Students’ Engagement in School: A literature review

This work is financed by National Founds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, in the context of the project PTDC/CPE-CED/114362/2009- Students Engagement in Schools: Differentiation and Promotion, coordinated by Prof. Feliciano H. Veiga.Students’ Engagement in School has been the focus of debate concerning academic success and school dropout, and pointed out as a mean to address the problems affecting our schools and their students, not only for having value in itself, but also for being an important mediator between several academic variables. This paper reviews the research and literature on this concept and its relations with personal and contextual variables, as well as with academic performance, with the aim of summarizing the main relationships found. Literature presents a significant number of studies which sustain that personal variables, such as self-efficacy and self-concept, as well as contextual - peers, school, family- are related with school engagement. The adoption of mastery goals, for instance, has a positive impact on school, as they are related with the use of cognitive and self-regulatory strategies by students. Positive relationships with peers, teachers support and the quality of family relations are associated with higher levels of engagement and academic performance, while negative experiences, such as bullying, are related with educational difficulties. Following this, we reflect about the relevance of studying engagement in school, in the context of widespread financial crisis, and emphasize the need to rethink educational institutions considering the paradigmatic changes that currently occur.This work is financed by National Founds through FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, in the context of the project PTDC/CPE-CED/114362/2009- Students Engagement in Schools: Differentiation and Promotion, coordinated by Prof. Feliciano H. Veiga

Perfectionism in employees: Work engagement, workaholism, and burnout

Perfectionism is a prevalent personality disposition that may affect all domains of life. Work is an important domain of life for many people. Yet, research on perfectionism at work and how perfectionism affects employees’ health and well-being is still limited. Research, however, has investigated perfectionism’s relationships with three key aspects of peoples’ working lives that are closely associated with employees’ health and well-being: work engagement, workaholism, and job burnout. Differentiating between perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns (Stoeber & Otto, 2006), the present chapter presents an overview of the relevant research findings. Taken together, the findings suggest that (a) perfectionistic strivings show positive relationships with work engagement whereas perfectionistic concerns show no relationships or negative relationships, (b) perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns both show positive relationships with workaholism, and (c) perfectionistic strivings show negative relationships with burnout whereas perfectionistic concerns show positive relationships. To explain the opposite relationships that perfectionistic strivings and concerns show with burnout, two hypothetical models are presented. In Model 1, autonomous versus controlled motivation explain the opposite relationships of perfectionistic strivings and concerns with burnout. In Model 2, adaptive versus maladaptive coping explain the relationships. The chapter concludes with directions for future research on perfectionism, work engagement, workaholism, and job burnout pointing out the importance of longitudinal studies and intervention studies

Perfectionism and achievement goal orientations in adolescent school students

Perfectionism has been shown to predict individual differences in achievement goal orientations in university students, but research on perfectionism and goal orientations in school students is still very limited. Investigating 584 adolescent school students in a cross-sectional correlational design, the present study examined how self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism predicted students’ goal orientations. Multiple regression analyses showed that, when the overlap between the different goal orientations was controlled for, self-oriented perfectionism positively predicted mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goal orientations whereas socially prescribed perfectionism positively predicted performance-approach orientation. The present findings indicate that perfectionism predicts individual differences in adolescent school students’ achievement goal orientations, but different forms of perfectionism are associated with different patterns of goal orientations

Effects of Motivation on Test Performance of First Year Covenant University Students

This study examined the effect of motivation on test performance of first year Covenant University students, Ota, Ogun State. The study adopted pre-test, post-test experimental design. Data for the study were obtained from sixty (60) students with age range between 15 and 18 years (average age = 16.5 years). Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions using independent group design. The independent and dependent variables were motivation and test performance respectively. The two hypotheses were analysed using Mann- Whitney U test. The result shows a significant difference between the result of the unrewarded students in the control group and students rewarded with verbal praise in the experimental group (U = 61.000, N1 = 20, N2 = 20, p< 0.05, one-tailed). There was also a significant difference between the result of the students rewarded with primary reinforcers and the unrewarded students in the control group (U = 45.000, N1 = 20, N2 = 20, p< 0.05, one-tailed). This study justifies the importance of motivation on test performance. To improve students’ academic performance, teachers are encouraged to motivate their students. Key words: Teachers, motivation, test performance, Ot

