Pre-service teachers' perceptions of factors contributing to school failure and their relationship to prior personal experience of school success

Abstract

Factors that pre-service class and subject teachers perceive as significant in explaining the occurrence of school failure were examined using mixed methods strategy. The qualitative phase of the study (N = 74) revealed that pre-service teachers recognize a wide range of causes for school failure (16 distinctive categories). The relative significance of the causes was established in the subsequent quantitative phase. The Scale of school failure causes was constructed, applied to 408 pre-service teachers and subjected to exploratory factor analysis, which pointed to the three latent groups of causes explaining 43% of variance. The lack of ability and motivation in students (1st factor) and the lack of educational support (2nd factor) were perceived as highly contributing to school failure, while moderate importance was attributed to the causes related to family and social context (3rd factor). Compared to pre-service subject teachers, pre-service class teachers were more willing to recognize the teachers' responsibility for the occurrence of school failure. Pre-service teachers' perceptions of different factors were related to prior experiences of school success.

Faktori koje budući nastavnici razredne i predmetne nastave opažaju kao značajne za pojavu školskog neuspeha su proučavani pomoću miks metodske strategije. U kvalitativnoj fazi istraživanja (N = 74) se pokazalo da budući nastavnici razredne i predmetne nastave prepoznaju brojne uzroke školskog neuspeha (16 različitih kategorija). Relativni značaj ovih uzroka je ispitan u narednoj, kvantitativnoj fazi. Konstruisana je skala uzroka školskog neuspeha i zadata uzorku od 408 budućih nastavnika razredne i predmetne nastave, a zatim su eksplorativnom faktorskom analizom identifikovana tri latentna faktora koji objašnjavaju 43 % varijanse. Nedostatak sposobnosti i motivacije (1. faktor) i nedostatak obrazovne podrške (2. faktor) su opaženi kao faktori koji najviše doprinose školskom neuspehu, dok se umereni značaj pridaje razlozima koji su povezani sa porodičnim i socijalnim kontekstom (3. faktor). U poređenju sa budućim nastavnicima predmetne nastave, budući nastavnici razredne nastave pokazuju veću spremnost da prepoznaju odgovornost nastavnika za školski neuspeh. Percepcija značaja različitih faktora od strane budućih nastavnika je povezana sa njihovim ranijim iskustvima školskog uspeha.