Fidelma Hanrahan and Robin Banerjee

University of Sussex

‘I think education is bulls**t’: Understanding the pathway to

disaffection in school-excluded young people.

Background

What does school disaffection look like?Disruptive behaviour, emotional difficulties,

and academic failure (DETR, 1999; Skinner, Kindermann, & Furrer, 2008).

Behavioural/emotional profile associated with disadvantaged backgrounds (Daniels et al., 2003;

Jimerson, Egeland, Sroufe, & Carlson, 2000; Steer, 2000) as well as non-optimal future trajectories (Coles et al., 2002; DFE, 2012; Henry, Knight, & Thornberry, 2012; SEU, 1999).

Theoretical frameworksRecent theoretical work

Attempt to understand and explain link between environmental experiences and school engagement or disengagement.

Some plausible models such as the self-system model of motivational development (SSMMD; Connell & Wellborn, 2009; Skinner and colleagues, 2008; 2009).

Theoretical model of the development of disaffection

Social Environme

nts

Self

Motivation and cognitio

ns

Behaviour and emotio

n

Attribution theory

(Weiner, 1985)

Achievement goal theory

(Dweck & Leggett, 1988)

Possible selves

(Markus & Nurius, 1986)

Self-discrepancy

theory (Higgins, 1987)

Self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000)

Support for an integrated model of school disaffection

Association between parental support of basic psychological needs and optimal outcomesdropping out of school associated with

perceptions of teachers and parents as less autonomy-supportive and perception of self as less autonomous and competent (Hardre & Reeve, 2003; Vallerand, Fortier, & Guay, 1997).

Social Environme

nts

Link between achievement goals and attributions, and behavioural outcomes ‘performance goal orientations’ – failure

results in threat to self-esteem leading to feelings of anxiety, depression, and shame, leading to self-handicapping and disruptive behaviour (Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Thompson, 2004).

Motivation and cognitio

ns

Link between multiple self-construals and disaffectionschool-excluded pupils generate more

impossible future selves and have more negative perceptions of their futures compared to non school-excluded pupils (Mainwaring & Hallam, 2010).

Self

Study I: Aim and research question• Aim:

• Address the lack of qualitative research, underpinned by psychological frameworks, which examines the lived experiences of school excluded pupils.

• Evaluate, and further develop, a model of disaffection

• Do the experiences of school-excluded pupils fit with an understanding of the psychological processes of self-discrepancies and achievement goals as mediating the link between troubled social backgrounds and a problematic behavioural/ emotional profile?

MethodParticipants

ten PRU and ex-PRU pupils (6 female, 4 male; aged 14-20 years; mixed ethnicity: 4 mixed race, 4 black, 1 white, 1 South-Asian)

six staff (2 female,4 male; 5 white, 1 black)Semi-structured interviews

Questionsexperiences at school and PRU the experience of being excludedrelationships with teachers, peers and othersattitude to education aspirationsself-concepts

AnalysisTranscripts analysed using theory driven thematic

analysis

Key findings – Model of school disaffection

Social Environm

ents

Self-construa

ls

Aspirations

Orientation to

school

Orientation to

school

Behavioural disengagement

from school

Disinterest

Anti-social behaviour

Resistance to authority

Absence

Distraction

Helpless behaviours

YP-1: […] I went to college to do A-Levels; I think I lasted about two weeks. […] I was just like, aw this is just like school, why bother, so I didn’t bother with it (Female, 20).

Negative emotions

Anger

Sadness

Hopelessness

Frustration

Anxiety

Embarrassment

YP-6: When it’s really hard I don’t understand it and I get frustrated (Male, 16).

AspirationsExtrinsic

motivation

Money as motivator

Lack of intrinsic motivation and task enjoyment

Performance goals

Focused on outcomes of learning i.e.

qualification for job

‘Fixed’ mindset

Intelligence as ‘fixed’

YP-6: I think [education] is bulls**t. [...] Int: And what keeps you doing it then?YP-6: The money really, till you get a job (Male,16).

YP-1: I’ve tried to go to college, [...] I don’t think it would’ve ever worked out… because there’s nothing that I’d say I’m so interested in that I’d go and study for years and stick to it […] it’d just piss me off, I wouldn’t be able to do that… if I’m going to do something now I’d want to know, well that’s going to get me a job right at the end of it (Female, 20).

YP-1: I’m not as smart as you think, [...] there’s a certain limit there… that’s as smart as I can get (Female, 20).

Self-construa

ls

Self as Failure

Lack of believed in ‘hoped-for’

self

YP-4: I thought [getting sent to the PRU] meant that I didn’t… I wasn’t going to get nothing, go nowhere in life[...] I wasn’t going to be able to achieve anything [...] that’s what I thought anyway (Female, 17).

