, over STEM, even when their enjoyment and perception of ability in subjects were similar. Students whose parents had higher levels of education were more likely to choose STEM over arts and humanities as their enjoyment of STEM increased, suggesting different underlying processes informing student choices by social background.     

Feedback for everybody? Exploring the relationship between students’ perceptions of feedback and students’ socioeconomic status

In this article I describe teacher–student feedback as an active process shaped by both the teacher and the student and argue that feedback is influenced by students’ unique experiences and socialisation. Drawing on sociological theories on interaction and communication, I argue that the type and quality of the teacher–student feedback perceived by the student is influenced by the student's background. While many studies have shown that feedback is a key determinant for student learning and achievement, only a few have examined how feedback is perceived by students and if the perception is related to their socioeconomic status (SES). I use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 in a multilevel regression model to examine differences in students’ perceptions of directive and facilitative feedback. The five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are used as cases. Regarding directive feedback, I find no relationship between this type of feedback and students’ SES. However, the results indicate that students with high SES perceive more facilitative feedback in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden than students with low SES. These results indicate that students are not given equal opportunities to learn. I argue that this might create inequalities in the Nordic school systems. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Scaffolding or simplifying: students’ perception of support in Swedish compulsory school

National goals and performance standards were introduced in Sweden during the 1990s as part of a curriculum reform. The intention was to detect shortcomings among students and provide support to those students who did not reach the passing grade in one (or several) subject/s. Despite this reform, approximately one-fourth of the students do not attain a passing grade in all subjects. This study therefore investigates the support provided to low-achieving students in Swedish compulsory school. A questionnaire focusing on support in science studies was distributed to students in grade 9 (N = 1731), and data was analyzed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings show that low-achieving students perceive that they primarily receive “simplifying support,” which involves the lowering of expectations and limiting of students’ opportunities to learn. “Scaffolding support,” which involves changes to practices and holding the same standards for all students, seems to be mainly provided to boys, regardless of achievement level.

     

Gender and social class differences in Japanese mothers’ beliefs about children's education and socialisation

Despite increasing rates of university attendance among women, a significant gender gap remains in socialisation and educational processes in Japan. To understand why and how gender-distinctive socialisation processes persist, this study aimed to examine both middle-class and working-class mothers’ beliefs about gender, education, and children's development. Qualitative analyses were conducted on in-depth interviews with 16 Japanese mothers with preschool children who participated in the research study for three years. The meaning of education differed depending on the children's gender and social class context. While there was a social class difference in mothers’ expectations of their daughters’ educational attainment, the majority of women in this study saw their daughters as caregivers of family members in the future. This study also demonstrates the dilemmas and mixed messages in women's narratives in relation to gender norms and the processes of raising their children.     

Iranian university students’ experiences of and attitudes towards alternatives in assessment

This study investigated the effect of assessment type (self vs. peer vs. teacher) on university students’ academic achievement and students’ attitudes toward them. In the main study, 82 undergraduate English-as-a-Foreign-Language students in four classes at three universities in Iran were randomly assigned into one of self-, peer- and teacher-assessment or control groups. A pre-test was designed to measure students’ initial knowledge in the subject Teaching Methods. Then experimental groups were subjected to one of the assessment types; however, the control group received no intervention. Thirty-eight students from experimental groups completed an attitude questionnaire. A similarly designed follow-up study was conducted with two classes of BA Chemistry students taking a General English course at Urmia University. The application of one-way analysis of covariance on the main study post-test data indicated differences in performances of all groups, with peer-assessment group performing the best. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicated that both self- and peer-assessment, as well as the teacher-assessment group, had positive attitudes toward their assessment experiences. The application of one-way analysis of variance on replication study data showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the post-test and that students in the former group had positive attitudes toward self-assessment.     

