A matter of attitude? Developing a profile of boys’ and girls’ responses to primary schooling

Abstract

Much of the research investigating pupils’ attitudes towards school has been qualitatively‐oriented. This analysis explores the extent to which some of the differences between pupils can be rendered in quantitative terms. Drawing upon a survey of 1310 pupils in 21 primary schools, its main concern is to explore the extent to which there is a ‘gender gap’ in attitudes and responses to school. The question of whether schools participating in the research faced common or distinct challenges in terms of pupils’ attitudes was also of interest. Analysis confirms that, in line with previous research, primary girls were more favourably disposed towards school than primary boys. Factor analysis of pupil responses to an attitude questionnaire showed that girls were more positive in terms of engagement with school and pupil behaviour but that boys had higher academic self‐esteem. There were no differences between the two sexes in terms of relationships with peers. A cluster analysis identified the existence of five groups of pupils, some of whom have been highlighted in previous research using different approaches. These groups were: (1) the enthusiastic and confident; (2) the moderately interested but easily bored; (3) the committed but lacking self‐esteem; (4) the socially engaged but disaffected; and (5) the alienated. The gendered nature of some of these groupings was apparent: the first group was dominated by girls while the fourth and fifth were dominated by boys. However, analysis indicated that such gender‐based differences were, to some extent, matters of degree. Some 14% of primary boys, for example, were judged to be alienated, but so were 9% of primary girls. An analysis of the prevalence of each group within each of the participating schools showed that while many primary schools had similar overall pupil profiles, some faced specific challenges associated with having larger proportions of particular groups of children (for example the alienated, the socially engaged but disaffected or the committed but lacking self‐esteem). The implications of the findings for those concerned with interventions in relation to gender issues are briefly discussed.

Acknowledgements

We should like to thank the following for helping us to develop aspects of this paper: Roland Chaplain, Pamela Sammons, Peter Tymms and Molly Warrington.

Notes

1. The estimates for attitude items unadjusted for background factors were higher than this, at 4–12% for four attitude scales and 2–29% for individual attitude items (Thomas et al., 2000, p. 296).

2. We employed a maximum likelihood with varimax rotation approach to the factor analysis. Thomas and colleagues employed a slightly different approach.

3. We have relabelled Factors 2 and 3. In the case of Factor 2 the Scottish study used the term ‘pupil culture’, and referred to Factor 3 as ‘self efficacy’, a term which is sometimes seen as interchangeable with ‘academic self‐esteem’. We believe the items are better described as examples of the latter concept.

4. See, for example, Licht and Dweck (1984) and Boaler (1997) in relation to confidence and self‐esteem, and Sukhnandan (1999) and Warrington and Younger (2000) in relation to boys’ behaviour.