A comparison of satisfaction with school and mathematics from the perspective of international testing programs
Vol.25,No.4(2015)
Pupils’ satisfaction at school and enjoyment of learning increase the intensity of their personal involvement in class, and their identification with the educational process, which can ultimately have a significant positive impact on their educational achievements. The goal of our analysis is a detailed empirical insight on how pupils in the 4th, 8th and 9th to 10th grade enjoy being at school and learning mathematics as provided by various international surveys TIMSS and PISA. In our comparative analysis we focus on the case of the Czech Republic, whose pupils are abnormally unenthusiastic about school and about learning mathematics also in other studies. In the first part we provide detailed international comparison. In the second we focus on school liking for particular groups of pupils and in the third one its linking with factors on the side of schools and teachers. For all countries a gradual decline in enjoyment of school and learning satisfaction in higher grades is typical, with lower levels of enjoyment among boys, and its positive correlation with students’ achievements and the parents’ level of education – especially in higher grades. However, overall, the variation in enjoyment levels that is explainable by factors on the side of teachers and schools and as recorded by the TIMSS is rather low. In comparison with other European countries, we find very low level of enjoyment of school and learning in the Czech Republic due to significantly more negative attitudes of boys. This is mostly pronounced in 8th grades of primary schools where we also identify highly negative attitudes among least performing pupils.
liking school; mathematics; pupils; teachers; TIMSS; PISA
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