Wellbeing as a Possible Predictor of PISA Achivement: Preliminary Findings
Author(s):
Ana Kozina (presenting / submitting) Mojca Štraus
Conference:
ECER 2017
Format:
Paper

Session Information

11 SES 11 B, International Assessments and Teaching Improvement

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-24
17:15-18:45
Room:
W2.05
Chair:
Buratin Khampirat

Contribution

      The principle of equity of education policies encompasses promotion of individuals' overall development and the development of education policies and practices that make it possible for each individual to achieve their optimum levels of development (both cognitive and noncognitive). The basic premise of the study is that developing students' non cognitive skills, e.g. social and emotional skills (and thus increasing their wellbeing) encourages their higher cognitive skills, e.g. learning efficiency – for all students irrespective of their initial skills and skills developed so far. 

       Learning and teaching are not only characterised by the learning (cognitive) component, but also by the social and emotional components (noncognitive components) (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, and Walberg, 2004). Schools have so far emphasised higher cognitive outcomes. However, students who lack suitably developed social and emotional skills over time develop a low level of connection with school. And this low level of connection with school in turn has a negative impact on learning outcomes and thus on learning efficiency (Blum and Libbey, 2004; Klem and Connell, 2004; Rosenblatti and Maurice, 2008). Enhanced social and emotional lerning have well documented positive impacts on targeted social emotional competencies, the attitude towards self, others and school. When social and emotional learning in schools is conducted in a systematic and comprehensive way this type of learning provides students with various skills that improve academic achievement, including efficient management of the emotions, development of motivation and perseverance in relation to more difficult tasks (Ragozzino et al., 2003).

       Social and emotional learning can be described as the process of acquiring fundamental social and emotional skills: selfawareness, selfregulation, social awareness, successful management of relationships and responsible decisionmaking (Durlak et al., 2011), which – in addition to other outcomes (including academic achievement) – results in greater wellbeing (Zins et al., 2004). Wellbeing includes: selfacceptance, positive relationships, independence, control of the environment, meaning and personal growth (Reeve, 2015). Both, higher social and emotional skills and greater wellbeing are significantly linked with higher learning outcomes. The first group of interpretations focuses on the changes within individuals that lead to better quality of learning and knowledge. Higher learning outcomes are typical of students who are more confident about their learning skills, who make more effort and persist longer in doing more difficult tasks (Aronson, 2002), who set higher educational goals, are more selfdisciplined and motivated, are able to cope with stress (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005), are better organised in terms of their own work (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005; Zins and Ellias, 2006), have developed better problemsolving skills, as well as the skills of responsible decisionmaking (Zins and Ellias, 2006). Other authors (Hawkins, Smith and Catalano 2004; Blum and Libbey, 2004) look for associations based on characteristics of the environment. They list various characteristics of the environment, such as the norms of peers and adults, which encourage high expectations and support to the learning success; good interpersonal relationships among students or between students and teachers, which encourage greater classroom and school loyalty; promotion of collaborative learning; ensuring a safe and wellorganised learning environment that promotes positive behaviour. 

     In the following study we will look at the relationships between social and emotional factors and learning outcomes. More speciffically we will test weather wellbeing measure can be used as a predictor of educational achievement (as measured in PISA study). More specifically:  To what extent is students' wellbeing (noncognitive skills) associated with their educational outcome (cognitive skills)? What is the correlation between students' wellbeing and their learning outcomes? Can we identify weel being as a significant predictor of PISA achievement?

 

