Associations between students' perceptions of classroom environment and academic efficacy in Australian and British secondary schools

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Pupil grouping and organisation of classes
Pupil Voice
Self evaluation
Mathematics

What did the researchers conclude from the findings?

The researchers concluded that teachers need to ensure their classrooms are high quality teaching and learning environments. Student confidence was likely to be raised in classrooms characterised by high levels of co-operation, harmony, genuine teacher support, student cohesiveness, task orientation and equity. Teachers who dwelt on student failures rather than helping them to build progression and who created an environment characterised by competition and conflict did not improve levels of student confidence.

Two particular concepts have been found in other research to have a positive effect on student learning. The first is constructivism, in which students make sense of the world by linking new ideas to understandings they have already built up. The second is pupil dialogue, which proposes that pupils develop their understanding through discussion. There is a broadly accepted view that constructivist learning environments support academic efficacy. So the researchers were surprised that their results showed little variation in student academic efficacy that could be accounted for by the CLES scales specifically intended to look at constructivist classrooms.

One possible explanation, proposed by the researchers, is that constructivism is concerned with critical thinking and higher order learning, whereas academic efficacy concerns one’s ability to perform specific academic tasks. They suggest that it is feasible that constructivism engenders a degree of uncertainty which, in a traditional school system which values certainty, could create a loss of confidence in students.

The researchers extended research on classroom environment by linking it to student academic efficacy. They suggest that there is a close practical relationship between the two and that people interested in classroom environment should also be interested in academic efficacy. They state that a substantial body of research has indicated that both classroom environment and efficacy are strong predictors of student success (Dorman, 2002; Bandura, 1997). The researchers suggest that future research should try to unravel the relationship between the three. In particular, they ask to what extent either of the following questions would help to identify the most effective way forward. Does classroom environment have an effect on academic efficacy, which in turn affects student learning? Or, do student perceptions of how able they are to make progress in a given academic field shape their perceptions of their classroom environment in that subject?

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What does it mean to gather evidence about classroom environment? What did the study find out about the relationship between classroom environment and student self-belief? What did the researchers conclude from the findings? The study aims and design What are the implications for head teachers and teachers? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Associations between students' perceptions of classroom environment and academic efficacy in Australian and British secondary schools This digest found in Pupil grouping and organisation of classes Pupil Voice Self evaluation Mathematics Send to a friend Word doc 90KB Printer friendly Collate for later What did the researchers conclude from the findings? The researchers concluded that teachers need to ensure their classrooms are high quality teaching and learning environments. Student confidence was likely to be raised in classrooms characterised by high levels of co-operation, harmony, genuine teacher support, student cohesiveness, task orientation and equity. Teachers who dwelt on student failures rather than helping them to build progression and who created an environment characterised by competition and conflict did not improve levels of student confidence. Two particular concepts have been found in other research to have a positive effect on student learning. The first is constructivism, in which students make sense of the world by linking new ideas to understandings they have already built up. The second is pupil dialogue, which proposes that pupils develop their understanding through discussion. There is a broadly accepted view that constructivist learning environments support academic efficacy. So the researchers were surprised that their results showed little variation in student academic efficacy that could be accounted for by the CLES scales specifically intended to look at constructivist classrooms. One possible explanation, proposed by the researchers, is that constructivism is concerned with critical thinking and higher order learning, whereas academic efficacy concerns one’s ability to perform specific academic tasks. They suggest that it is feasible that constructivism engenders a degree of uncertainty which, in a traditional school system which values certainty, could create a loss of confidence in students. The researchers extended research on classroom environment by linking it to student academic efficacy. They suggest that there is a close practical relationship between the two and that people interested in classroom environment should also be interested in academic efficacy. They state that a substantial body of research has indicated that both classroom environment and efficacy are strong predictors of student success (Dorman, 2002; Bandura, 1997). The researchers suggest that future research should try to unravel the relationship between the three. In particular, they ask to what extent either of the following questions would help to identify the most effective way forward. Does classroom environment have an effect on academic efficacy, which in turn affects student learning? Or, do student perceptions of how able they are to make progress in a given academic field shape their perceptions of their classroom environment in that subject?