A recent international study indicates that socioeconomic variables are more likely to be responsible for the growing academic gaps between children from rich and poor families than attitude or work ethic.
The COVID pandemic had a severe impact on kids’ schooling. Performance in science, math, and reading decreased dramatically between 2018 and 2022, and this trend was observed globally.
According to research, socioeconomic issues have caused poor children to suffer more than other children: The differences in academic achievement between children from wealthy and disadvantaged households are growing along economic lines.
Although this is a global trend, researchers note that wealthier nations like the US and Germany have seen it most frequently.
The findings of a recent international study now attempt to explain why this is taking place.
There is a widespread belief that students from low-income backgrounds lack certain social and emotional abilities, such as perseverance or a growth mindset, or that they have a bad attitude toward learning.
And that is a contributing factor in their poorer performance levels, according to Rob Gruijters, the study’s lead author from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
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However, Gruijters told DW, “There isn’t a whole lot of empirical evidence about the idea.”
The study used data from 74 different nations and was published in the journal Sociology of Education. It makes the case that programs aimed at helping kids gain self-awareness and interpersonal skills are unlikely to lessen educational disparities.
And other experts in the field are beginning to agree with that theory. This essay demonstrates how mentality or attitude has no bearing on academic achievement.
It advances the body of studies demonstrating that poverty is the root cause of social and educational inequality, according to Antoinette Potsi, a German education specialist at Bielefeld University. Potosi did not participate in the recent research.
Why do privileged students perform worse academically than impoverished kids?
As a crucial tactic for closing achievement inequalities, US lawmakers have centered their attention on the notion that children from lower-income families may be taught “work ethic” and “character development.”
Data from the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was used in the study. PISA is a globally administered standardized test that evaluates and compares students’ performance in reading, science, and maths in the 15-year-old age group.
Psychological metrics found in PISA include work mastery, growth attitude, and self-efficacy. The study examined how these socioemotional abilities contribute to learning disparities.
Gruijters stated, “We discovered that social and emotional skills only account for 9% of the difference in learning outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged children.”
According to this perspective, there would only be a slight improvement in the achievement gap between pupils from higher-income families and those from lower-income families if social and emotional abilities were equalized.
Educating “work ethic” is not likely to affect exam results.
Initiatives to support social and emotional development, according to the study’s authors, are unlikely to lessen educational inequality.
Social and emotional learning is not the answer to educational disparity. According to Gruijters, “the notion that kids may overcome structural disadvantage by developing a growth mindset and a positive work ethic ignores the actual barriers that many underprivileged students encounter and runs the risk of holding them accountable for their own misfortune.
According to Potsi, the true problem here is that many underprivileged children do not have access to adequate learning resources and opportunities at home.
This analysis demonstrates that, in terms of policy, we have been heading in the wrong path. It is utterly untrue and deceptive to claim that social and emotional learning can address unfairness in the educational system. To achieve equitable possibilities, what we truly need to do is fight poverty, Potsi told DW.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were closed, children from low-income families had limited access to computers or literature at home. This problem became increasingly evident.
For example, a survey conducted in the UK during the pandemic revealed that a third of kids in underprivileged areas had sufficient access to home learning resources.
How can governments close the attainment gap in the classroom?
According to Gruijters, educational systems require restructuring.
Many learning disparities start to show up even before kids start school. There are noticeable differences in a child’s skills and talents between the ages of three and five. He stated that disparities might be addressed at a very young age if all kids attended a very high standard of preschool.
Redistributing the best educators and resources to schools in more impoverished areas is another proposal, according to Gruijters. However, it isn’t taking place.
Rather, the reverse is true in many nations, when children from the middle and upper classes who have the most resources attend the schools. Furthermore, you have well-off parents who cover the cost of private schooling or tutoring for extracurricular activities. That will undoubtedly have a significant impact, he stated.