Validation of the Scale of Emotional States in the Physical Education Context

The purpose of the present study was to validate an instrument of student emotional experiences in the Spanish Physical Education context. The sample of participants consisted of 864 secondary education students from various educational institutions of Spain who ranged in age from 13 to 19 years. To assess the psychometric properties of the Scale of Emotions in Physical Education (SEPE), various types of analyses were conducted. The factor structure of the SEPE was examined through confirmatory factorial analysis in relation to two models. In the first model, it was proposed that the eight first order factors, which represented the eight emotional states, would be correlated amongst each other. In the second model, an eight-factor model with two higher order factors was proposed, with these higher order factors representing distinct sets of positive and negative emotions. The results provide support the presence of an eight-factor second order model which consisted of sets of four positive emotions and four negative emotions. These results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the SEPE within the Spanish Physical Education context

Portuguese Adaptation of Students' Engagement in Schools International Scale (SESIS)

This work is financed by National Founds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, in the context of the project PTDC/CPE-CED/114362/2009- Students Engagement in Schools: Differentiation and Promotion, coordinated by Prof. Feliciano H. Veiga.Context: The importance of student’s engagement has been recently pointed out in research. However, there has been a lack of engagement assessment instrument, pertaining psychometric qualities. Objective: This paper presents the Portuguese adaptation of the “Student’s Engagement in School International Scale” (SESIS), drawn up from a12 countries international study (Lam et al., 2012; Lam et al., in press). Method: Psychometric properties of this scale were examined with data from 685 students from different grades (6th, 7th, 9th and 10th), from both sexes, and different regions of the country. Results: Factorial analysis of the results, with varimax rotation, lead to three different factors which explain 50.88% of the variance. The scale integrates the original 33 items, and cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions. For the external validity study, the relationship between student’s engagement in school results and other school variables — academic performance, self-concept —was considered, and significant relations were observed, as expected. Conclusion: The data presented highlights the qualities of SESIS, as well as its usefulness for research purposes. Suggestion: It is suggested the investigation of the extension of SESIS’s three-dimensionality, in future studiesKeywords: Innovation, technology, research projects, etc.This work is financed by National Founds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, in the context of the project PTDC/CPE-CED/114362/2009- Students Engagement in Schools: Differentiation and Promotion, coordinated by Prof. Feliciano H. Veiga

El viaje desde los cuestionarios Likert a los cuestionarios de elección forzosa: evidencia de la invarianza de los parámetros de los ítems

Multidimensional forced-choice questionnaires are widely regarded in the personnel selection literature for their ability to control response biases. Recently developed IRT models usually rely on the assumption that item parameters remain invariant when they are paired in forced-choice blocks, without giving it much consideration. This study aims to test this assumption empirically on the MUPP-2PL model, comparing the parameter estimates of the forced-choice format to their graded-scale equivalent on a Big Five personality instrument. The assumption was found to hold reasonably well, especially for the discrimination parameters. In the cases in which it was violated, we briefly discuss the likely factors that may lead to non-invariance. We conclude discussing the practical implications of the results and providing a few guidelines for the design of forced-choice questionnaires based on the invariance assumptionLos cuestionarios de elección forzosa multidimensionales son bastante apreciados en la literatura de selección de personal por su capacidad para controlar los sesgos de respuesta. Los modelos de TRI desarrollados recientemente normalmente asumen que los parámetros de los ítems permanecen invariantes cuando se emparejan en bloques de elección forzosa, sin dedicarle mucha atención. Este estudio tiene como objetivo poner a prueba empíricamente este supuesto en el modelo MUPP-2PL, comparando las estimaciones de los parámetros del formato de elección forzosa con su equivalente en escala graduada, en un instrumento de personalidad Big Five. Se encontró que el supuesto se cumplía razonablemente bien, especialmente para los parámetros de discriminación. En los casos en los que no se cumplió se discuten brevemente los posibles factores que pueden dar lugar a no invarianza. Concluimos discutiendo las implicaciones prácticas de los resultados y proponiendo algunas pautas para el diseño de cuestionarios de elección forzosa basados en el supuesto de invarianzaThis research is funded by the Spanish government’s Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, projects PSI 2015-65557-P and PSI 2017-85022-

Psychological, Academic and Demographic Variables Affecting Students’ Academic Achievement Among First Year College Students in Saudi Arabia

There are many factors that affect academic achievement among first year college students in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study was to improve our understanding of academic achievement of first year college students in Saudi Arabia by investigating the relationship between a selection of demographic, academic, and psychological variables and their effects on first-year students’ GPA. All first-year students admitted to the King Saud University in fall 2016 or spring 2017 were invited to complete a self-report survey. 1457 students have completed and submitted the survey. Multiple regression analysis was performed with all independent variables in order to determine whether there were any significant relations between the independent variables and academic achievement. Among the study variables, six variables predicted first-year students’ GPA. Those variables were high school, Saudi aptitude test, Saudi achievement test, gender, stress, and mother’s education level