Dispositional Associates of Gce Performance in Sixth Form and Further Education College Students

Abstract

Summary. A great deal of research effort has sought to identify factors associated with successful academic performance. The more consistent findings suggest generally that intellectual ability and previous examination performance are the strongest determinants of attainment, whilst within the dispositional domain of personality, extraversion and emotional stability claim some importance, albeit that findings in the latter area have been surprisingly inconclusive. This paper reports the findings of a study which examined the dispositional associates of GCE O‐/A‐level performance, employing a sample of 356 two‐year, full‐time GCE A‐level students who entered further education and sixth form colleges immediately after completing their fifth form work in schools. A method of cluster analysis was used to identify student types based on selected dispositional characteristics. Within‐cluster regression analysis was then employed in order to determine the relative weight attached to the student dispositional characteristics in explaining their GCE O‐and A‐level performance. The potential of the clusters is confirmed by the high predictive power associated with the multiple regression model employed and, in particular, the considerable explanatory power associated with the students' measured dispositional characteristics.

The relationship between personality and attainment in 16‐19‐year‐old students in a sixth form college. II: Self‐perception, gender and attainment

“…They then employed within-cluster regression analysis to determine the relative weight attributable to the different dispositional characteristics in explaining GCE O-and A-level performance. The similarities between the groups generated in the Clarke & Youngman (1987) work and the Entwistle & Brennan (1971) study suggest an underlying validity for the classi cations, including predominantly female groups such as Surface Extraverts (83% female) with their uctuating self-perceptions, lack of con dence and feelings of external control.…”

“…Entwistle's work with students in higher education (Entwistle & Brennan, 1971;Entwistle & Wilson, 1977) -albeit with students outside the age group of the present study -applied cluster analysis to 23 psychological variables related to academic performance to identify student 'types', including some predominantly female groups such as Anxious Introverts and Tender Introverts. A further relevant study located in the 16-19 sector was undertaken by Clarke & Youngman (1987) who applied cluster analysis to a sample of 365 GCE A-level students entering FE or sixth form college immediately after completing their fth form in schools. Clarke & Youngman, using a theoretically justi ed selection of dispositional variables, identi ed six clusters of students.…”

“…The present paper reports a study (Summer eld, 1995) aimed at developing the Entwistle & Brennan (1971) and Clarke & Youngman (1987) methodologies to examine self-perceptions and attainment in a sixth form college context. A related paper (Summer eld & Youngman, 1999) reports the construction of the Student Self-Perception Scale (SSPS) designed to explore how sixth form students see themselves as learners in a given educational context, and to assist examination of the relationship between self-perception and academic performance.…”

The relationship between personality and attainment in 16‐19 year‐old students in a sixth form college. I: Construction of the Student Self‐Perception Scale

“…The focus of much educational research is concerned with the enhancement of attainment and its prediction. Previous work by Clarke & Youngman (1987), on students entering sixth form colleges and colleges of further education, found a strong indication that the combined effect of the students' dispositional characteristics (as measured in that study) had, on average, almost equal in uence to their measured intellectual ability in independently determining GCSE O-level performance. Furthermore that effect was considerably more in uential at Advanced Level.…”

“…Cluster analysis, using a selection of personality and attainment variables, revealed identi able groups of students exhibiting varying patterns of relationship between personality, selfconcept and attainment. Initial use of the SSPS endorses the ndings of Clarke & Youngman (1987) and its further application in the FE sector should increase knowledge of the range of students, their varying goals and individual needs, making a real contribution to the development of research in the FE sector.…”