School Climate and Perceived Academic Performance: Direct or Resilience-Mediated Relationship?

How peer relationships affect academic achievement among junior high school students: The chain mediating roles of learning motivation and learning engagement

BACKGROUND

Despite the recognition of the impact of peer relationships, learning motivation, and learning engagement on academic achievement, there is still a gap in understanding the specific mechanisms through which peer relationships impact academic achievement via learning motivation and learning engagement.

METHODS

This study aims to investigate how peer relationships affect junior high school students' academic achievement through the chain mediating roles of learning motivation and learning engagement, employing the self-system model of motivational development as the theoretical framework. In January 2024, 717 participants were selected from two middle schools in eastern China (mean age = 13.49 years, SD = 0.5). The data analysis in this study was performed using the structural equation model (SEM) in AMOS 24.0 and SPSS 24.0.

RESULTS

The results showed that peer relationships were directly and significantly related to junior high school students' academic achievement, and that peer relationships were indirectly and positively related to junior high school students' academic achievement via learning motivation and learning engagement respectively. The results also revealed a significant indirect and positive relationship between peer relationships and junior high school students' academic achievement, mediated by the sequential mediating roles of learning motivation and learning engagement. Moreover, the path "peer relationship→learning motivation→academic achievement" has the strongest indirect effect.

CONCLUSION

For junior high school students to achieve academic success, the appropriate interventions should be implemented to improve peer relationships, learning motivation, and learning engagement.

Psychometric Evaluation of the School Climate and School Identification Measure-Student on Chilean Students: A Bifactor Model Approach

School climate is a relevant construct for understanding social relations at school. The SCASIM-St has been widely defined as a multidimensional construct; however, new factor structures have not been explored through evidence that allows for interpreting school climate scores from an approach that respects the multidimensionality of the scale and, at the same time, allows for identifying the degree of essential unidimensionality in the data. Consequently, the objective was to analyze the psychometric properties of the SCASIM-St from a bifactor model approach, evaluating the influence of a general school climate factor versus five specific factors. The study involved 1860 students of both sexes (42% males and 58% females), with an average age of 16.63 years (SD = 0.664), from 17 secondary schools in Chile. The results obtained by a confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence that the best model was the bifactor model for the 38 items, with one general factor and five specific factors. The Explained Common Variance (ECV) values and reliability levels by hierarchical omega accounted for a strong general school climate factor with high levels of reliability. Evidence of external criterion validity, assessed through the attitude toward authority scale (AIA-A), showed a theoretically expected and significant relationship between the factors of both instruments. This study confirmed the psychometric robustness of the SCASIM-St scale by means of a bifactor model, allowing for a new, essentially unidimensional interpretation of the scale scores and providing an instrument to measure school climate in Chile.

Perceived academic performance explained by school climate, positive psychological variables and life satisfaction

BACKGROUND

Adolescents spend a large percentage of their time at school, where learning and achievement are important activities that are vital to their future educational success and subsequent career opportunities. However, studies reveal a significant drop in satisfaction and performance during the teenage years.

AIM

Based on the ecological model, this study aims to explore the relationship dynamics between contextual (school climate) and psychological (emotional intelligence and resilience) variables, life satisfaction and perceived academic performance, analysing, to this end, four theoretical models grounded in previous research.

SAMPLE

The sample comprised a total of 1397 adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years from the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (northern Spain).

ANALYSIS

The Equations 6.2 program was used to estimate the measurement model and the structural models, using the robust maximum likelihood procedure.

RESULTS

School climate and life satisfaction were found to directly influence perceived academic performance, whereas emotional intelligence and resilience did so indirectly, with the full mediation of life satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

These results have important educational implications, since they reveal existing relationship dynamics, which should serve as a basis for the effective implementation of school programs. They also indicate how important it is for adolescents to be psychologically well-adjusted and satisfied with their lives, in order for them to perform optimally at school.

Revamping Teacher Training for Challenging Times: Teachers' Well-Being, Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, and Innovative Methodologies as Key Teaching Competencies

Purpose

This study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate a teacher training program to improve the quality and innovation of teaching practice. The program was designed to protect teachers' mental health and well-being, and increase their resilience and emotional competence while introducing innovative educational methodologies.

Participants and Methods

An experimental design using a control group and pre-/post-test empirical data was adopted to determine the effects of the 14-week teacher training program. The sample comprised 141 teachers with mean teaching experience of 13.1 years (SD = 6.84, 54.6% women).

Results

The program had a positive impact on teacher well-being, resilience, emotional competence, and self-efficacy, linked to the innovative and effective teacher methodologies included in the training.

Conclusion

More research is needed to expand on the findings and optimize teacher training implementation. The training provided in this study is evidence of the commitment to overcoming current educational framework challenges. The training contributes to teacher empowerment and provides knowledge, strategies, and resources for greater innovation and quality in the classroom - key to creating educational synergies for the emergence of stronger teachers in the face of adversity. We discuss future research directions for a better understanding of teacher training in the 21st century.