Chinese students’ perception of out-of-class groupwork in Australia

Despite increasing number of mainland Chinese students studying in western tertiary settings, there is limited information available on their learning experiences and responses to popular educational practices in these contexts. There is an assumption in the literature that Chinese students respond well to the collaborative demands of groupwork due to the collectivist nature of their culture, however there are few reports to substantiate this claim. This paper reports on mainland Chinese students’ perception of groupwork in two Australian tertiary settings. Thirteen students from mainland China were interviewed on their groupwork experiences. All interviews were completed in either Mandarin or Cantonese. Two types of groupwork were identified: assignment groupwork (AGW) and student generated groupwork (SGGW). Three criteria for collaboration: level of interaction, construction of knowledge and a shared goal were used to search for signs of collaborative elements in the Chinese students’ recall of their groupwork experience. Indicators of collaboration were identified in the reports of AGWs but were less consistent in SGGWs. The findings of this study suggest that Chinese students perceive out-of-class groupwork in an Australian context as a positive learning experience, reporting enhanced understanding of academic contents, application of knowledge and socializing with other Chinese students.     

Determinants of university students’ attendance

ABSTRACT

Background: Attendance of university students at their timetabled teaching sessions is usually associated with higher levels of educational attainment. Attendance is usually considered to reflect students’ level of engagement with their course and to be critical to student success; despite the potential for technological alternatives, lectures and other face-to-face sessions still tend to be the primary method of teaching at university.

Purpose: Here we review studies which have investigated these determinants of attendance in order to gain a better understanding of whether – and how – Higher Education Institutions are able to improve attendance rates.

Sources of evidence: Electronic databases (e.g. ERIC, Web of Science) were used to identify articles exploring attendance in Higher Education settings.

Main argument: Some of the most debated determinants of attendance are reviewed: teaching issues (e.g. quality, style and format); effects of university expectations and policy (e.g. mandating attendance, awarding grades for attendance); scheduling issues; provision of materials online; and the effects of individual factors arguably outside of the Higher Education Institution’s control (e.g. finance, student employment, student demographics and psychological factors).

Conclusions: It is suggested that, although some individual factors influence student attendance and are arguably out of the control of HEIs, it is possible for them to facilitate attendance through adjustments to aspects of degree delivery such as attendance policies and monitoring, timetabling and style of teaching. Implications for policies on the recording of lectures, curriculum design and student term-time working are also discussed. Future research on student attendance should include longer and larger studies which simultaneously consider a range of influences; examining both inter- and intra-individual variability and different types of teaching sessions.     

Gender differences and social support: Mediators or moderators between peer victimization and depressive feelings?

Using self‐report questionnaires, a survey among 606 Dutch primary school children aged 10 to 12 years examined relationships among social support, gender, victimization, and depressive feelings. Hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that victims and bully/victims would report more depressive feelings than uninvolved children. There was no evidence that social support moderated the relationship between victimization and depressive feelings. However, social support appeared to influence the depressive feelings of victimized children, that is, pupils who were victimized received very little support and hence suffered depression. This general mediation effect could be observed in boys. In girls, the mediating effects of social support were more diffuse. For girls, the risk factor for the development of depressive feelings did not so much pertain to the type of bullying as to the subsequent lack of social support they experienced. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Being ‘at’ university: the social topologies of distance students

This paper considers how online, distance students enact the space of ‘the university’, in the context of the rise of distance education within a traditional, ‘elite’ institution. Aiming to provide insight into how students translate into distance the space of a university which has traditionally had its basis in conventional on-campus education, it locates itself within the ‘new mobilities’ paradigm (Urry in Mobilities. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007), drawing on four different kinds of social space delineated by Mol and Law (Soc Stud Sci 24(4):641–741, 1994) and Law and Mol (Environ Plan D 19:609–621, 2001) in order to analyse narrative and visual data generated with distance students at the University of Edinburgh. The paper shows that the material campus continues to be symbolically and materially significant for a group of students who may never physically attend that campus. Distance students, we find, need their own version of the ‘spatial certainties’ of bounded, campus space. Yet, in exploring the ‘new proximities’ of online distance education, we also argue that to define institutional and academic authenticity solely in terms of this bounded, ‘regional’ space is inadequate in the face of the other topologies which also come into play throughout distance students’ accounts of what it means to be ‘at’ university.     

