Flemish students wellbeing and the relationship with self-regulated learning Valérie Thomas 1, Ankelien Kindekens 1, Koen Lombaerts 1 1 Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium valerie.thomas@vub.ac.be Keywords: Student wellbeing, Self-regulated learning, Academic achievement, Motivation, Secondary education Introduction Wellbeing, motivation and emotions are increasingly important and considered gatekeepers of learning (Bradshaw, Martorano, Natali, & de Neubourg, 2013; Dumont, Istance, & Benavides, 2010). Earlier research states a reciprocal and positive continuity between educational achievement and student wellbeing ( the good circle ) (Van Petegem, Creemers, Aelterman, & Rosseel, 2008). Students motivation and wellbeing has an influence on academic success, which in turn exerts a prominent influence on students life as a major indicator of satisfaction (Salmela-Aro & Tynkkynen, 2010; Van Petegem et al., 2008). In line with the latter, student wellbeing can be seen as an important condition for a successful educational process and educational effectiveness (Engels, Aelterman, Van Petegem, & Schepens, 2004; Van Petegem et al., 2008). Based on the results of international large-scale comparative research on childrens wellbeing, Belgian children show one of the highest scores on school wellbeing but a more moderate score for subjective wellbeing (Bradshaw et al., 2013; Engels et al., 2004; Unicef, 2013); both considered important intertwined components of overall wellbeing (Tuominen- Soini, Salmela-Aro, & Niemivirta, 2008). Noble and Wyatt (2008, p. 21) define students overall wellbeing as a sustainable state of positive mood and attitude, resilience, and satisfaction with self, relationships and experiences at school. A student s level of wellbeing is indicated by the degree to which the student demonstrates effective academic, social and emotional functioning and appropriate behaviour at school. Subjective well-being refers to childrens satisfaction with their life as well as their experienced sense of meaning and purpose in life. School wellbeing focuses more on the satisfaction of the students with their school and education (Bradshaw et al., 2013; Dumont et al., 2010). 1
Next to wellbeing and motivation, self-regulated learning and lifelong learning are nowadays emphasized in the (European) educational policy (Dumont et al., 2010). As stated above, motivation is an important factor in educational success, but it is also a crucial subcomponent of self-regulated learning (SRL) (Pintrich, 1999; Zimmerman, 2002). Whereas the concepts of SRL and wellbeing are at first sight not strongly related, this independent, academically effective way of learning involving high degrees of metacognition, motivation and strategic action has been found increasingly important through positively influencing students academic achievement, social competence, well-being and the engagement in lifelong learning (LLL) (Zimmerman, 2002). Dispose of a repertoire of effective self-regulatory learning strategies has a positive impact on students wellbeing and ultimately on academic success (Kaplan & Maehr, 1999; Noble & Wyatt, 2008). Consequently, these self-regulatory skills prevent students from developing negative and academically ineffective learning habits, beliefs and even drop-out (Kaplan & Maehr, 1999; Noble & Wyatt, 2008). Schools thus play an important role in laying the cornerstones for LLL by fostering an internally driven motivation to learn ( will to learn ) and self-initiated and self-regulated learning ( skill to learn ) (Lüftenegger, Schober, van de Schoot, Wagner, Finsterwald, & Spiel, 2012). Baring in mind the importance of the intertwined concepts, student wellbeing and SRL, and their relevance for LLL, this study investigates the relationship between subjective and school wellbeing and students self-regulated learning skills in Flemish Secondary education. The following research questions were addressed: 1) How well do Flemish students feel overall and especially at school? 2) What is the relationship between the subjective wellbeing and school wellbeing of students? 3) How are students wellbeing and self-regulated learning related? Method Data for this study was gathered through self-report questionnaires. The present study is part of a larger project investigating school drop-out in secondary education and covering questions related to general demographic information, gender issues, study motivation, wellbeing, self-regulated learning, etc. In total 5212 students (2470 girls, 2742 boys) out of 57 secondary schools in Flanders and Brussels Capital Region (Belgium) participated in this study. The participants were followed 2
