What attributions do teachers ascribe to student academic achievement?

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Copyright: Thomas, David Anthony
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Abstract
This study seeks to provide empirical evidence regarding teacher attributions of achievement for gifted students and those students not considered gifted. An examination is made of the extent to which teachers hold an entity or incremental theory of intelligence. It is also considered that the entity view of intelligence may be varied to come into line with the incremental approach. Concurrently, teacher attributions are examined to determine if there is a relationship between attributions for achievement and the gender of the student and teacher, the length of teaching experience, and the major subject area taught. The teachers’ attributions of achievement in four separate disciplines (English, Mathematics, Science and HSIE) are examined to determine if a difference exists amongst teachers in these four disciplines with reference to the attribution of achievement. This study investigates the possibility that teachers’ concern for their own self-interest to some extent influences their attributions of student achievement. The respondents are more than 200 high school teachers in the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), New South Wales Chapter, who completed three questionnaires, each comprising 20 questions. Questionnaire 1 sought to discover high school teachers’ general views of intelligence, while Questionnaires 2 and 3 considered the attributions made by teachers for student academic achievement (among the gifted and those not identified as gifted respectively). This study finds that teachers are more likely to see effort as the major indicator of student academic achievement. As well, teachers attribute male student success to ability and failure to lack of effort, and female student success to effort and failure to a lack of ability. Female teachers are more likely to consider that student achievement is more due to effort than are the male teachers and it is found that teachers across the four major subject areas are more likely to hold an incremental view of intelligence and will thus focus upon a learning approach to education rather than to a performance approach. The findings of this study provide a greater understanding of the attributional influences that affect the achievement levels of gifted students and students not considered gifted, and may have significant implications for educational practices in schools.
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Thomas, David Anthony
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Publication Year
2008
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Thesis
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PhD Doctorate
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