Upper secondary school students with a strong academic self-concept are more likely to complete their studies and thus increase their well-being in the future. Previous research on the big-fish-little-pond-effect (BFLPE) has thoroughly established the negative contrast effect of average group academic achievement on students' academic…

This study investigated the relationship between students' online learning anxiety (OLA) and academic self-efficacy (ASE) amid global challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis. Participants in this quantitative research included 718 tertiary education students from 28 countries who responded to a standardized questionnaire. Despite the crisis'…

Religious education in Australian Catholic High Schools is the raison d'etre for the Catholic education system and religious education teachers are critical to this mission. This paper offers a framework for investigating the self-efficacy of religious education teachers.We first describe the nature and context of religious education in Australian…

Can selecting on the basis of academic ability at secondary school level be reconciled with equality of opportunity? One common view is that although the two can be reconciled in principle, for various contingent reasons selection tends to undermine equality of opportunity in practice, for example, it tends to advantage children who have been…

With the increasing prevalence of group work in marketing courses there is a need to consider the impact of students' social dynamics on both learning and satisfaction outcomes. This article explores one such dynamic at both intra- and intergroup levels. Using data generated from multiple sources, it was identified that students who are actively…

Two studies integrate the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE; negative effects of class-average achievement on academic self-concept, ASC), which is based upon educational psychological research, with related social psychological research that is based on social comparison theory. Critical distinctions are the nature of the social comparison…

A path model based in a theory of social capital was tested with Latino middle school (n = 195, 58% female, average 13.8 years of age) and high school students (n = 129, 64% female, average 16.8 years of age). Most participants (77%) were immigrants (predominantly from Mexico). Questionnaires assessed student perceptions of parent involvement,…

The article focuses on the Vygotskian approach to high quality early childhood education in light of the challenges facing early childhood educators in Russia and in the West. One of these challenges is the constant pressure to start teaching academic skills at a progressively younger age at the expense of traditional early childhood activities.…

This study investigated the influence of two contextual factors, parental involvement and perceived career barriers, on math/science goals. Using social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), a path model was tested to investigate hypothesized relationships between math- and science-related efficacy beliefs (i.e., task and…

This study used structural equation modeling to evaluate whether a combination of social cognitive and self-determination theories [Bandura, A. (1986). "Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory." Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1987). The support of autonomy and the control of behavior.…

This paper draws on the psychological theories of self-efficacy and the self-concept to understand students' self-confidence in academic study in higher education as measured by the Academic Behavioural Confidence scale (ABC). In doing this, expectancy-value theory and self-efficacy theory are considered and contrasted with self-concept and…

Proposes changing the direction of studies on advanced development (giftedness), using Feldman's and Vygotsky's research to argue that the focus should be on ordinary parts of life which contribute to extraordinary achievement. The paper suggests the importance of studying people within a field over time, examining the individual and the situation…

Responds to comments made by Dai (see record 2004-14303-011) and Plucker et al (200414303-012) on the current authors' original article (see record 2003-06802-005) on the big-fish--little-pond effect (BFLPE). In its simplest form the BFLPE predicts that equally able students have lower academic self-concepts when attending schools where the…

Attending academically selective schools is intended to have positive effects, but a growing body of theoretical and empirical research demonstrates that the effects are negative for academic self-concept. The big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), based on social comparison theory, posits that equally able students will have lower academic…

A comparative analysis of the conflict and functionalist explanations of status attainment was undertaken to assess their relative value in accounting for college attendance by White and Black Americans. The conflict model seems more appropriate for White students, and the functionalist model seems more appropriate for Black students. (TJH)