Personal strengths and perceived teacher support as predictors of Singapore students’ academic risk status

Abstract

This study explored the relative salience of students’ personal strengths and teacher support in predicting academic risk status. The participants were Secondary One (S1, Grade Seven) students from Singapore who scored below the cohort’s mean score in a national test administered at the end of primary education, and were identified as low risk (n = 309) or high risk (n = 396), based on their S1 achievement score in the English Language subject. Logistic regression analysis was conducted with academic risk status as criterion variable and the following potential predictors: students’ background variables (i.e. socio-economic status, cognitive ability and initial achievement), personal strengths, teacher–student relatedness, and teacher autonomy and competence support. After controlling for the effects of the students’ background variables, teacher trust emerged as the strongest (negative) and most stable predictor of high-risk status; teacher alienation and teacher–student communication were found as significant positive predictors of students’ placement in the high-risk group.     

Gender differences in adolescents’ choice of heroes and admired adults in five countries

Seven hundred and sixty-eight adolescents from five countries and regions (USA, Spain, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Malaysia), aged 13–19 (M?=?15.78; SD?=?1.28) years, responded to a questionnaire designed to determine who was their most admired famous adult or hero. Male heroes clearly outnumbered admired females (73.3% vs. 26.7%). There was a pattern of same-sex choices, but it was more likely for girls to choose male heroes than for boys to choose females. Over half of the admired adults were athletes, and movie, television, and music stars. Regarding the personally known adults, there was a more balanced choice of males and females, with parents as the most frequent choice. Results suggest that society continues to fail in providing an adequate supply of female role models.     

Gender differences in adolescents’ academic motivation and classroom behaviour

The present study investigated gender differences in adolescents’ academic motivation and classroom behaviour and gender differences in the extent to which motivation was associated with, and predicted, classroom behaviour. Seven hundred and fifty students (384 boys and 366 girls) aged 11–16 (M age?=?14.0, 1.59 SD) completed a questionnaire examining academic motivation and teachers completed assessments of their classroom behaviour. Girls generally reported higher levels of academic motivation, whilst teacher reports of behaviour were poorer for boys. Interestingly, boys’ reported levels of academic motivation were significantly more closely associated with teacher reports of their classroom behaviour. Furthermore, cognitive aspects of boys’ motivation were better predictors of their classroom behaviour than behavioural aspects. On the other hand, behavioural aspects of girls’ motivation were better predictors of their behaviour. Implications for understanding the relationship between motivation and behaviour among adolescent boys and girls are discussed, in addition to interventions aimed at improving adolescents’ classroom behaviour.     

Assessing students’ perception of parental career-related support: development of a new scale and a new taxonomy

The object of this study was to assess students' perceptions of their parents’ career-related behaviours and their influence on the students’ behaviours. In study 1 (528 students), we developed the SIL Scale (support, interference and lack of engagement), a nine-item questionnaire applied to educational and job contexts. In study 2 (1204 students), we tested a person-centred approach and developed a new model called the WID Types (willing, involved and in difficulty), which identifies three clusters of students. The associations between the clusters and career choice difficulties, level of career exploration and stage of the vocational choice confirmed its validity.     

Teacher: students’ interpersonal relationships and students’ academic achievements in social studies

Background: The classroom is a social system in which the teacher and the students interact as organizational members. The quality of classroom relations is dependent on the activities of both the instructor and the students. Several environmental conditions and circumstances often tend to either improve or depress the academic performances of students in defiance of their natural academic endowments. Aim: This study was to identify the relationship between teacher–students’ interpersonal relationships and students’ academic achievements in social studies. Methods: The work used the ex post facto design and a sample of 1954 Junior Secondary School (JSS) III randomly drawn from 50 Government Secondary Schools in Calabar Educational Zone of Cross River State, Nigeria. Two instruments were used: The Teacher–Students’ Relationship Questionnaire and a 50-item multiple choice questions in social studies set using the JSS social studies syllabus and validated by test experts. The data were analysed using the Pearson product moment correlation analysis (r). Product moment correlation analysis (r) is used in finding the relationship between two variables X and Y, if these variables are continuous and are obtained from the sample. Outcomes: There was a significant relationship between teacher–students’ interpersonal relationship and students’ academic achievements in social studies. As a researcher, this means much for me. Students themselves are classroom observers. They are aware, to a great extent, of their own academic standing in the classroom as well as those of others. Some examples of the strategies students use to evaluate their own academic standing include the tasks they are given, grouping strategies implemented in the classroom (e.g. ability grouping) teacher feedback and information regarding ability, the responsibilities that teachers provide students with and the quality of teacher–students relationships. Conclusions: The major conclusion forwarded by this research was that there was a significant relationship between the teacher–students’ interpersonal relationship and students’ academic performances in social studies. This has a serious implication for me and others, viz, a good human relationship is one of the lubricants of high productivity. Teachers should therefore galvanize cordial relations between themselves and students. All teachers, including this researcher, should bear in mind that a healthy interpersonal relationship is one indispensable instrument of high productivity and achievement in all fields of human endeavour including the education industry.     

