ANNALES • Ser. hist. sociol. • 14 • 200 4 • 1 original scientific paper UDC 373.03:316.72(41+497.4) received: 2003-04-08 CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AND DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION Darja KOBAL GRUM University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 2 e-mail: darja.kobal@ff.Lini-lj.si ABSTRACT The article highlights the relationship between self-concept and dispositions to school education. The main defi­nition of self-concept and its contemporary understanding is underlined. What is meant by the expression "disposi­tions to school education" are phenomena such as attitudes to school, motive to achieve, beliefs about personal control over learning, external constrains on learning, etc. The aim of the research is to find out the expression of in­dividual areas of self-concept and dispositions to school education. A group of Slovenian and a group of British high school students participated in the study. The results of ANOVA as well as of the discriminant analysis showed sig­nificant differences as regards nationality. For example, British participants exceeded Slovenians in many areas of self-concept and the Britons' attitude to school is more positive than that of their Slovene counterparts. The results are interpreted in the light of particular personality and nationality differences. Key words: dispositions to school education, attitudes to school, motive to achieve, trust in self- abilities, self-concept DIFFERENZE INTERCULTURALI NELL'IMMAGINE Dl SE E NEL RAPPORTO VERSO L'iSTRUZIONE SCOLASTICA SINTESI L'articolo esamina la correlazione tra immagine di se e rapporto verso Tistruzione scolastica. L'accento e posto sulla definizione prevalente e sugli studi attuali delTimmagine di se. Nel "rapporto verso Tistruzione scolastica" sono compresi diversi fenomeni, come Topinione nei confronti della scuola, la motivazione scolastica, la sicurezza nelle proprie capacita di studio, le opinioni relative alTinfluenza di fattori esterni sullo studio, ecc. Fine della ricerca e ac­certare la manifestazione dei van' aspetti delTimmagine di se e del rapporto verso Tistruzione scolastica. Alia ricerca lianno coUaborato due gruppi di giovani sloveni e britannici. I risultati delTanalisi della varianza (ANOVA) e quelli delTanalisi discriminante, indicano alcune importanti differenze correlate alia nazionalita dei partecipanti. Gli stu­ denti delle scuole medie britanniche, per esempio, fanno registrare un alto grado di manifestazione della maggior parte delle componenti delTimmagine di se; e anche il loro rapporto verso Tistruzione scolastica e in generale piu positivo di quello dei giovani sloveni. L'autrice spiega i risultati dal punto di vista delle differenze personali e inter­cultural i. Parole chiave: rapporto verso I'istruzione scolastica, opinione nei confronti della scuola, motivazione scolastica, fiducia nelle proprie capacita, immagine di se ANNALES • Ser. hist, sociol. • 14 • 2004 • 1 Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 INTRODUCTION Self-concept Self-concept is a term that has been familiar in psy­chology - under various designations - for a good cen­tury. According to James (1890) self-concept is defined as everything that a person thinks about self and every­thing that a person wants to present to others about self. Generally, self-concept is defined by a variety of rela­tionships that an individual, consciously or uncon­sciously, reestablishes towards oneself. The individual enters them gradually, by means of concepts, feelings, evaluations, self-evaluations, typified personal social dispositions and behaviour, etc., which have been de­veloped since his/her birth (Keltingas-Jarvinen, 1990). Wit h such an organised entity of conceptions, attitudes, abilities, feelings, etc., the individual monitors and di­rects his/her behaviour (Musek, 1992) and connects his/her system of values with the value system of the immediate or wide social surroundings. In other words, the self-concept helps form the reality of the individual. Numerous researches have shown that self-concept is being formed accordingly with the development of personality. This at the same time means that self-concept does not develop only as a whole, but gradu­ally through building-up of various fields, ranging from physical, social, academic and emotional self-concept, to self-concept in the field of attitude towards sexuality, in the field of sincerity, creativity, etc. (Kobal, 2000). The revised hypothesis on multidimensionality of self-concept, which was originally posed by James (1890) in the 80s, facilitated various researches into the influence of personal development on the multidimen­sionality of self-concept (Damon, Hart, 1988; Shavelson, Bolus, 1982; Pervin, 1996). The researches clearly show that self-concept changes through the years and be­comes more and more layered (Elder, 1990; Harter, 1996; Oppenheimer et al., 1990). O'Malley and Bach­man (1983) even presume a linear relation between self-concept and age. Their hold the opinion that self-concept is the least layered in childhood, its fields being only poorly manifested. What follows are two strong in­creases in the number of fields, the first on the turning point from early to middle adolescence and the second on the turning point from late adolescence into early adulthood. Its structure begins to decrease in number with old age. The researches that investigate