Student Quality of School Life Differences.docx
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Student Quality of School Life Differences.docx
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StudentQualityofSchoolLifeDifferences
StudentQualityofSchoolLifeDifferences
WithinandBetweenPrimarySchools.
CarlLeonard,SidBourke,andNevilleSchofield
TheUniversityofNewcastle,Australia
Abstract
Thispaperpresentstheresultsofastudytoassesstheimpactofastressmanagement,aself-developmentandarelaxationtechniqueonthequalityofschoollifeandratesofabsenteeismof448Year5and6studentsin16classesat4LowerHunterValleyprimaryschoolsinthestateofNewSouthWales,Australiaintheyear2000.TheQualityofSchoolLifequestionnaire(Ainley&Bourke,1992)scaleswereusedasindicatorsofstudents’perceptionsofaspectsoftheirschoollifeincludingstressfulandsatisfyingelements.Variousstudent,teacher,andclasscontextualvariableswerealsocollectedandinvestigated.
Significantschoolandclassdifferencesonalmostallscaleswereevident.Butoverall,studentstendedtoperceiveahigherqualityofschoollifeinTerm2thaninTerm3.PossibleexplanationsofschoolandclassandinterventiondifferencesandthedeclineinqualityofschoollifeinTerm3arediscussedwhileimplicationsincludingtheapparentimportanceofpositivepeerrelationshipsandanexcitingandenjoyablecurriculuminensuringstudentshaveahighqualityofschoollifearedescribed.Finally,theneedfortheprovisionofsupportservicestostudentswhoindicatedahighlevelofdissatisfactionwiththeirschoollifeissuggested.
PaperpresentedattheAnnualConferenceoftheAARE,Fremantle,December4th2001.
Forfurtherinformationaboutthisstudy,contact:
CarlLeonard,email:
edcarl@cc.newcastle.edu.au
StudentQualityofSchoolLifeDifferences
WithinandBetweenPrimarySchools.
INTRODUCTION
OverviewandBackground
Thispaperreportsthesecondstageofatwo-stagestudyconcernedwithinterventiontechniquesthatteacherscanuseinattemptingtoimprovestudentqualityofschoollifeandreducestudentabsence.Stage1ofthestudyidentifiedanddevelopedandtrialedthreepromisinginterventionstrategies,andthispaperreportsontheuseofthesestrategiesbyteachersinasmallnumberofnormalupperprimaryclassrooms.
Traditionally,researchregardingstudentqualityofschoollife,satisfaction,andthecauseandeffectofstudentandteacherstressinourschoolshasexaminedtheseconceptsasseparatephenomena.Morerecentresearch,however,hasbeguntoaddresstheinteractivedynamicsofaffectiveaspectsofclassrooms(seeforexample,Schofield&Bourke,1997;Leonard,1998;Leonardetal,2000,2001a,2001b).
Whatisreadilyapparentfromtheserecentstudiesisthat,withstudentsandteacherssharingthesameenvironment,manyoftheirlifeexperiencesandpotentialstressesarealsoshared.Forthewelfareoftheirstudents,teachersneedtobeawareoftheseinteractionsandtobeproactiveindevelopinganappropriateschoolenvironmentfortheirstudents,perhapsthroughtheuseofappropriatestressmanagementandrelaxationtechniques.
RationalefortheStudy
Thisstudyisbasedontheconceptthatforprimaryschoolchildren,theschoolenvironmenttheysharewithteachersresemblesanactualworkplace.Suchanassumptionisfeasibleinthatstudentsspendasimilarnumberofhourseachdayatschoolasarespentatworkbymanymembersoftheworkforce,theyundertakementalandphysicaltasksofsimilardurationandintensitytomanyworkers,theiroutputismonitoredbysuperiorsand,aswithmanyworkplaces,theyhavearegimenteddailyroutine.
Whilstchildhoodisoftenperceivedasahappytime,someauthorshavearguedthattheyearsspentbychildrenineducationalenvironmentscouldbeatimeofconsiderablestress,assuccessorfailureinthisenvironmentwasamajordeterminantoffutureoccupationalstatus(Anderson&Steinle,1978;Medeirosetal,1983,Schofield&Bourke,1997).Thus,itispossibletoassumethatthosework,social,andenvironmentalstresseswhichoperateintheworkplacemayalsooperatewithinaschoolcontext.
Aconsequenceofteachersnotaddressingthestressorsimpactingontheirstudentscanbededucedfromotherresearchwhichhaspropoundedthehypothesisthatnegativestressleadstoillness(Fineman,1995;Hargreaves,1998;Troman,2000),oftenlinkedtoimmunosuppressionwhichresultsinanindividualbeingsusceptibletoviraldisease(Newberryetal,1991;Totman,1988),leadinginsomecasestoapatternofabsenteeism(Donaldson,1993;Gallowayetal,1984;Shellenbarger,1998).Inallworkenvironmentssuchapatternofabsenteeismisamajorfinancialissuebut,inaschoolsetting,thereisalsotheaddedimpactofapossiblereductioninthequalityofeducationaloutcomes.
