Les désorganisations de la répresentation de soi à l'entrée au collège

The self-representation of children from 4 grades were studied: 5th grade (10–11 years), 6th grade (11–12 years), 7th grade (12–13 years) and 8th grade (13–14 years). In each class, good pupils (E +) were differentiated from poor pupils (E ?). Each child was asked to assess himself on 12 attitude scales from his point of view (own image, IP), from his teacher's point of view, and from his parents' and friends' (social images assigned to others: ISM, ISP, ISC). The teachers were also asked to assess the children on the 12 scales (real image of the teacher, IRM). The coherence of self-representation is estimated by the mean variation and by the correlations between images. The results show less coherence in the self-representation of the 6th grade. This decrease is greater for the pupils E ?when it is sustained into the 7th grade. The correlations between IRM and the images produced by the pupils are positive and significant in the 6th grade only with the pupils E +. All the results are interpreted as a transcient desorganization of the child's self-representation as he enters junior high school. This desorganization is due to the pupils' difficulty, mainly pupils E ?, in understanding how they are judged and assessed.