Valutazione dei livelli individuali di resilienza negli studenti della scuola secondaria di primo grado: adattamento e validazione del Questionario di Valutazione dell’Atteggiamento Resiliente (QVAR)

Resilience and socio-emotional skills play a central role in promoting individual’s general and academic well-being and supporting a positive adaptation to the context. The school can play a strategic role in the evaluation of these aspects. The Questionnaire for the Assessment of Resilient Attitude at school (QVAR), derived from the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment, was developed for the assessment of resilience and socioemotional skills in lower secondary school students. The questionnaire recalls the perspective of strength-based assessment, focusing on the individuals’ resources. The purpose of this contribution is to offer an overview of the theoretical framework on the relevance of resilience and socio-emotional skills and to present the procedure for constructing, adapting and validating the QVAR. The sample of schools that participated in the validation of the QVAR belongs entirely to the three-year period of lower secondary school and is distributed throughout the country. The classes participating in the survey were 88 for a total of 1401 students, consisting of 698 female students and 703 students. The statistical analyzes conducted confirm the good psychometric properties of the Resilient Attitude Assessment Questionnaire (QVAR): this will allow the application to plan and monitor interventions to improve the student’s coping skills.

The Association between University Students’ Achievement Goal Orientation and Academic Engagement: Examining the Mediating Role of Perceived School Climate and Academic Self-Efficacy

Enhancing academic engagement in university students can help enrich students’ educational experience. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources Model and the Job Demand-Resources Model, this study aims to explore the links between undergraduates’ achievement goal orientation and academic engagement (AE), by examining the mediating functions of perceived school climate (PSC) and academic self-efficacy (ASE). Using whole-group sampling, 571 Chinese undergraduates were selected using a self-reporting method to explore the impacts of mastery-approach goals (MAGs) and performance-avoidance goals (PAGs) on AE, as well as the chain mediating effects of PSC and ASE. The findings show that both MAGs and PAGs have a positive, direct, predictive effect on university students’ AE. Additionally, both goal orientations indirectly predict AE through PSC and ASE, separately. The results showed there was also a significant chain mediating effect of PSC and ASE, where for both goal orientations, AE was positively predicted. This study highlights the role of environmental as well as personal factors in facilitating self-regulated learning among university students, and it discusses implications for future research.

Future Academic Expectations and Their Relationship with Motivation, Satisfaction of Psychological Needs, Responsibility, and School Social Climate: Gender and Educational Stage

The purpose of this study was to show the relationship between future academic expectations and the concepts of motivation, basic psychological needs, school social climate, and responsibility. Additionally, possible differences in future expectations were analyzed according to gender and educational stage. A total of 984 students (M = 12.87; SD = 1.84) from elementary and secondary school participated in this study. A single questionnaire composed of different scales was administered to check the values of motivation (EME), psychological need satisfaction (PNSE), school social climate (CECSCE), responsibility (PSRQ), sociodemographic differences, and a question to find out future academic expectations. Results showed that the group with the highest future expectations (do a degree or upper vocational training) had statistical differences of p < 0.001 with respect to the group with the lowest future expectations (finish compulsory secondary studies or basic vocational training and start work) and middle expectations (do a high school or middle vocational training) with regard to autonomous motivation, satisfaction of psychological needs, school and teacher climate, and social and personal responsibility. The group with the lowest expectations had higher values with respect to the other two groups in terms of amotivation (p < 0.001). Moreover, women and elementary school children had greater future academic expectations (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the promotion of basic psychological needs satisfaction, autonomous motivation, personal and social responsibility, and school social climate are related to higher academic expectations, and the improvement of these variables becomes especially important for boys and secondary students who could have a higher chance of dropping out of school.

Academic Resilience and Engagement in High School Students: The Mediating Role of Perceived Teacher Emotional Support

Academic resilience is the ability to overcome setbacks and chronic difficulties in the academic context. Previous studies have found that resilient students tend to be more engaged in school than their counterparts. Nevertheless, it seems worth deepening the role of contextual factors, such as teacher emotional support and how students perceive it, as it could contribute to foster the abovementioned relationship. The present study aimed to examine the links between academic resilience, perceived teacher emotional support, and school engagement. Moreover, the mediating role of perceived teacher emotional support was investigated. A sample of 205 Italian high school students (58.5% female), aged 14–19 years (M = 16.15, SD = 1.59), completed self-report questionnaires on academic resilience, perceived teacher emotional support, and school engagement. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to test the mediation hypothesis. The results showed that academic resilience was associated with perceived teacher emotional support, and both of them were related to school engagement. Furthermore, perceived teacher emotional support partially mediated the relationship between academic resilience and school engagement. Findings were discussed by underlining the importance of fostering personal and contextual resources in the school context to promote students’ well-being.