into the self-concept in the academic field, point to the fact that the child takes on a new social role when entering school, unfa­miliar till then, i.e. the role of the student. It is charac­terised by a strong connection with his/her self-perception, which becomes more and more layered at the turning point into adolescence. Gradually, the stu­dent starts to establish new aspects of self, of whic h par­ticularly those referring directly to school bare special significance for his/her learning proficiency and school life. They were designated as 'academic aspects of self-concept' by Shavelson and Bolus (1982). According to the definition of self-concept (Musek, 1992; Kobal, 2000) academic self-concept is an organised entity of characteristics, traits, feelings, abilities, concepts, atti­tudes, etc., that the adolescent ascribes to his/her role as a student. Academic self-concept stands in important relation with learning proficiency and attitudes towards school (Marsh, 1987). Disposition towards school and learning The expression disposition towards school education emphasises that the object of study in this research is not merely school as an institution that teaches and pedagogically educates, but above all the process. In this context school education should be understood as a long-term institutionalised educational process, whic h allows the students to acquire knowledge and also ma­ture through learning and mutual relationships with peer students. The object of our study is not motivation and learning in the 'classical' sense of the word, but most of all opinions, beliefs, judgements, concepts, descriptions and attitudes that adolescents form as to their ow n mo­tive to achieve and their own school learning. By means of the tools that were applied in this re­search to measure the above-mentioned phenomena, Robinson and his collaborators (Robinson, Breslav, 2000; Robinson et al., 1990; Robinson, Tayler, 1992) examined various problems of students and their inter­relations with education. This refers mostly to: (1) opin­ions, beliefs, judgements, concepts, etc, of students about learning, (2) concepts of students about their ow n motivation, (3) significance of learning to the students and manner of motivation, (4) control of students over their own learning, (5) feelings and beliefs about their own ability, responsibility, trust in self-abilities and per­sonal willingness for learning, (6) influence of external factors on personal achievement, (7) attitudes towards school and education, (8) disposition towards home­work and the time spent learning, (9) opinions, feelings, beliefs about self-organisation and preparation for les­sons, (10) opinions, judgements, attitudes towards per­sonal willingness for co-operation in class, etc. Already a quick glance at the list of study fields leads us to the thoLight that the authors did not merely exam­ine these phenomena under the terms motivation and learning, moreover they were looking for more or less appropriate common denominators. In his texts they can be traced under: approaches to school work (Robinson, Breslav, 2000), a set of questions whic h refer to (1) motive to achieve; (2) personal potency; (3) beliefs about personal control over learning ... (Robinson, Tay­ler, 1992), Questionnaire -School learning, Question­ Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 naire -attitudes, behaviour, belief (Robinson et al., 1990), School and school work (Robinson, 1996), Dis­positions to school, etc. Therefore, the disposition to school education could be defined as an organised entity of opinions, beliefs, dispositions, attitudes, judgements, concepts, feelings and other mental contents that: - the student holds towards school, teachers, learn­ing, motivation, classmates, doing homework, prepara­tions for examination, etc.; - the student holds in evaluating his attitude towards education; - influence the student's collection, processing and understanding of information about the significance and importance of education for the student - enforce creation of new experience and direct the student's behaviour concerning education. Also of interest are the international researches TIMSS (2000), in whic h scientists from various countries attempted to examine the attitude of students towards school, as well. This variable refers to the attitude of students towards mathematics and natural sciences. The researches show, among other, a less positive attitude of the Slovene students (of elementary schools) compared with most of the students from other countries. Among the 38 countries, whic h include e.g. the USA, Great Britain, Israel, Macedonia, Romania, the Philippines, Tunisia, Australia, Hong Kong, etc., Slovenia holds po­sition 35. It is followed only by the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea. The most positive attitude towards mathematics is manifested in the students from Malay­sia, Morocco, South African Republic, the Philippines and Tunisia. Apart from that, also the attitude towards natural sciences of students in Slovenia is one of the poorest in the world and has not changed since 1995. Self-concept and disposition toward school education in students of different nationalities In recent years also several international researches can be detected that investigate into self-concept and some aspects of attitude towards school as regards school achievement of various nations. Nevertheless, it needs