A study of the difficulties of care and support in new university teachers’ work

This paper discusses some findings from a small‐scale qualitative study involving ‘new’ teachers in a medium sized, regional English university. Using Grounded Theory methods to inform and guide the research, the study explores participants’ views on working as both teachers and researchers whilst also managing considerable amounts of ‘caring work’ with a diverse body of students who often need academic and pastoral support in excess of that assumed within the university academic timetables or support networks. The voices of these teachers suggest that care is an overlooked aspect of university teachers’ work, yet it plays an important part in maintaining their and their students’ sense of scholarly endeavour. Further, our findings suggest that within the university at large there is a ‘discourse of difference’ in the way that many academics conceptualize and represent the student body and students’ needs to be supported. This discourse impacts on the development of new teachers’ identities and aspirations. Some implications of these findings for implementing strategies for supporting teachers to develop both academic and pastoral roles within universities are discussed.     

The role of perceived autonomy support in predicting university students’ academic success mediated by academic self-efficacy and school engagement

This research analysed relationships between perceived teachers’ autonomy support and academic success, with self-efficacy and school engagement acting as mediators. This was a survey of 870 students from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), with a mean age of 26.99 years (SD = 5.09), 50.6% were men. Factor structure for measures was established. Then a structural equation model based on theoretical considerations was estimated. Final outcomes were grades and subjective well-being. Self-efficacy and school engagement were considered mediators, and the exogenous variable was perceived teacher’s autonomy support. This initial model fitted the data well, but several theoretically driven modifications were made and a final model was established. Teacher’s autonomy has important direct effects on engagement and self-efficacy, and it also was a direct predictor of subjective well-being. Self-efficacy and engagement had direct effects on subjective well-being. Grades were explained by the effects of self-efficacy, cognitive, and emotional engagement. As a conclusion, the main chain of effects hypothesised among the variables fitted the observed data well, and can, therefore, be tentatively supported: self-efficacy and engagement mediate the effects of autonomy support on academic achievement.     

Chinese students’ social integration into the university community: hearing the students’ voices

According to UNESCO statistics, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sends far more students to study overseas than any other country in the world. Similarly, from the receiving countries’ point of view, PRC students form by far the highest proportion of international students. In many respects, this is a success story, but it also poses a number of risks to universities. This paper focuses on one of those key risks that of student dissatisfaction (including from PRC students themselves). Using a sequential mixed-method study, it addresses two research questions: (a) Chinese students’ level of satisfaction with their social integration into the university community and (b) the barriers that Chinese students’ perceive in becoming more socially integrated into the university student community. The research finds that many Chinese students are dissatisfied with their range of friendships and that they find it more challenging to socialise with students of other nationalities than other students do. They point out a number of barriers to integration, with cultural distance playing a major role, but also argue for the impact of individual factors. The paper concludes by considering the implications for universities and suggestions for further research.     

Gender differences in French undergraduates’ academic plans and wage expectations

Gender differences in wage expectations may affect investment in human capital and increase inequalities in the labour market. Our research based on a survey of first-year students at a French university aims to focus on expectations at the beginning of the career. Our results show that anticipated earnings differ significantly between men and women. One year after graduation, we find a gender gap in pay of 16%. A wage decomposition method indicates that most of this effect is due to anticipation of discrimination. Ten years after graduation, anticipated discrimination is still almost as dominant in explaining the gender gap in pay. Finally, using a survey of recent college graduates, we show that growth in the anticipated gender gap differs greatly from growth in the observed gender gap. Our findings highlight the importance of policies promoting higher educational aspirations for young women. Career guidance counselling for students may play a decisive role in contributing to give women more ambitious aspirations, which may in turn serve to reduce inequalities in the labour market.