A large body of research has demonstrated a big-fish—little-pond effect (BFLPE) by showing that equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-ability schools than in low-ability schools. Although the BFLPE generalizes across many countries, it varies significantly between countries. The reasons for this variation are still largely unclear. This study investigated how explicit school-level tracking (formal division of students into different school types by achievement) and implicit school-level tracking (informal division of students into schools by social background, controlling for school selectivity) were related to the size of the BFLPE in a sample of 41 countries. BFLPE estimates are based on subject-specific mathematics self-concept as assessed in the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and reported by Seaton, Marsh, and Craven (2009). Results show that the BFLPE was far more pronounced in countries with earlier explicit school-level tracking whereas implicit school-level tracking did not affect the BFLPE. Surprisingly, the strong relationship between the duration of explicit school-level tracking and the BFLPE was not mediated by the size of between-school achievement variance (BSAV) although BSAV was strongly associated with both types of tracking. Moreover, results based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 show that the BFLPE is elevated already at 4th grade in early selection countries (i.e., before actual selection). The strong relationship between the duration of explicit school-level tracking and the BFLPE was not evident when the BFLPE was estimated by more general self-concept measures as in PISA 2000 and PISA 2006.
Background
Evidence so far shows that Waldorf students are characterized by average science achievement but at the same time high socioeconomic status and high science motivation. Moreover, Waldorf education is characterized by high emphasis on inquiry-based science education (IBSE). The present study investigates if the specific attitude-achievement constellation of Waldorf students in science may be explained by the high level of IBSE.
Methods
Propensity score matching was applied to control for Waldorf students’ more advantageous social background using the Austrian PISA 2015 sample (N = 7007 15-year old students). After propensity score matching, 1107 matched controls were included alongside all 149 Waldorf students.
Results
The results show that Waldorf students report higher enjoyment in learning science and more interest in broad science topics than matched controls. On the other hand, they demonstrate lower science achievement. Mediation analyses show that, although Waldorf students’ more positive attitudes towards science can be almost entirely attributed to their higher exposure to IBSE, their underperformance in science cannot.
Conclusions
These results indicate that attending a school type with a high level of IBSE (Waldorf) may have positive effects on attitudinal outcomes (enjoyment and interest in science) whereas it does not seem to have notable effects on science achievement. This indicates that IBSE could be applied in educational contexts aiming to increase students’ scientific attitudes.
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