to be pointed out that such studies still represent a rarity in the world literature of psychology. The reasons for that may stem from the methodological difficulties in controlling a variety of variables that are dependent on the influence of nationality, individual differences be­tween the tested participants and on differences be­tween school systems. In 1990, Robinson et. al (1990) performed an inter­national study of school achievement, self-respect, identity and attitude towards school in groups of French and British students. Their basis was the Tajfel and Turner (Tajfel, 1982) theory of social identity, whic h states that social identity is an element of identity ena­bling the individual to recognise himself within a narrow desired group, whic h he compares with a wide desired group. This mechanism allows the individual to recog­nise his position also within the wider social commu­nity. If the individual is threatened by a decrease in his social identity, he wil l attempt to maintain the identity either by devaluating the significance of his previously desired narrow group and look for recognition of himself in another narrow group or he wil l search for those positive elements in his ow n group which will allow him to maintain his position within it. O n the basis of the theory by Tajfel and Turner Robinson et al. (1990) have formed two hypotheses of strategies of maintaining a positive social identity in school environment. The first hypothesis presupposed that students with lower school achievement were threatened by a lower social identity than the students with high school achievement. In view of the tendency towards maintaining a positive social identity, the un­successful students form negative attitudes towards school achievement. Instead of struggling to succeed, they value non-competitiveness, non-ambitiousness as regards school achievement and carelessness about school grades. They may, however, look for other nar­row groups that enable them to recognise their position within it more easily. Some of the students may form both of the strategies in order to maintain their positive social identity. The second hypothesis, which was formed as a result of the first one, assumed that students with low school achievement devaluate the positive meaning of school success and search for negative ef­fects that school achievement was supposed to bring. The authors' research encompassed 196 French stu­dents and 3000 British students in ,the ages from 11 to 14. They were classified according to school achieve­ment into a group with high school achievement and one with low school achievement. The tested partici­pants answered the questionnaire of self-perception Per­ception of self, a questionnaire measuring expectations regarding oneself, Aspirations of self, and the following questionnaires: School learning, Attitudes, behaviour, beliefs, Values, and Self, composed by the authors who then evaluated the statements on the Rosenberg self-respect scale. The results have shown some statistically significant differences between students with low school achieve­ment and students with high school achievement, also in respect of their nationality. It has been argued that the French are more successful, have higher self-respect, more trust in oneself and are more satisfied with oneself than their British peers. Also students with low school achievement keep a high level of self-respect, trust in self-abilities and are generally not displeased with the school system. The authors got the lowest values from the group of British students with low school achieve­ment. Some statistically significant differences appeared ANNALES • Ser. hist, sociol. • 14 • 2004 • 1 Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 also in the area of attitude towards school. It has been suggested that highly proficient French participants ex­hibit a higher level of motive to achieve and trust in self-abilities, their attitudes towards school and learning are more positive, they are more conscientious and diligent in doing homework and preparations for tests and ex­hibit, regardless of their level of achievement, a greater sense of self-organisation than their British peers. O n the contrary, the low proficient British participants manifest the highest need for external help in learning and con­sider themselves more opportunist compared to their more successful British peers and compared to French peers. The researches presume that the reasons for higher values of the French tested participants are to be searched for within the school system as well as in other areas of adolescents' activities. They hold the opinion that the French educational system enables also less proficient students to keep a positive social identity within the school system, in which they are being edu­cated. They assume that the educational programmes are composed in such a way that they enable a satis­factory realisation of each student's capabilities. The students therefore do not ascribe the reasons for low school achievement to external factors (educational programme, teachers, etc.) but to oneself. They them­selves must study more, pay more attention in classes, etc. The French educational programme therefore en­courages students' ambitiousness, the urge to succeed and enables them to impose higher expectations upon themselves. The student does not seem to experience lower school achievement as a stigma, because