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Abstract
Students’ self-concept and effort in schoolwork are known to have significant influences on essential academic outcomes, but self-concept and effort may decline as students grow up. Students from 16 schools in Sydney (N = 2200) were asked to rate on two self-concept components (competency and affect) and effort in schoolwork. Based on measures established in confirmatory factor analysis, a 5 (grade: 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th) × 2 (gender: boys, girls) × 3 (measure: competency, affect, effort) repeated-measures ANOVA found that: (a) for all variables, scores were lower for higher grade levels; (b) boys were lower in affect and effort; (c) particularly for effort, gender differences favouring girls in primary became negligible in higher secondary; and (d) differences between primary and secondary tended to be greater for girls. Educators and curriculum designers need to consider the self-concept and effort of boys in the primary and girls in the secondary.
Acknowledgement
The research was supported by the Australian Research Council. The author wishes to thank Winnie Liu for constructive comments on earlier versions of the paper.
