Boarding School, Academic Motivation and Engagement, and Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

Boarding school has been a feature of education systems for centuries. Minimal large-scale quantitative data have been collected to examine its association with important educational and other outcomes. The present study represents one of the largest studies into boarding school conducted to date. It investigates boarding school and students’ motivation, engagement, and psychological well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, interpersonal relationships)—controlling for sociodemographic, achievement, personality, and school covariates. The main sample comprised 5,276 high school students (28% boarding students; 72% day students) from 12 high schools in Australia. A subsample of 2,002 students (30% boarding students; 70% day students) had pretest data, enabling analyses of gains or declines in outcomes across the school year. Results indicated predominant parity between boarding and day students on most outcome factors, some modest positive results favoring boarding students, and no notable differences in gains or declines on outcomes between boarders and day students over the course of one academic year. Implications for researchers, the boarding sector, parents, and students are discussed.

Structural and concurrent validity of the International English Mini-Markers in an adolescent sample: Exploring analytic approaches and implications for personality assessment

“…These results clearly support the importance of personality constructs in substantive educational research (e.g. Martin, Nejad, Colmar, & Liem, 2013;Martin, Papworth, Ginns, & Liem, 2014), particularly with regard to adaptive and maladaptive forms of motivation .…”

Academic buoyancy, student's achievement, and the linking role of control: A cross-lagged analysis of high school students

“…Students were asked to complete the instrument by themselves, to request help if needed, and to provide only one answer for each item. These data are the integration of common variables (buoyancy, control, achievement) from two projects: one investigating the effects of boarding school (N = 2002;Martin, Papworth, Ginns, & Liem, 2014) and one investigating the role of adaptability and personal best goals in academic and non-academic outcomes (N = 969;Martin, in press;Martin, Nejad, Colmar, & Liem, 2013).…”

Personal best (PB) goal structure, individual PB goals, engagement, and achievement: A study of Chinese‐ and English‐speaking background students in Australian schools

“…Third, it builds on previous cross‐cultural PB goal research (looking at PB goals and engagement) to also examine achievement. In pursuing these aims, we controlled for gender, age, and socio‐economic status (SES), which have all been associated with processes relevant to PB goals, engagement, and achievement among Australian and/or Chinese students (Martin, ; Martin, Papworth, Ginns, & Liem, ; Sirin, ; Yu & Martin, ).…”