YP-6: I see myself in the future as, like, not getting a job and stuff. Something really bad (Male, 16). Possible

selves

Lack of ideal self

Unrealistic ideal self or ideal self and no realistic

strategies

Feared self as expected self

YP-3: I’ve always got a brick wall around me. [...] you’ll never see me … you’ll never see the true – who I really am, who I always want to be but don’t feel that I’m able to (Female, 16).Inauthentic/’False’

self

Detached self-reliant self

Conflict between wanting to be

perceived as ‘nice’ and wishing to be feared

Social Environm

ents

School Environments

Failure to understand circumstances and

experiences of young people

Controlling responses

Peer Pressure

To be perceived as ‘bad’

Pursue needs through anti-social behaviour

and relationships with deviant peers

YP-4: [The school staff] didn’t care. [...] They knew that the school was bad; they knew that the people there was bad, so they just didn’t really care [...] (Female, 14).YP-3: [Pupils who have

been excluded] probably don’t even care that they’ve been kicked out of school. They’re more worried about what’s going on at home (Female, 16).

Chronic instability at home and

community disadvantage

Lack of positive parenting

No positive, realistic role models

Norm of disadvantage and anti-social

behaviour in community

Parental expectations lacking or unachievable

Social Environm

ents

YP-3: I mean I was involved with a gang when I was like 13 [...] I was just running around with like people, just doing bad things but… y’know, you don’t have to be in a gang to, beat someone up or, y’know, rob someone. […] Had problems at home [...] it’s a way of dealing with things really, a coping mechanism (Female, 16).

Chronic instability at home and

community disadvantage

Lack of positive parenting

No positive, realistic role models

Norm of disadvantage and anti-social

behaviour in community

Parental expectations lacking or unachievable

Peer Pressure

To be perceived as ‘bad’

Pursue needs through anti-social behaviour

and relationships with deviant peers

School Environments

Failure to understand circumstances and

experiences of young people

Controlling responses

Room for hope

Positive responses to the PRU environment

Supportive school environment

Focus on building relationships between staff and pupils

Teachers’ understanding of pupils’ experiences outside of

school environment

Realistic goals set

Recognition of achievements

Staff belief in pupils’ competence and positive futures

YP-4: I felt people [in the PRU] listened to you more [...] obviously they’re more understanding because they know people that’s coming there is got… problems, or troubles [...] so… if something was wrong they’ll try and find out or they’ll tell you to calm down or they’ll make you go and speak to someone and… stuff like that. So it was really really good (Female, 17).

Positive choices

Realistic positive hoped-for self

Sense of autonomy in making positive choices

Conclusion and questions for future research

• Initial attempt looking at possible mediators of the link between social background and behavioural and emotional outcomes supports an integrated model of disaffection.

• Future research• Systematically investigate the links between

these different psychological processes • How do they interact? Are links reciprocal?

Study II: Aim and research question

Survey study aim:Quantitative investigation of links between

psychological processes in modelAddress the lack of research into

engagement/disengagement with school-excluded pupils.

Research question• What does the pathway between the

psychological processes implicated in the development of disaffection look like?

• How do the these processes interact? Are links reciprocal?

Method

Participants102 PRU pupils (62 male, 33 female, 7

unknown), years 7 – 11Age range 11 – 17 years (M = 14.97, SD =

1.37)Ethnicity: 74% White, 10% Black, 5% mixed,

11% other/unknown

• Scales

Global self worth scale Harter

(1988)

The Perception

of False Self Scale (Weir &

Jose, 2010)

Life event scale Ystgaard

(1997); Swearingen and Cohen (1985);

Attar, Guerra, & Tolan, (1994)Perception

of Parents Scale

(POPS) (Grolnick, Ryan, & Deci, 1991)

Learning Climate

Questionnaire (LCQ) (Williams &

Deci, 1996)

Patterns of Adaptive

Learning Scale (PALS) (Midgely et

al., 2000)

Sydney Attribution Scale (SAS) (Marsh, 1984)

Aspiration Index (AI)

(Grouzet, Kasser, et al., 2005);

Social vignettes

Social Environme

nts

Self

Motivation and

cognitions

Behaviour and

emotion

Preliminary findings

POPS

The Perception

of False Self Scale

Global self worth scale

.52***

-.35**

* = p < .05; ** = p < .01; *** = p < .001

AI intrinsicAI

extrinsic

-.27*

.26*

PALS (Mastery)

.30**

-.28*

POPS

Preliminary findings

* = p < .05; ** = p < .01; *** = p < .001

Social vignette

s

Angry

Neg better

Neg liked

Neg respect

Neg solve prob

-.30**

-.32**

-.23*

-.24*

-.31**

POPS

Preliminary findings

* = p < .05; ** = p < .01; *** = p < .001

Tentative conclusions and unanswered questions

Some early support for the qualitative study and theoretical model of school disaffection more generally

Pathway analysis

How do they interact? Are links reciprocal?

With thanks to:

Robin Banerjee