An ongoing concern for educational psychology researchers and practitioners is to identify, theorise and understand, those factors that assist students to progress and excel during the course of their education, and those factors that have the opposite effect; to create difficulties and problems. The outcomes of these endeavours are interventions and practices that serve to enhance educational progress and overcome obstacles. This is a most worthy aim and we should never forget that the findings of our research can have the power and potential to change people’s lives for the better. Ultimately, the goal of our research should be to improve education. There has been a great deal of published work into this enterprise that has focused on myriad and diverse phenomena including educational policy, school factors (such as culture), teacher factors (such as emotional support), parent factors (such as the value of education) and student factors (such as their motivation). The eight articles included in this issue continue this strand of research. Not only do they showcase a range of original thought and questions, rigorous designs and analyses, but they importantly continue to amass the critical body of knowledge dedicated to the improvement of education.
Thornberg, Wänström, and Pozzoli (Citation2017) present findings from a survey of Swedish elementary schoolchildren into peer victimisation. The authors examined the role of two classroom factors: the relational climate (the quality of classroom relationships) and moral disengagement in relation to bullying (proneness to morally disengage in bullying situations). Importantly, a multilevel analytic approach is employed in order to properly distinguish between relational climate and moral disengagement as classroom, rather than individual, factors. Findings showed that peer victimisation was higher in classrooms with a lower relational climate and greater moral disengagement. These findings have clear implications for practice where the teacher can employ strategies to build relationships and reduce moral disengagement.
Law, Lam, Law, and Tam (Citation2017) report on a field experiment conducted in a Hong Kong elementary school. The aim was to examine if a storytelling approach was effective in fostering positive views towards students with learning difficulties. Students were randomly assigned to a condition that involved reading one picture book per day about students with learning difficulties for four days (this included various drama techniques to encourage students to express and discuss their opinions) while students in the control condition read picture books about environmental protection. After the intervention, students were more likely to endorse positive emotional acceptance towards their peers with learning difficulties. These results show relative simple ways that teachers can incorporate and promote inclusion during their routine teaching activities without the need for expensive or specialist intervention.
Collie et al. Citation(2017), examine how student’s experiences of academic support, adversity, and buoyancy (ability to successfully navigate ‘everyday’ academic setbacks and challenges) in a sample in a high-needs sample (e.g. using correctional, mental health, or social services) drawn from schools and community services provides. A person-centred analysis showed three distinct groups of participants. The ‘thriver’ was characterised by above average support home and community support, and academic buoyancy, the ‘supported struggler’ by above average academic support and adversity, and the ‘at-risk struggler’ by below average home and community support, and above average academic support and adversity. The thrivers showed higher adaptive motivation scores than the supported and at-risk strugglers. Findings highlight the importance of home and community support in positive outcomes. One would hope that this message will reach policy-makers with the power to influence the development and provision of support mechanisms.
Heddy, Sinatra, Seli, Taasoobshirazi, and Mukhopadhyay (Citation2017), also focus on at-risk students. In their study, an intervention designed to foster interest and learning transfer using the principle of transformative experience (TE: when students use and value course material for its potential to impact on their lives) was delivered as part of a course for undergraduate students with low entry grades or first semester performance. Students in the comparison group followed a similar course that did not include TE principles. Students who took the course with TE principles showed greater knowledge of course content, greater topic interest, and greater learning transfer, relative to the students who took the course without TE principles. These findings provide evidence that TE may be useful pedagogical tool for university teachers and educators who may be dealing not only with low-achieving students, but also those who may be unconfident, unengaged or unmotivated.
Scheltinga, Timmermans, and van der Werf (Citation2017) examine the academic achievement of Dutch secondary school students in three subjects (Dutch, English and mathematics) in relation to their achievement goals. Identifying motivational predictors of achievement has been one of the cornerstones of scholarly activity in the field of educational psychology for at least the last two decades. The novel approach used in this study was to examine students dominant achievement goal (by pitting different goal statements against each other) and in a tracked educational system. After controlling for sex, IQ, and self-efficacy, a performance-approach goal was found to predict the grades in all three subjects, and a mastery-approach goal to predict grade in Dutch only. Furthermore, the association between performance-approach and grades was stronger in the higher tracks. These findings highlight how adaptive goals may differ for student ability groups. Teachers should understand that what is an adaptive goal for one ability group may not be so for other groups.
