Social Psychology of Education 

About: Social Psychology of Education is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Sociology of Education & Academic achievement. It has an ISSN identifier of 1381-2890. Over the lifetime, 955 publications have been published receiving 28445 citations.

Resilient teachers: resisting stress and burnout

Abstract: In Australia, the incidence of teacher stress and burnout has caused serious concern. Many studies of teacher stress have focused on the dysfunctional strategies of individual teachers – in other words they have adopted a deficit approach to the problem with the focus firmly fixed on ‘what’s going wrong’. From this perspective, the failure of some teachers to cope has generally been defined as a personal rather than an institutional weakness and the solutions that have been promoted have been largely palliative or therapeutic. The study reported in this paper adopted a different approach to the question of teacher stress and burnout. Instead of asking ‘what’s going wrong’ we asked why are some teachers able to cope successfully with the same kinds of stressors that appear to defeat others – in other words, we looked at ‘what’s going right’.

A six-district study of educational change: Direct and mediated effects of the child development project.

Abstract: A comprehensive elementary school program, the Child Development Project, was conducted in two schools in each of six school districts over a three-year period Two additional schools in each district served as a comparison group The program attempts to create a 'caring community of learners' in school and classroom through classroom, schoolwide, and parent involvement components The classroom component includes student collaboration, a literature-based approach to reading, and a student-centered approach to classroom management Classroom observation, student questionnaire, teacher questionnaire, and test data were collected in a baseline year and in each of the three years of program implementation Results showed positive student results in the five program schools that made significant progress in implementation Schools that progressed in implementation showed gains – relative to their comparison schools – in students' personal, social, and ethical attitudes, values, and motives Significant effects on academic achievement were found only in two schools with a performance-based assessment and a highly consistent local reform mandate Modeling analyses indicated that student sense of community was an important mediating variable for almost all dependent variables – indicating that the program produced positive effects to the degree that it was successful in establishing a caring community in the school

Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers

Abstract: This study addresses two questions: what goals do teachers have for their own emotional regulation, and what strategies do teachers report they use to regulate their own emotions. Data were collected from middle school teachers in North East Ohio, USA through a semi-structured interview. All but one of the teachers reported regulating their emotions and there were no gender or experience differences in spontaneously discussing emotional regulation. Teachers believed that regulating their emotions helped their teaching effectiveness goals and/or conformed to their idealized emotion image of a teacher. Teachers used a variety of preventative and responsive emotional regulation strategies to help them regulate their emotions. Future research on teachers’ emotional regulation goals and strategies should examine the role of culture and the relationship of emotional regulation goals with teachers’ other goals, stress, and coping.

Why they leave: the impact of stereotype threat on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math and engineering majors

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of group performance anxiety on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math, and engineering majors. While past research has relied primarily on the academic deficits and lower socioeconomic status of women and minorities to explain their absence from these fields, we focus on the impact of stereotype threat—the anxiety caused by the expectation of being judged based on a negative group stereotype. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen, our findings indicate that minorities experience stereotype threat more strongly than whites, although women do not suffer from stereotype threat more than men. Our findings also reveal that stereotype threat has a significant positive effect on the likelihood of women, minorities, and surprisingly, white men leaving science, technology, engineering and math majors.

Expanding Knowledge of Parental Involvement in Children's Secondary Education: Connections with High School Seniors' Academic Success

Abstract: This paper analyzes data from the parent and student components of the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 to investigate family educational involvement in secondary education. It examines connections between parental involvement practices and the educational outcomes of high school seniors. Utilizing multiple involvement indicators for the 8th and 12th grades, the study concludes that the nature of relationships between parental involvement and 12th grade educational outcomes depends on the type of parental practices and educational outcomes considered. Parental involvement indicators are not associated with achievement growth between the 8th and 12th grades. However, a number of parental involvement indicators are associated with seniors' enrollment in an academic high school program and with their coursework in core academic subjects. High levels of educational expectations, consistent encouragement, and actions that enhance the learning opportunities of children are the family practices that are positively associated with the above educational experiences of high school seniors. The relationships between parental involvement and educational outcomes exist regardless of students' socioeconomic or race/ethnic background and regardless of whether parental practices are measured in the middle grades or in high school.