during the first two years at secondary school, resulting in repeated measures. Students were questioned at the end of the first year (age: 12-13 year) of secondary education and at the end of the second year (age: 13-14 year) of secondary education. The schools were scattered throughout the region. Large and small, urban and more rural schools were questioned and all education types (arts, general, technical and vocational) were included. Self-regulated learning was measured through four subscales: cognitive strategy use (e.g. When I study, I try to say everything in my own words), self-regulation (e.g. Even though the subject matter is boring and uninteresting, I study on until I'm done), autonomous motivation (e.g. I m motivated to study because I want to learn new things) and academic self-efficacy (e.g. I m good at planning my school work) (Pintrich & De Groot, 1990; Vansteenkiste, Sierens, Soenens, Luyckx, & Lens, 2009). Both school wellbeing and subjective wellbeing were measured to identify student wellbeing. School wellbeing concerned questions on how good student feel at school, how happy they are, etc. With regard to subjective meaning, students had to answer questions concerning how they felt in general the past 30 days (satisfied, hopeless, nervous, etc. with possible answers ranging from never to very often) (Cantril, 1965). Questionnaire data were analysed using IMB SPSS Statistics 22. Pearsons correlations were calculated and independent sample t-tests, bivariate and multivariate regressions were applied. A confidence interval of 95% was used. Expected results and conclusions Similar to findings in previous research (Engels et al., 2004; Tuominen-Soini et al., 2008) preliminary findings in this study show that subjective wellbeing and school wellbeing are positively correlated. Furthermore the exploratory statistical analyses reveal that the students score moderate for subjective wellbeing and report a somewhat higher score for school wellbeing. These results are in line with previous large-scale research (Bradshaw et al., 2013; Unicef, 2013). An independent-samples t-test comparing both measurements reveals a significant higher level of subjective wellbeing and a significant lower level of school wellbeing at the end of the second year in comparison with the measurement at the end of the first year of secondary education. This is in line with results from the study of Tian, Liu, Huang, and Huebner (2013). 3
Concerning the relationship between wellbeing and self-regulated learning, a multivariate regression analysis show positive significant influences from wellbeing (school wellbeing and subjective wellbeing) on the measured aspects of self-regulated learning (cognitive strategy use, self-regulation, academic efficacy and autonomous motivation) on both measurement moments. This finding confirms earlier research (Kaplan & Maehr, 1999; Noble & Wyatt, 2008). The regression analysis also showed school wellbeing to have a small significant added value on self-regulated learning in comparison with subjective wellbeing, except for cognitive strategy use at the end of the first year and academic efficacy at the end of the second year of secondary education. The present study provides indications of the importance for schools to pay increased attention to the wellbeing and self-regulated learning of their students (Noble & Wyatt, 2008). Classroom practices should therefore facilitate adaptive efficacy beliefs, encourage interests and foster the adoption of mastery goals (Pintrich, 1999). References Bradshaw, J., Martorano, B., Natali, L., & de Neubourg, C. (2013). Children s Subjective Well-being in Rich Countries, Working Paper 2013-03. Florence: Unicef Office of Research. Cantril H. (1965). The pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Dumont, H., Istance, D., & Benavides, F. (eds.) (2010). The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice. Paris: OECD Publishing, Educational Research and Innovation. Engels, N., Aelterman, A., Petegem, K. Van, & Schepens, A. (2004). Factors which influence the well-being of pupils in flemish secondary schools. Educational Studies, 30(2), 127 143. Kaplan, A., & Maehr, M. L. (1999). Achievement Goals and Student Well-Being. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24, 330 358. Lüftenegger, M., Schober, B., van de Schoot, R., Wagner, P., Finsterwald, M., & Spiel, C. (2012). Lifelong learning as a goal Do autonomy and self-regulation in school result in well prepared pupils? Learning and Instruction, 22(1), 27 36. Noble, T., & Wyatt, T. (2008). Scoping study into approaches to student wellbeing; Literature review. Sydney: Australian Catholic University and Erebus International. Pintrich, P. R. (1999). The role of motivation in promoting and sustaining self-regulated learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 31(6), 459-470. 4 Pintrich, P. R., & De Groot, E. V. (1990). Motivational and self- regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 33 40 Salmela-Aro, K., & Tynkkynen, L. (2010). Trajectories of life satisfaction across the tran- sition to postcompulsory education: Do adolescents follow different pathways? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 870 881. Tian, L., Liu, B., Huang, S., & Huebner, E. S. (2013). Perceived Social Support and School Well-Being Among Chinese Early and Middle Adolescents: The Mediational Role of Self-Esteem. Social Indicators Research, 113, 991 1008. Tuominen-Soini, H., Salmela-Aro, K., & Niemivirta, M. (2008). Achievement goal orientations and subjective well-being: A person-centred analysis. Learning and Instruction, 18(3), 251 266. Unicef (2013). Child Well-being in Rich Countries: A comparative overview, Innocenti Report Card 11. Florence: Unicef Office of Research 4
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