Chen and Cheng (Citation2017) describe a study in which they developed and validated a new scale designed to examine the perceived severity cyber bullying, in a sample of primary and secondary Taiwanese students, along with differences by gender, grade (year cohort) and links to participant roles. Online impersonation was judged by participants to be the most severe form of cyber bullying and sending messages that made fun of the victim was judged to be the least severe. Female students and students not involved in cyber bullying activity (either as a bully, victim or bully/victim) perceived cyber bullying to be more severe. These findings provide valuable insight into this relatively new form of bullying that can have such a devastating impact on young people. Critically, if the willingness to report or intervene in cyber bullying depends on perceived severity, interventions may need to explicitly address this point.
Sakız (Citation2017) examined a year-long programme designed to enhance the achievement, attendance, perception of school climate and socio-emotional adaption, of Turkish students with mild disabilities. The programme consisted of training staff (teachers, counsellors and management) and parents in inclusive principles and pedagogy (including lesson planning and pedagogy). Students at participating schools showed improvements on all measures compared to students at schools who did not participate. This study adds to the evidence base for the use and implementation of inclusive practices and shows the potential that training staff can have on student outcomes.
Finally, Collie, Holliman, and Martin Citation(2017) studied how a relatively novel construct (adaptability) can assist first-year undergraduate students succeed at university. This is an important sample to study because, as the authors highlight, the transition to university plays a major role in academic success at university and beyond. Higher adaptability, the perceived capacity to adjust to novel and uncertain situations, was associated with better behavioural engagement with study and subsequent educational achievement. These findings highlight an important individual different variable that may influence whether students make a successful transition to university. Students with low adaptability may require particular kinds of support beyond the usual forms provided by universities.
My reading of these papers is the tremendous hope and optimism that they offer for education. In this regard, they provide a complimentary focus with the field of positive psychology. I hope that you enjoy reading these papers and the potential that they offer for improving education.
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References
- Chen, L. M., & Cheng, Y. Y. (2017). Perceived severity of cyberbullying behaviour: Differences between genders, grades and participant roles. Educational Psychology, 37, 599–610.
- Collie, R. J., Holliman, A. J., & Martin, A. J. (2017). Adaptability, engagement and academic achievement at university. Educational Psychology, 37, 632–647.
- Collie, R. J., Martin, A. J., Bottrell, D., Armstrong, D., Ungar, M., & Liebenberg, L. (2017). Social support, academic adversity and academic buoyancy: A person-centred analysis and implications for academic outcomes. Educational Psychology, 37, 550–564.
- Heddy, B. C., Sinatra, G. M., Seli, H., Taasoobshirazi, G., & Mukhopadhyay, A. (2017). Making learning meaningful: Facilitating interest development and transfer in at-risk college students. Educational Psychology, 37, 565–581.
- Law, Y. K., Lam, S. F., Law, W., & Tam, Z. W. (2017). Enhancing peer acceptance of children with learning difficulties: Classroom goal orientation and effects of a storytelling programme with drama techniques. Educational Psychology, 37, 537–549.
- Sakız, H. (2017). Impact of an inclusive programme on achievement, attendance and perceptions towards the school climate and social-emotional adaptation among students with disabilities. Educational Psychology, 37, 611–631.
- Scheltinga, P. A. M., Timmermans, A. C., & van der Werf, G. P. C. (2017). Dominant achievement goals and academic outcomes tracks in high school. Educational Psychology, 37, 582–598.
- Thornberg, R., Wänström, L., & Pozzoli, T. (2017). Peer victimisation and its relation to class relational climate and class moral disengagement among school children. Educational Psychology, 37, 524–536.