Does the material well-being at schools successfully compensate for socioeconomic disadvantages? Analysis of resilient schools in Sweden

Abstract

Background A variety of studies point to a deterioration of educational equity in Sweden and increasing school segregation with respect to achievement and socioeconomic composition. Some schools are resilient to socioeconomic disadvantages in their student body and demonstrate high levels of achievement. However, little attention has been given to these resilient schools. Material well-being, as one important dimension of student well-being, comprises the student’s home background and school resources. The relationship between home background and achievement is well-established but less literature includes school-level factors of material well-being. In comparing the material well-being at resilient, non-resilient, and more advantaged schools, this study aims at detecting possible patterns that may provide crucial information as to why some schools succeed better in compensating for disadvantages. Methods Using Swedish data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2000 to 2018, the shares of resilient, non-resilient, and more advantaged school groups with different achievement levels were identified by using aggregated achievement and socioeconomic background measures. Making use of a well-being framework specifically designed for PISA data, the school groups were compared regarding their material well-being as measured by the perceived shortage of material resources and teachers, the percentage of teachers fully certified, the availability of computers, and extracurricular activities. This comparison of school groups was computed using the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test and a Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparison. Results The shares of resilient schools decreased considerably from 14% in 2000 to 3% in 2015. Yet, the comparison of the material well-being at resilient and other school groups led to mostly non-significant results. Overall, disadvantaged schools reported higher teacher shortages than advantaged schools, which indicates the need for a more compensatory allocation of (human) resources. Conclusions The study concluded that the landscape of resilient schools is under continuous change. As no patterns of significant differences between resilient and other school groups were found, the study shows no indication that the material well-being at school compensates for disadvantages in a school’s student body. The findings call for further research regarding changes in the presence of resilient schools and their possible relationship with school material well-being.

Relations between students’ well-being and academic achievement: evidence from Swedish compulsory school

“…The WHO HBSC study (Inchley et al, 2020) and a recent Swedish study reported that adolescents with low SES received lower levels of support from teachers, school peers, and friends. There have also been reports of a decline in resilient schools in Sweden, i.e., low SES schools that have relatively high levels of average student achievement (Siebecke & Jarl, 2022). Due to the reports of children and young people's decreasing well-being, the aim of the study was to investigate school-related dimensions of well-being and how they relate to academic achievement.…”

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“…1 ), there are substantial similarities in the factors that are relevant for effective and equitable school practices. One such factor is the critical role of teachers in providing a supportive learning environment and high-quality instruction (Leino et al, 2022 ; Nilsen et al, 2022 ; Rohatgi et al, 2022 ; Siebecke & Jarl, 2022 ). Teachers and their instruction are crucial for student outcomes and have the potential to reduce gaps in educational outcomes among different groups of students.…”

“…B − TIMSS 2019 Pop. B ✓ Studying link between school climate and student motivation with decline in student mathematics achievement Mediation structural equation modelling with trend design Siebecke and Jarl ( 2022 ) − PISA 2000 − PISA 2003 − PISA 2006 − PISA 2009 − PISA 2012 − PISA 2015 − PISA 2018 ✓ Identifying resilient schools in Sweden and whether material well-being at schools can compensate for socioeconomic disadvantages The Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA on ranks and pairwise comparison Leino et al ( 2022 ) PIRLS 2016 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Examining the associations among teacher quality and instructional quality with cognitive and affective-motivational student outcomes Structural equation modelling Costa and Chen ( 2023 ) PISA 2012 ✓ ✓ ✓ Demonstrating the potential of examining process data from large-scale assessment to gain a deeper understanding of student performance Latent regression modelling …”

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Influence of motivation on the perception of mathematics by secondary school students

“…External variables include socioeconomic status ( Bardach et al, 2022 ; Musaddiq et al, 2022 ; Williams et al, 2022 ), family ( Stavrulaki et al, 2021 ), and economic and school context ( Siebecke and Jarl, 2022 ; Tan, 2022 ). With respect to social context, marginality, poverty, delinquency, drug use, etc., stand out ( Perdereau-Noel et al, 2017 ; Martin et al, 2022 ).…”