institu­tional education enables him to achieve his ow n actual level of success by trying harder. O n the contrary their less successful British peers, wh o are exposed, to a more rigorous school system, reject this system and the school environment and search for other groups that woul d make them feel more wanted. That is wh y British less proficient students exhibit more deviant behaviour than French less proficient students. By means of the same instruments Robinson and Breslav (2000) have examined also self-concept and at­titude to school in testing elementary-school students from Latvia and Great Britain. Their basic presupposition was that the Latvian adolescents had lower self-respect than their British peers. They searched for motives in the differences between the two social and political sys­tems. Yet the outcome was the opposite, there were no significant differences between Latvian and British ado­lescents as regards self-respect. O n the basis of theoretical starting points and re­search results it is possible to make conclusions only about the degree of relation between self-concept and dispositions to school education, and not about the di­rection of the relation. Self-concept and dispositions to school are two psychological phenomena that mutually effect each other, so it is impossible to presume whether self-concept influences attitude towards school more or is attitude to school the factor which defines self-concept more. The core problem of the research is to discover the manifestation of individual fields of self-concept of participants as part of their personality and their dispositions to school education. In the process of the research, we were especially interested in the above-mentioned differences as regards nationality. THE METHO D Participants In the present research 400 participants took part, 193 of them Slovene and 207 of British nationality. The group of Slovenes attended high school (4 schools all together) and the group of Britains the comprehensive school (4 schools), meaning that the participants of the research had been selected on the basis of the level of education. Their average age was 16 years, half of them were boys and half girls. The criteria for selection were therefore the level of education (type of school), age and gender (50% males, 50% females). Variables The independent variable is represented by nation­ality. Dependent variables are represented by the fields of self-concept, expressed in the form of results of ques­tionnaires SDQ III (Self description questionnaire III) (Marsh, O'Neill, 1984) and the field dispositions to school education represented in the form of results on the scale of Attitudes towards school and school work (Robinson, 1984; Robinson, 1996) and School learning (Robinson, 1984; Robinson, 1996; Robinson et al., 1990). Measuring instruments Three measuring instruments were used for the pur­pose of the research. SDQ III - Self description questionnaire III. The questionnaire on self-concept in adolescents by Marsh and O'Neil l (1984) comprises of 136 points and measures 13 aspects of self-concept: (1) mathematical ability, (2) verbal ability, (3) academic self-concept, (4) problem solving or creativity, (5) physical ability and sports, (6) physical appearance, (7) relations with same sex peers, (8) relations with opposite sex peers, (9) rela­tions with parents, (10) religion, (11) sincerity and reli­ability, (12) emotional stability and safety, as well as the (13) general self-concept. The reliability coefficient amounts to .936 (Cronbach-alfa). It is based on the model of Shavelson and Bolus (1982), who hypothe­ Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 sized that the structure of self-concept is multidimen-The procedure of data collecting sional and hierarchical. Preparation of the research and its execution took Attitudes towards school and school work. place in Slovenia and Great Britain. The participants Robinson's questionnaire on attitudes towards school obtained and completed a set of questionnaires (general and school work (1996.; 1984; Robinson et al, 1990) questionnaire, SDQ III, Attitudes towards school and measures 6 fields of adolescents' disposition towards school work, and School learning). After the data had school and education: (1) attitudes towards school (At-been collected, I had 2-hour interviews with the groups titude to school scale (Morton-Williams, Finch, 1968)), of Slovenian and British adolescents concerning their (2) doing homework, (3) preparation for examination, (4) experience of adolescence, school, friends and about self-organisation, (5) personal responsibility and (6) non-their plans for the future. By means of the interviews I opportunism. The reliability coefficient amounts to .701 wanted to make the data and results that I had gained (Cronbach-alfa). from the questionnaires more presentable. This was es­pecially useful because: (1) the talks helped me explain Questionnaire -School learning. the results especially of British participants, above all, as Robinson's questionnaire on attitude towards learn-I hadn't had a deeper insight into their experience of the ing (1996; Robinson et al, 1990) measures 4 different above-mentioned fields preceding that time, and (2) be- fields: (1) motive to achieve, (2) rejection of personal cause the talks enabled an immediate contact with the impotence to learn, (3) beliefs in efficacy of learning participants of the