Subjective and objective school achievement: Role of demographic factors, attitude toward school, and coping with school failure

Abstract

A school is an environment in which students can receive a comprehensive evaluation of their schoolwork. In addition to the teacher’s evaluation of school achievement, which is usually expressed through school grades, its subjective aspect, i.e., the student’s evaluation of achievement, is also important. Some students begin to lose interest in learning and schooling in general due to school failure, especially if they do not have a positive attitude toward school. This study aimed to investigate the predictive values of attitudes toward school, coping strategies with school failure, and demographic variables, such as gender, grade, and type of school, to explain objective and subjective school achievement. The research sample consisted of 267 second, third, and fourth-grade high school students (61% females). Data were collected using questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to analyze the data. The results showed that grade, attitude toward school, and all three coping strategies with school failure (problem-focused, emotion-focused, and ego-focused) were predictors of students’ subjective school achievement, whereas gender, grade, attitude toward school, problem-focused, and ego-focused coping strategies were singled out as predictors of objective school achievement. Students’ objective and subjective school achievement and their related pedagogical implications are discussed in the context of the obtained results.

Keywords

• subjective school achievement
• objective school achievement
• attitude toward school
• coping with school failure
• high school students