Does socio-economic disadvantage lead to acting out? A reinvigoration of an old question

Research into socio-economic determinants of school deviance is inconclusive. Recently, scholars argued that economic deprivation, rather than SES background, affects delinquency. Using multilevel analyses on data of 9,174 students across 111 schools in 4 European cities (2013-2014), we investigate the association of SES and economic deprivation with school-deviant behavior. Furthermore, we study the role of academic self-efficacy. Lower-SES and deprived students might perceive goal blockage with regard to study-related goals, leading to deviant coping – that is self-efficacy as mediator – or self-efficacy might condition SES and deprivation effects – that is self-efficacy as moderator. Results showed that deprivation relates to school-deviant behavior. This association was not mediated, nor moderated, by academic self-efficacy. The relationship with SES was moderated by academic self-efficacy. We conclude that deprived and lower SES-students are prone to break school rules, the latter more so when feeling less competent at reaching academic goals

Social capital erosion in education? A closer look at the social implications of grade retention

It is important for educational systems to ensure that students are connected to one another. In other words, educational systems should make sure that students have social capital. However, at least one practice, which is nonetheless widely applied in many educational systems, may be expected to erode social relationships between students. It concerns grade retention – i.e. the practice of letting academically challenged students repeat their grade. Inherent to grade retention is that retainees are taken away from their familiar class group and put in an unfamiliar one. As a result, existing friendship relations are disrupted and retainees have to establish new ones. Researchers expect that the label of “retainee” impedes their ability to form new friendships. As such, most scholars assume that retainees are at risk for social isolation, which, if true, would go directly against education’s integrating function. Few empirical studies, however, have been undertaken to investigate these assumptions. This study investigates the role of grade retention in the quantity and the quality of adolescents’ friendships. Moreover, we investigate the direct effect of the percentage of retained students at school on friendship quantity and quality, and its moderating effect on the relationship between retention and these friendship dimensions. Multilevel analyses on data (2004-2005) from 11,759 students in 83 Flemish secondary schools suggest that secondary school retention was related to a lower number of friendships, but was unrelated to friendship quality. Primary school retention was unrelated to friendships in secondary education. Furthermore, all students attending schools with a higher percentage of retainees –even the promoted ones– had fewer and less qualitative friendships. Moreover, the retention composition moderated the effect of individual grade retention on friendships. As this widespread practice yields the risk of diminishing students’ social capital and promoting isolation, we argue that this intervention strategy should be abandoned

Situating Ghent in the ISCY study: the implications of the Flemish tracking system for equity and excellence

Belgium occupies a distinct position in PISA 2012 scores. First, the Belgian educational system belongs to the international top in terms of performance. The top students in Belgium score second highest of all ISCY countries on mathematics. However, Belgian 15-year olds are also among the worst performing students on these tests, scoring only slightly better than students from France, Iceland, Norway, Spain, and USA. No wonder then, that Belgium has the highest level of inequality in achievement of all countries taking part in the ISCY-study, as shown by the spread on the PISA results. The aim of the current paper is to offer explanations for this peculiar position of Flanders by searching for system influences on student performance. First, we will discuss the specificities of the Flemish educational system. Thereafter, we will argue that the Flemish tracking system is one of the most important reasons for the existence of the large performance gap

Vocational students' intention to drop out in flanders: The role of teacher beliefs

For decades, western education confronts the problem of student unqualified dropout, which is most prevalent in vocational education. Relatively little research focuses on the role teachers might play in students’ decision to quit school. By means of multilevel analyses on data of 2589 vocational students in 48 Flemish secondary schools, this study examines whether teachers’ shared expectations of their students associate with vocational students’ (intention to) dropout. In vocational education, teachers’ beliefs about the teachability of students influence students’ intention to quit, irrespective of students’ perceived teacher support and students’ sense of futilityUniversidad de Granada. Departamento de Didáctica y Organización EscolarGrupo FORCE (HUM-386

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Taking the attitude of the other: the role of study attitudes in mediating gender compositional effects on girls’ and boys' school misbehavior