research, on the other hand data col-strategies and the (4) need for external assistance in lection was performed in groups of classes. learning. The reliability coefficient amounts to .624 (Cronbach-alfa). RESULTS AN D DISCUSSION The results of a one-way ANOV A and discriminant analyses are given. Table 7: Basic statistical results of Slovene and British participants. Tabela 1: Osnovni statistični podatki o slovenskih in britanskih udeležencih. Minimu m Maximum Mean Standard Skewness Kurtosis deviation Mathematical 4 24 14,23 4,91 -,027 -,755 Religion 4 24 9,58 5,90 ,911 -,336 Honesty and reliability 7 24 18,31 3,60 -,577 -,210 Emotional stability 5 24 16,48 3,54 -,397 ,088 General self-concept 4 24 17,68 3,80 -,791 ,518 Verbal ability 5 24 16,55 3,52 -,293 -,281 Academic self-concept 5 24 16,83 3,43 -,515 ,189 Problem solving / creativity 10 24 17,47 2,81 -,165 -,313 Physical abilities / sports 4 24 16,75 5,19 -,433 -,680 Physical appearance 4 24 15,95 3,91 -,588 ,274 Relations with same sex peers 7 24 18,31 2,94 -,500 ,730 Relations with opposite sex peers 4 24 18,20 3,93 -,787 ,523 Relations with parents 5 24 18,43 3,62 -,901 ,747 Attitude to school 8 24 17,79 3,47 -,364 -,462 Doing homework 3 9 6,66 1,92 -,502 -,704 Preparation for tests 1 3 2,23 ,90 -,460 -1,619 Personal responsibility 2 6 4,89 1,26 -,698 -,596 Organizes self 6 12 10,99 1,23 -1,237 1,358 Not opportunist 3 9 6,40 1,97 -,265 -1,089 Motive to achieve 6 25 19,26 3,04 -,498 ,463 Rejection of personal impotence to I. 8 20 15,38 2,13 -,228 ,242 Beliefs in efficacy of I. strategies 10 25 18,56 2,60 -,210 ,268 Need for external assistance for I. 4 20 11,18 2,76 ,037 ,203 ANNALES • Ser. hist, sociol. • 14 • 200 4 • 1 Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 Table 1 shows basic statistical data of Slovene and high manifested in the tested adolescents, all of them British participants for all variables together. The distri-being above average values. The highest manifested is bution of all answers is normal, slight discrepancies the field of personal responsibility for learning, and the could be detected only in degree of kurtosis. It seems least the field, referring to the need for external assis­that the Slovene as well as the British participants get on tance in learning, although this aspect is above average, well wit h their parents, this field of self-concept being as well (Table 1). This result comes as no surprise, hav­manifested the highest. Also their self-concept in rela-ing in mind that the Slovene as well as the British ado­tions wit h same sex peers and self-concept in the field of lescents attended, at the time of testing, relatively selec­sincerity and reliability are high. The least manifested is tively oriented secondary schools (highs school in Slo­their self-concept in the field of religion: it seems that a venia and comprehensive school in Great Britain). It moderately low number of participants consider them-seems that the adolescents covered by our research are selves religious, they rarely connect their life with relig-aware of their own responsibility for learning and either ion, their parents, in average, being not very religious pleasant or unpleasant consequences of their efforts in either. learning. Perhaps that is why they mostly rely on them- Analogously, we could conclude that different fields selves and may not expect or need assistance from their of disposition towards school education are relatively parents, teachers, tutors, etc. Table 2: Differences in the self-concept areas and disposition towards school as regards nationality (one-way ANOVA). Tabela 2: Razlike v področjih samopodobe in odnosa do šole glede na nacionalnost (enosmerna analiza variance). M (Slo) M (Brit) SD (Slo) SD (Brit) F- test P Mathematical 14,08 14,36 4,35 5,39 ,317 ,573 Religion 10,12 9,07 6,17 5,59 3,123 ,078 Honesty and reliability 16,95 19,60 3,50 3,20 61,955 ,000*** Emotional stability 16,21 16,75 3,64 3,42 2,312 ,129 General self-concept 17,75 17,60 3,44 4,13 ,145 ,704 Verbal ability 15,84 17,23 3,57 3,34 16,028 ,000*** Academic self-concept 16,21 17,42 3,17 3,56 12,530 ,000*** Problem solving / creativity 17,53 17,42 2,69 2,93 ,137 ,711 Physical abilities / sports 17,42 16,12 4,67 5,57 6,222 ,013* Physical appearance 15,89 16,01 3,61 4,18 ,092 ,761 Relations with same sex peers 17,80 18,79 3,03 2,77 11,365 ,001** Relations with opp. sex peers 17,17 19,17 4,22 3,36 27,146 ,000*** Relations with parents 18,71 18,16 3,54 3,68 2,236 ,136 Attitude to school 17,18 18,34 3,34 ­_ j 3,49 10,991 ,001** Doing homework 6,37 6,92 1,99 1,81 8,313 ,004** Preparation for tests 1,99 2,43 ,94 ,81 24,844 ,000*** Personal responsibility 4,77 5,00 1,28 1,23 3,186 ,075 Organizes self 10,71 11,25 1,33 1,06 19,923 ,000*** Not opportunist 5,10 7,57 1,70 1,36 255,344 ,000*** Motive to achieve 18,76 19,70 3,27 2,76 9,489 ,002** Rej. of personal impotence to learn 15,30 15,45 2,22 2,04 ,513 ,474 Beliefs in efficacy of I. strategies 18,83 18,30 2,72 2,46 4,103 ,043* Need for external assistance for I. 10,57 11,73 2,78 2,63 17,891 ,000*** * p<0,05; ** p<0,01 ; *** p<0,001 Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS T O SCHOOL EDUCATION, 141-7 Table 3: Canonical discriminant function of nationality. Tabela 3: Kanonična diskriminantna funkcija nacionalnosti. Func. 1 Eigen val. 1,6364 % of variance 100,00 Cumul. % 100,00 Canonic corelation After func. Wilks. lambda Hi-square ,7878 0 ,379307 318,936 df 24 