Page 276 - Štremfel, Urška, ed., 2016. Student (Under)achievement: Perspectives, Approaches, Challenges. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut. Digital Library, Documenta 11.
P. 276
teachers foster open debate more often during regular class (regarding vari-
ous political and social issues, teachers present several views on an issue be-
ing explained to the class etc.). Contrary to this, the lowest achievement group
believe that they participate less in school. The reason for this could be attrib-
uted to a lack of teacher initiatives for student participation. This group also
holds an interesting opinion that their positions on teaching/learning meth-
ods, contents and materials, timetable and class as well as school rules, are ac-
cepted more often than that is believed by the highest achievement students.
The latter group is also the most critical regarding those issues. The perception
regarding the acceptance of their opinion of school activities is the highest for
the group of students with the lowest achievements. The perception of stu-
dents regarding the student-teacher relationship at their school will now be
discussed. It is interesting that statistically significant differences on this topic
do not exist between the groups, meaning that the lowest achievement group
does not differ from other groups in their belief that the majority of teachers
are fair towards them; that they get along well with them; that the teachers are
interested in the students’ benefits, and their opinions etc. This is slightly wor-
276 rying because a relatively negative perception of the relationship between a
teacher and a student exists in all groups of students (the groups with differing
civic knowledge). It can at the same time be an encouraging piece of informa-
tion for teachers, pointing them towards facilitating the students’participation
to a larger extent. The perception of students regarding the value of partici-
pation in the school is as follows: low achieving students are less inclined to
agree with the claims that student participation in school management can
improve the running of the school; that student cooperation can bring about
numerous positive changes; that organised groups in the school, which ex-
press their opinions, can contribute; and that they can impact the function-
ing of the school more by participating rather than by acting alone. The per-
ception of students regarding the value of participating in the school is the
most positive for students with the highest achievements. It is also important
to note that perception of the value of participation increases in line with ex-
am results in the area of civic knowledge. This allows a conclusion to be drawn
that students with greater civic knowledge can increase the positive impact of
participating in school.
c) Citizens and Society
Moving on to students’ support for democratic values, i.e. on what a society
should look like (regarding the right to freedom of expression, respect of so-
cial and political rights of all people, freedom in electing leaders and criticis-
ing authorities, enabling of protests), the lowest achieving students felt these
questions to be the least important and their results were below the nation-
al average. The highest achieving students agreed more with those points and
student (under)achievement: perspectives, approaches, challenges
ous political and social issues, teachers present several views on an issue be-
ing explained to the class etc.). Contrary to this, the lowest achievement group
believe that they participate less in school. The reason for this could be attrib-
uted to a lack of teacher initiatives for student participation. This group also
holds an interesting opinion that their positions on teaching/learning meth-
ods, contents and materials, timetable and class as well as school rules, are ac-
cepted more often than that is believed by the highest achievement students.
The latter group is also the most critical regarding those issues. The perception
regarding the acceptance of their opinion of school activities is the highest for
the group of students with the lowest achievements. The perception of stu-
dents regarding the student-teacher relationship at their school will now be
discussed. It is interesting that statistically significant differences on this topic
do not exist between the groups, meaning that the lowest achievement group
does not differ from other groups in their belief that the majority of teachers
are fair towards them; that they get along well with them; that the teachers are
interested in the students’ benefits, and their opinions etc. This is slightly wor-
276 rying because a relatively negative perception of the relationship between a
teacher and a student exists in all groups of students (the groups with differing
civic knowledge). It can at the same time be an encouraging piece of informa-
tion for teachers, pointing them towards facilitating the students’participation
to a larger extent. The perception of students regarding the value of partici-
pation in the school is as follows: low achieving students are less inclined to
agree with the claims that student participation in school management can
improve the running of the school; that student cooperation can bring about
numerous positive changes; that organised groups in the school, which ex-
press their opinions, can contribute; and that they can impact the function-
ing of the school more by participating rather than by acting alone. The per-
ception of students regarding the value of participating in the school is the
most positive for students with the highest achievements. It is also important
to note that perception of the value of participation increases in line with ex-
am results in the area of civic knowledge. This allows a conclusion to be drawn
that students with greater civic knowledge can increase the positive impact of
participating in school.
c) Citizens and Society
Moving on to students’ support for democratic values, i.e. on what a society
should look like (regarding the right to freedom of expression, respect of so-
cial and political rights of all people, freedom in electing leaders and criticis-
ing authorities, enabling of protests), the lowest achieving students felt these
questions to be the least important and their results were below the nation-
al average. The highest achieving students agreed more with those points and
student (under)achievement: perspectives, approaches, challenges