Previous research on consequences of schools’ gender composition has mostly investigated students’ socio-emotional wellbeing and achievement, while students’ academic attitudes and behavioural outcomes – including school deviancy – have been less studied. Moreover, most studies compared single-sex and coeducational schools, and did not focus on the proportion of girls at school. Starting from reference group theory, we hypothesize that boys attending schools with a higher proportion of girls adopt the latter’s positive study attitudes, rendering them less susceptible to disruptive behaviour. Conversely, girls in schools with more boys are expected to adopt the latter’s negative study attitudes, consequently being more likely to misbehave. Multilevel analyses on data from the Flemish Educational Assessment (FlEA), consisting of 5961 girls and 5638 boys in 81 schools, showed that both boys and girls valued studying more and were less likely to misbehave at school when proportionally more girls attended their school. Implications are discussed

Does grade retention invoke student misbehavior in adolescence? A multilevel approach

Few studies with respect to grade retention and school-disruptive behavior have focused on adolescence. Moreover, previous retention research has ignored multilevel issues. This study aims to fill these research lacunae by addressing the role of grade retention in adolescent students’ school misconduct. Furthermore, we explore the role of the percentage of retained students at school in individual-level school misconduct and in moderating the relationship between retention and misconduct. Multilevel analyses of data (2004-2005) from 11,872 students in 85 Flemish secondary schools suggest that, while students retained in primary education exhibited less school misconduct in adolescence, those retained in secondary schools were more likely to break rules. Furthermore, students attending schools with a higher percentage of retainees were found to be more deviant. However, schools’ retention composition moderated the relationship between grade retention and school misconduct. Implications are discussed

Onvervulde doelen van tracking: heterogene toekomstverwachtingen van leerlingen binnen de onderwijsvormen

Onderwijssystemen worden vaak gekenmerkt door bepaalde vorm(en) van ‘ability grouping’, zoals een indeling naar onderwijsvormen (ook wel aangeduid als tracking of streaming). Hoewel de praktische invulling van dergelijk groeperen van leerlingen verschilt, is het doel steeds tweevoudig. Ten eerste wordt verondersteld dat het efficiënter is om les te geven aan homogene groepen leerlingen wat betreft hun capaciteiten en prestaties. Ten tweede bereiden de verschillende onderwijsvormen de jongeren voor op een andere toekomst en hebben de verschillende onderwijsvormen een andere finaliteit (doorstromingsgericht of arbeidsmarkt). Indien de toekomstverwachtingen van leerlingen (universiteit, hogeschool of werken) in lijn zijn met de doelstellingen van de onderwijsvormen, zou men verwachten dat deze verwachtingen vrij homogeen zijn binnen de onderwijsvormen en heterogeen ertussen. In Vlaanderen bestaat het onderwijssysteem uit vier onderwijstypes (academisch, artistiek, technisch en beroepsonderwijs), die hiërarchisch geordend zijn. Het welgekende watervaleffect is hier een gevolg van, waarbij studenten eerst proberen om in de hoogst gewaardeerde, academisch georiënteerde onderwijsvormen te slagen en zich na falen heroriënteren naar de meer praktische onderwijsvormen. We verwachten dat dit watervaleffect homogene verwachtingen creëert in de academisch georiënteerde onderwijsvormen en heterogene verwachtingen in de praktisch gerichte onderwijsvormen. We maken gebruik van kwantitatieve gegevens verzameld door de International Study of City Youth (ISCY) tijdens het schooljaar 2013-2014 van 2354 leerlingen van het vierde middelbaar in 30 middelbare scholen in Gent (Vlaanderen). Voorlopige resultaten wijzen erop dat de praktische onderwijsvormen meer heterogeniteit vertonen op vlak van toekomstverwachtingen van de leerlingen dan de academisch gerichte vormen. Indien tracking in het secundair onderwijs niet de gewenste doelen bereikt in bepaalde onderwijsvormen, moet deze praktijk in vraag worden gesteld. Een indeling in onderwijsvormen wordt namelijk gekenmerkt door sociale ongelijkheid

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