P ,0000 Table 2 shows the results of one-way ANOV A in the fields of self-concept and disposition towards school education as regards the nationality of the participants. The differences in self-concept as regards nationality are statistically significant in the following fields: (a) the field of physical ability and sports is higher manifested in Slovene participants; (b) the fields of verbal ability, academic self-concept, relations with same sex peers and relations with opposite sex peers are higher mani­fested in British participants. The tendency towards a statistically significant difference in self-concept is pres­ent in the field of religion; this field being higher mani­fested in Slovene participants. The differences in disposition towards school and learning as regards nationality are statistically significant in the following fields: (a) the field of trust in self-abilities is higher manifested in Slovene participants; (b) the fields of attitudes towards school, doing homework, preparation for examination, personal responsibility for learning, non-opportunism, motive to achieve and the need for external assistance in learning are higher manifested in British participants. The tendency towards Table 4: Standard coefficients of canonical discriminant function of nationality. Tabela 4: Standardni koeficient kanonične diskrimi­ nantne funkcije nacionalnosti. Variables Function 1 Mathematical -,1538 Religion -,13588 Honesty and reliability ,13817 Emotional stability ,23317 General self-concept ,22530 Verbal ability -,12195 Academic self-concept ,21914 Problem solving / creativity -,08820 Physical abilities / sports -,18438 Physical appearance -,00218 Relations with same sex peers ,20235 Relations with opposite sex peers ,31671 Relations with parents -,28486 Attitude to school -,09629 Doing homework -,16738 Preparation for tests ,09607 Personal responsibility -,06699 Organizes self ,19058 Not opportunist ,84014 Motive to achieve ,07755 Rejection of personal impotence to learn. ,00228 Beliefs in efficacy of learning strategies -,17458 Need for external assistance for learning ,23086 a statistically significant difference in disposition to­wards school is present in self-organisation, this field being higher manifested in British participants. Table 3 shows results of the canonical discriminant function of nationality. Considering the two groups of participants, the analysis provided one discriminant function only. Because this function bares relevance, further analysis is justified. Table 4 shows standard coefficients of the canonical discriminant function of nationality. It can be observed that the values of coefficients are very diverse. The func­tion shows the highest density in the field non-op­portunism; moderately low density is presented by self-concept in the field of relations with opposite sex peers. Table 5 shows the structural matrix of correlations among variables, whic h allow us to discover differences between Slovene and British participants and the ca­nonical discriminant function of nationality. The first place is occupied by the variable which has the highest density and the last place by the variable which has the least density of the discriminant function of nationality. Table 5: Correlations between variables and the two canonical discriminant functions of nationality. Tabela 5: Korelacije med spremenljivkami in dvema kanoničnimanosti. diskriminantnima funkcijama nacional- Variables Not opportunist Honesty and reliability Personal responsibility Function 1 ,66432 ,34338 ,20358 Relations with opposite sex peers ,20142 Preparation for tests ,18666 Verbal ability ,18164 Relations with same sex peers ,16290 Attitude to school ,15726 Doing homework ,15212 Academic self-concept ,14705 Need for external assistance for learning ,14414 Religion -,10506 Motive to achieve ,10259 Organizes self ,10023 Physical abilities / sports -,09117 Beliefs in efficacy of learning strategies -,08196 Emotional stability ,06575 Relations with parents -,06117 Rejection of personal impotence to learn ,04876 Mathematical ,02764 Problem solving / creativity -,01560 Physical appearance ,01039 General self-concept -,00880 ANNALES • Ser. hist, sociol. • 14 • 200 4 • 1 Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 Table 6: Canonical discriminant function, defined by means (group centroids). Tabela 6: Kanonična diskriminantna funkcija, določena z aritmetičnimi sredinami (skupinski centroidi). Group Function 1 Slovenians -1,34034 British 1,21375 Table 6 shows group centroids in a single dimen­sional discriminant sphere. On the basis of comparison of group centroids (Table 6) and standardised coeffi­cients of discriminant functions (Table 4) it is possible to conclude that the British participants have the highest manifested disposition towards school and learning in the field of non-opportunism, partly also the self-concept in the field of relations with opposite sex peers. The results of the analysis of variance (Table 2), in many points confirmed by the results of the discriminant analysis (Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6) show that the Slovene par­ticipants have higher manifested only one field of dispo­sition towards school and learning. It seems that Slovene adolescents, covered by our research trust in their ow n abilities more than their British counterparts. O n the other hand, the British adolescents like school more, they are of the opinion