Keeping students back in the same grade -retention -has always been a controversial issue in Education, with some defending it as a beneficial remedial practice and others arguing against its detrimental effects. This paper undertakes an analysis of this issue, focusing on the differences in student motivation and self-related variables according to their retention related status, and the interrelationship between retention and these variables. The participants were 695 students selected from two cohorts (5th and 7th graders) of a larger group of students followed over a 3-year project. The students were assigned to four groups according to their retention-related status over time: (1) students with past and recent retention; (2) students with past but no recent retention; (3) students with no past but recent retention; (4) students with no past or recent retention. Measures of achievement goal orientations, self-concept, self-esteem, importance given to school subjects and Grade Point Average (GPA) were collected for all students. Repeated measures MANCOVA analyses were carried out showing group differences in selfesteem, academic self-concept, importance attributed to academic competencies, task and avoidance orientation and academic achievement. To attain a deeper understanding of these results and to identify profiles across variables, a cluster analysis based on achievement goals was conducted and four clusters were identified. Students who were retained at the end of the school year are mainly represented in clusters with less adaptive motivational profiles and almost absent from clusters exhibiting more adaptive ones. Findings highlight that retention leaves a significant mark that remains even when students recover academic achievement and retention is in the distant past. This is reflected in the low academic self-concept as well as in the devaluation of academic competencies and in the avoidance orientation which, taken together, can undermine students' academic adjustment and turn retention into a risk factor.
Teachers play a key role in creating effective conditions for students to succeed in school. The quality of student-teacher relationships is consistently associated with social, emotional, behavioural and academic adjustment, and this is even more relevant for students with special educational needs (SEN), considering these students' emotional, social and learning vulnerabilities. This study aimed to examine the associations between students' externalising and internalising behaviour, social skills and academic performance, and teachers' perceptions of conflict and closeness in their relationships with students with and without SEN. Data regarding 360 students in Year 3, Year 5 and Year 7 (169 students with SEN) were collected. Teachers (n = 74) reported on the student-teacher relationship and students' social skills, behaviour problems and academic performance. Special education teachers (n = 38) provided information regarding the diagnosis and profile of functioning of students with SEN. Results showed that teachers' reports of students' social skills and externalising problems were the strongest predictors of closeness and conflict. Internalising problems and SEN status also predicted decreased closeness, despite smaller effects. Taken together, findings support the importance of professional development opportunities focusing on facilitating teachers' relationships with students with perceived challenging behaviour.
This study aimed to examine the achievement goal orientation profiles of 5 th and 7 th grade students and the profile differences in academic achievement and anxiety. Participants were 1652 Portuguese students who responded to the Achievement Goals Scale and the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire. Based on a person-centered approach, cluster analysis identified six groups of students with distinct motivational profiles: task oriented, ego oriented, success oriented, disengaged, selfdefeating oriented and diffuse. The largest number of participants were in the diffuse oriented group. In terms of the gender composition of clusters, differences manifested in the groups of disengaged and self-defeating orientations, with boys predominating in the former and girls in the latter. In age, the success oriented students group was in the majority composed of younger students and older students were more likely to adopt disengaged orientations. Clusters also revealed different compositions when retention was taken into account, with students who had been retained being more represented in the disengaged and diffuse groups. Moreover results showed that goal orientation profiles had effects on academic achievement and anxiety: success oriented students achieved higher grades and students whose profiles are predominantly ego oriented (self-enhancement and selfdefeating) express more class and test anxiety.
This article presents the validation of the Multidimensional Teachers’ Resilience Scale (MTRS) for Portuguese teachers and proposes a hierarchical model to represent teachers’ resilience. Participants were 334 Portuguese teachers from elementary to secondary school who responded to the MTRS and a global measure of teachers’ resilience. Confirmatory factor analysis provided acceptable fit for a 13-item solution distributed by four factors. Results support the hierarchical structure of teachers’ resilience. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and correlation analysis between the MTRS global score and the global measure of teachers’ resilience suggest that the MTRS is a valid and reliable instrument to assess teachers’ resilience.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.