Method

The previously collected PISA 2015 data on learning achievement will be enhanced by introducing a new measurement tool that will further shed light on the relationship between weelbeing and learning outcomes. Participants The sample of students who participated in PISA 2015 in Slovenia (6,372 students, whereof 2,931 are girls and 3,441 boys, their average age: 15.7 years) will be used for the additional data collection on student wellbeing (Wewllbeing questionnairre) that is based on internationally designed instruments. By using the same identification number in both data collections, the data on wellbeing will be linked to the PISA 2015 data (a preliminary national data base will be used). Instruments PISA Literacy Tests In Slovenia, the sample of students for the PISA study comprises mostly students in the first year of uppersecondary education programmes. The international definition of the PISA target population, for which the international comparisons are derived, is a generation of 15year olds in education (OECD, 2012). In the proposed project, samples of 15yearold students who participated in the recent cycles of PISA will be used. In accordance to the international standards, a minimum of 5,000 students are selected for participation in the study in individual countries (including Slovenia) in each cycle. In 2015, the entire literacy assessment was computerbased with emphasis on scientific literacy. Wellbeing Questionnaire At theinternational level in relation to the PISA 2015 study additional data collection of the data on students’ wellbeing and social and emotional competences, that are becoming increasingly important in explaining student achievement, is being designed. The questionnaire has been developed by the Australian Department of Education and Development (in collaboration with international partners). It consists of established tools for measuring wellbeing: EPOCH (Kern et al., 2004) and MDI (ShonertReichl et al., 2013). Procedure Basic design of the PISA study includes 2 hour test of different literacies, primarily reading, mathematical and scientific literacy, and approximately 40minute questionnaires on background data with which noncognitive educational results are assessed as well as differences in student achievements explained between and within the participating countries. After the translation and adaptation of the questionnaire for Slovenia the students who participated in the PISA 2015 assessment will also complete this questionnaire, thus providing for analyses of the links between the data of both studies and for addressing the specified research questions.

Expected Outcomes

Based on the theoretical framework and previous research, we assume that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between students' wellbeing and their achievements (i.e. that there are higher levels of wellbeing in students who achieve higher learning outcomes). In light of this, we also assume that based on the data on students' wellbeing it is possible to significantly predict their performance in PISA.

References

Aronson, J. (ed.). (2002). Improving academic achievement: Impact of psychological factors on education. New York: Academic Press. Blum, R. W., and Libbey, H. P. (2004). School connectedness – Strengthening health and education outcomes for teenagers. Journal of School Health, 74, 229–299. Catalano, R. F., Berglund, M. L., Ryan, J. A. M., Lonczak, H. S., and Hawkins, J. D. (2002). Positive youth development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs. Prevention & Treatment, 5, Article 15. doi: 10.1037/1522-3736.5.1.515a. Duckworth, A. S., and Seligman, M. E. P. (2005). Selfdiscipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Psychological Science, 16, 939–944. Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Schellinger, K. B., and Taylor, R. D. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: a meta-analyses of school-based universal interventions. Child development, 1, 405–432. Hawkins, J. D., Smith, B. H., and Catalano, R. F. (2004). Social development and social and emotional learning. In J. E. Zins, R. P. Weissberg, M. C. Wang and H. J. Walberg (eds.), Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? (pp. 135–150). New York: Teachers College Press. Kern, M.L., Benson, L., Steinberg, E.A., & Steinberg, L., (2014). The EPOCH measure of adolescent Well-being. University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. Klem, A. M., and Connell, J. P. (2004). Relationships matter: Linking teacher support to student engagement and achievement. Journal of School Health, 74, 262–273. Ragozzino, K., Resnik, H., Utne-O’Brien, M. and Weissberg, R. P. (2003). Promoting academic achievement through social and emotional learning. Educational Horizons, 81, 169–171. Reeve, J. (2015). Understanding motivation and emotiion. Hoboken: Wiley. Rosenblatt, J., and Maurice, J. E. (2008). Dosage Effects of a Preventive Social-Emotional Learning Intervention on Achievement Loss Associated with Middle School Transition. Journal of Primary Prevention, 29(6), 535–555. Sconert-Reichl, K.A., Guhn, M., Gaderman, A.M. Hymel., S., Sweiss, L., & Hertzman, C. (2013). Development and valiadtion of the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI): Assesing childrens well being and assests across multiple contexts. Social indicators research, 114, 345-369. Zins, J. E., and Elias, M. J. (2006). Social and emotional learning. In G. G. Bear and K. M. Minke (eds.), Children’s needs III: Development, prevention, and intervention (pp. 1–13). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Wang, M. C., and Walberg, H. J. (eds.). (2004). Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? New York: Teachers College Press.

Author Information

Ana Kozina (presenting / submitting)
Educational Research Institute
Center for Evaluation Studies
Ljubljana
Educational Research Institute, Slovenia

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