that there are many things of interest to them in school, that teachers give lessons with pleasure and that they learn useful things in school and are not bored. All the enumerated traits are higher manifested in them than in their Slovene counterparts. The former also seem to do their homework and preparations for exami­nation more regularly, more conscientiously and accu­rately than their Slovene counterparts. They also feel more personally responsible for their school achieve­ment; they like to cooperate in class, etc. But that is not all. The British participants are more motivated for learning, they seem to try harder than the Slovene par­ticipants in getting good grades, they try to learn also uninteresting matter, when doing school work they are more critical and try to do their best. It is interesting that they are not opposed to external assistance in learning. The results of ANOV A and discriminant analysis show that the British students have 5 statistically higher ranging fields of self-concept. More than their Slovene counterparts they consider themselves to be persons with good speaking abilities, persons with no difficulties in written expression, pleasurable readers, persons with good abilities in expressing their opinions, wishes and feelings. They also like all school subjects more, be­cause, in average, they do not cause them hard prob­lems, and, more frequently than the group of Slovene adolescents, they believe that they can study the school matter quickly. They have more friends of the same and opposite sex, get along with them better, share many ac­tivities with them, etc. Finally, the British participants consider themselves sincere, trustworthy and honest per­sons more frequently than the group of their Slovene counterparts. The only difference between the nations in self-con­cept in favour of the group of Slovene adolescents is manifested in the field of physical abilities and sports. The Slovene participants consider themselves to be physically more competent, enjoying sports activities, etc. They seem to perceive themselves above all as good sportspeople, more than their British counterparts. The comparison with the study the differences in self-concept between Slovene and French adolescents, shows that this aspect of self-concept did not manifest itself as signifi­cantly higher in Slovene adolescents (Kobal, Musek, 2001). Let us underline only this area of self-concept. It could be possible that the higher physical self-concept of the Slovene adolescents is partly affected by the in­stitutionalised attitude towards concern for one's body, health, etc., which has intensively spread out after po­litical independence and is presented in the form of healthy kindergartens, healthy schools, various youth projects for prevention of drugs, alcohol, AIDS, organ­ised competitions in various sports fields, etc. It is possi­ble that higher physical self-concept of the Slovene par­ticipants is actually a compensation for other fields of self-concept, which are lower manifested. A more socio­psychological manner of interpretation lies in the search for wider connections with the society and lifestyle that the Slovene adolescents have. If we metaphorically designate the current transitional period in Slovenia as 'the period of growing up', searching for individual, and above all social identity, not only on the level of politics (accession to the European Union, joining NATO, etc.), but on the general social level (concern for tourist and economic promotion of Slovenia), then it is not difficult to discover that sports and attitude towards sports are among the basic impetus in forming the Slovene social (or better - national) identity in Slovenia. Apart from that we find that the concern for top sportspeople, following their achievements in the great number of sports fields, last but not least also their youth as a guarantee for suc­cess, constitute the basis for forming a role model of lifestyle or, if nothing more, of the attitude towards sports in their peers - adolescents. In other words, it is possible that a group of Slovene adolescents manifest a higher degree of self-concept in the field of sports and physical activities also because they are looking for their own identity by searching for role models among the leading Slovene sportspeople. Surely media public ad­vertising of the achievements and the personal life of Slovene sportspeople undoubtedly by far exceeds ad­vertising of leading Slovene scientists. Maybe this infor­mation also relates to the fact that some adolescents have a higher appreciation of sports and physical abili­ties than of knowledge and academic faculties. As already stated, British adolescents have - apart Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 from other fields - also a higher manifested self-concept with regard to their verbal abilities and general aca­demic self-concept (Table 2). Their positive disposition to school education also seems to be manifested through their academic self-concept. This finding is, of course, no novelty: it seems perfectly common sense and it has already been confirmed by some researches, although few in number, the subject of which is relation between self-concept and some aspects of disposition towards school (Robinson et al., 1990). SOME CONCLUDIN G FINDINGS If our research shows the above-mentioned differ­ences in the field of attitude to school and learning to be in favour of