The paper reports on the results of a study carried out within the framework of a government- funded large-scale, longitudinal evaluation project (NOESIS) launched in 2010 to evaluate an Austrian school reform program at the lower secondary level, the “New Middle School” (NMS). The overall goal of the school reform project is to limit marginalizing processes and improve trajectories within an inclusive school setting. Within the framework of the evaluative study, the authors of this paper focus on students’ self-concepts during their transition from primary education to the NMS.

After the transition to a lower secondary school (which, in Austria, is a different school), students are confronted with a new setting with hitherto unknown challenges, a new school, and a new class with new classmates. The situation challenges students’ self-concepts and therefore can have a strong influence on their further educational trajectories (cf. Köller et al., 2006; Marsh & Yeung, 1998).

Jacobs et al. (2002) found that average beliefs in one’s ability change during school years, and differ as a function of gender, subject and academic year (cf. Marsh & Yeung, 1998). Jacobs et al. indicate a decrease in self-concepts during secondary one. Changes also relate to classmates as well. Marsh (2005) describes the “big-fish-little-pond effect” (BFLPE), saying that equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in higher-ability schools than in lower-ability schools (cf. Gerlach, 2006; Rindermann & Heller, 2005). Helmke (1992) as well as Lüdtke und Köller (2002), report that the academic self-concept is an important determinant of academic achievement and development of learning motivation and educational aspirations. It is one indicator of a positive psychosocial development (Harter, 1998).

Aware that self-concept is only one factor among many which have an impact on student school trajectories, we draw on Sen’s capability approach to argue that students’ self-concepts and their learning motivation constitute an essential part of the conditions under which they are able to realize their goals. A theoretical understanding of schooling using the capability approach implicates the need for schools to feel responsible for the successful transition of their students within the education system. In creating a supportive and encouraging atmosphere, students can develop self-concepts and learning motivation that help them find their places in society and realize their plans for their own future (Zimmermann & Spangler 2001).

Taking into account the aims of the school reform program, the focus of this paper is on students’ academic self-concepts. The proposal therefore deals with the question: How stable is the academic self-concept and learning motivation of students during their time in the new middle school?

According to research we assume that the academic self-concept decreases continuously after entry into secondary I and that the academic self-concept is a relevant determinant to predict learning motivation. Although some studies highlight not only the relation between academic self-concept and achievement, but also the importance of the relation between academic self-concept and academic motivation (cf. Marsh, Hau et al., 2006), only a few studies focus on this topic in a longitudinal perspective (e.g. Guay, Batelle & Litalien, 2010). That is also a reason why the main aim of the current study was to investigate the structure of academic self-concept and its relation to academic motivation over time.

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