Theprincipalconcernofthispartofthepresentstudywastodetermineifanyorallofthreestressmanagementandrelaxationstrategieswererelatedtostudentqualityofschoollifeand/ortostudentabsenteeism.Asasecondaryissue,teacherstress,satisfactionandabsencewerealsoconsideredinrelationtothethreestrategies.
RESEARCHINSTRUMENTS,SAMPLEANDPROCEDURE
ThesevenscalesoftheprimaryformofthestudentQualityofSchoolLife(QSL)questionnaire(Ainley&Bourke,1992)wereusedasindicatorsofstudentsatisfactionandstress.Thisinstrumentconsistsoftwogeneralandfivespecificscales,thelatterconcernedwithstudentperceptionsofdifferentaspectsoftheirlifeatschool.TheQSLscaleswerebasedonfourresponsecategories.ForallQSLscalesexceptNegativeAffect,ascoreof4indicatedafavourableresponsetoeachaspectofschoolingthroughtoascoreof1indicatinganunfavourableresponse.FortheNegativeAffectscale,thecodingwasreversed.Thecontextualvariablesgender,school,classandyearofschoolingwerealsocollectedinadditiontothenumberofdaysabsentforeachstudent.Teacherscompletedtwoestablishedquestionnaires,oneaself-reportofteacherstressonfourscales,theotheraself-reportofthreeaspectsofteachersatisfaction(SmithandBourke,1992).Self-reportsofteacherabsencewerealsocollectedandabriefteacherbackgroundquestionnairewasadministered.
Thesampleinvolvedinimplementingtheinterventionsconsistedof16classeswithatotalof448students.TheclasseswereselectedfromStageThreeclasses(Years5&6)atfourDepartmentofEducationandTrainingPublicSchoolsintheLowerHunterValley,NewSouthWales,Australia.ThefourschoolswerechosentoprovidearepresentativesampleofschoolsintheHunterRegionencompassingabroadrangeofstudentsocio-economicbackground.
ThequestionnaireswerefirstcompletedbythissampleofstudentsandtheirteachersinTerm2ofthefour-termschoolyear,priortoanyinterventionbeingundertaken.Therewerethreeseparateinterventionsimplementedsubsequently.Ofthefourclassesateachofthefourschoolsinvolvedinthestudy,oneclassimplementedoneofthethreeinterventions,andthefourthclassactedasthecontrolgroup.Thethreeinterventions,implementedoveraperiodoftenweeks,wereasfollows:
1.Asequenceoftenlessonsaimedatimprovingstudents’communicationandinteractionskillsadaptedbytheresearcherfromtheDutchprogramcalled"Action-Reaction"developedbyFreerkYkema(Woltring&Ykema,1999).Thisprogram(calledAction/Reactionhere)aimstodevelopstudents’self-respect,self-confidence,self-controlandself-reflection.
2.TheuseofProgressiveRelaxation,BreathingandImaginationasstressreductiontechniques(ProgressiveRelaxation).Davis,EshelmanandMcKay(1995)identifiedthatthesetechniqueswereappropriateforrelievingabroadrangeofstressrelatedsymptoms.
3.Thestrategicuseofbackground/moodmusicselectedbytheresearchertopromoteanappropriateworkingenvironmentandminimizestressanddisruptionattransitionperiodsduringthedaysuchasbeforeschool,afterrecessandafterlunch(BackgroundMusic).
Thestudentandteacherquestionnaireswerere-administeredinTerm3,attheconclusionoftheinterventionperiod.
RESULTS
ResultsfortheQSLscalesofthestudentquestionnaireandforstudentabsencearefirstreportedforindividualschoolsandclassesthenjointlyforclassesundertakingeachofthethreeinterventionsandthecontrolclasses.Theinterventiongroupresultsonthescalesoftheteacherquestionnairesandteacherabsencearethenpresented.
SummaryofSchoolandClassDifferences
QSLscalemeansindicatedoverallthatstudentswerequitesatisfiedwiththeirqualityofschoollife.Allscalemeanswereabovethemid-pointofthescale(2.5)withtheexceptionoftheNegativeAffectscale(thereversescale),thelatterindicatingalackofnegativeperceptions.CorrelationsbetweentheQSLscaleswereallsignificantatthe0.01significancelevel,indicatingthatstudentswhoweremoresatisfiedwithoneaspectoftheirschoolingwerealsomorelikelytobesatisfiedwithotheraspectsoftheirschooling,asmeasuredbytheQSLscales.Studentswhoperceivedschoolasanunhappyanduninvitingplace,indicatedbyhigherscoresontheNegativeAffectscale,weremorelikelytohavelowerscoresontheotherQSLscales.
Anumberofrelationshipswereobservedbetweenthestudentschooland/orclassandtheQSLscales.StudentsatSchool3indicatedahigherlevelofsatisfactiononthirteenofthefourteenQSLmeasuresmadewhencomparedtostudentsenrolledattheotherthreeschools.ThereweresignificantdifferencesbetweenclassesforallQSLscales.GeneraltrendsindicatedthatstudentsinClass3atSchool2andClass2atSchool3tendedtoperceiveahighlevelofqualityofschoollifewhilestudentsinClasses1and2atSchool1,andClass3atSchool
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