British adolescents, this cannot be stated for Robinson's research (Robinson et al., 1990). Almost in every field where the differences between British and French participants are statistically significant, the French adolescents show a more positive attitude to­wards school. The only exception was the need for ex­ternal assistance in learning. This field was manifested higher also in British adolescents than in their Slovene counterparts from our study. In the field referring beliefs in efficacy of learning strategies where the Slovene adolescents show a better result, the Robinson's re­search reveals no differences (Table 2). Robinson et al. (1990) conclude that self-concept is actually related to attitude to school. Due to low results of the British adolescents in the fields of self-concept, disposition towards school, self respect and their relat­edness with learning proficiency, the authors have doubts about the so-called 'friendliness' of the British school system, whic h was supposed to encourage only successful students towards a high degree of self respect and positive disposition towards school and learning. If the comparison between the French and British re­sults in self-concept and disposition towards school led Robinson and collaborators to conclude that the British educational system was perhaps more rigorous than the French one, not enabling appropriate development of a positive self-concept in less successful students, at the same time making them behave deviantly, what conclu­sions can we make from comparison between the Slo­vene and British results in the fields of self-concept and disposition towards school? Could this mean that the Slovene educational system is among the most rigorous and does not enable appropriate development of key fields of self-concept and disposition towards school? O n the basis of the achieved results it may not be possi­ble to state such a categorical opinion, yet it woul d be useful to search further in this direction. MEDKULTURNE RAZLIKE V SAMOPODOB I IN ODNOS U D O ŠOLSKEGA IZOBRAŽEVANJA Darja KOBAL GRUM Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za psihologijo, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Aškerčeva 2 e-mail: darja.kobal@ff.uni-lj.si POVZETEK Raziskava je pokazala, da med slovenskimi in britanskimi mladostniki, ki so sodelovali v raziskavi, obstajajo nekatere pomembne razlike tako v področjih samopodobe kot v področjih odnosa do šolskega izobraževanja. Sa­mopodoba kot mnoštvo odnosov, ki jih posameznik zavestno ali nezavedno vzpostavlja do samega sebe, je še posebej pomembna prav v obdobju mladostništva, ko posameznik svojo identiteto šele gradi. Akademska samopo­doba pa je pomembno povezana tako s kvaliteto učenja kot z odnosom do šolskega izobraževanja. Odnos do šol­skega izobraževanja je mogoče opredeliti kot organizirano entiteto mnenj, prepričanj, stališč, sodb, konceptov, občutij in drugih psihičnih vsebin, ki jih učenec vzpostavlja do šole in ki vplivajo na njegovo izbiranje, procesiranje in razumevanje informacij o pomenu in vlogi izobraževanja. Odnos do šole obenem spodbuja oblikovanje novih izkušenj in usmerja učenčevo vedenje, povezano z izobraževanjem. Čeprav se v zadnjih letih kar nekaj tujih študij ukvarja s proučevanjem povezanosti med samopodobo in odnosom do šolskega izobraževanja, je potrebno pou­ dariti, da je pričujoča raziskava še vedno med redkimi, ki se tega problema loteva z medkulturnega vidika. Razlogi so brez dvom metodološke narave, saj je težko kontrolirati različne spremenljivke, ki so pod vplivom nacionalnosti, individualnih razlik in razlik v šolskih sistemih. Glavni problem pričujoče raziskave je ugotoviti izraženost po­sameznih področij samopodobe kot dela osebnosti udeležencev in njihov odnos do šolskega izobraževanja. Avto­rica je bila v raziskavi še posebej pozorna na zgoraj omenjene razlike v nacionalnosti. Razlike v samopodobi glede na nacionalnost so statistično pomembne na naslednjih področjih: (a) samopodoba, ki se nanaša na področje telesnih sposobnosti in športa je bolj izražena pri skupini slovenskih mladostnikov, (b) področja samopodobe, ki se nanašajo na verbalne sposobnosti, akademsko samopodobo, odnos z vrstniki istega spola in na odnos z vrstniki na­ ANNALES • Ser. hist, sociol. • 14 • 2004 • 1 Darja KOBAL GRUM: CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-CONCEPT AN D DISPOSITIONS TO SCHOOL EDUCATION, 14 I -1 50 sprotnega spola, so bolj izražena pri skupini britanskih mladostnikov. Razlike v odnosu do šolskega izobraževanja glede na nacionalnost pa so statistično pomembne na naslednjih področjih: (a) zaupanje v lastne sposobnosti je bolj izraženo pri slovenskih udeležencih, (b) področja, kot so: stališča do šole, opravljanje domačih nalog, priprava na šolske naloge, občutek osebne odgovornosti za učenje, neoportunistično vedenje, storilnostna motivacija in potreba po zunanji pomoči za učenje pa so bolj izraženi pri britanskih udeležencih. Brez dvoma je eden glavnih razlogov za dobljene rezultate različnost kultur, iz katerih prihajajo udeleženci, obenem pa se lahko vprašamo tudi o učinko­vitosti šolskega sistema v Sloveniji. Na pričujoče študije seveda ni mogoče postaviti kategorične trditve, ali naš šolski sistem spodbuja visoko samopodobo učencev in njihov pozitiven odnos do izobraževanja ali ne, so pa lahko zbrani podatki dobra osnova za nadaljnje raziskovanje v tej smeri. 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