Academic performance and school engagement among secondary school students in accordance with place of birth, gender and age

Abstract

[EN] One of the most pressing concerns today in our society is how to ensure that students are able to adapt to the ever-changing context in which they live, and one of the ways of achieving this is to ensure good school adjustment. This study analyzes whether this adjustment is influenced by students (and their parents) place of birth, gender and age. The sample group comprised 828 secondary school students (Mean age=14.83; SD=1.81) from the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (BC) in Spain. The results indicate that students born in the BC to native parents have higher levels of affective engagement and achieve better academic results; however, contrary to expectation, not all natives born to immigrant parents were found to score higher for the different dimensions of school adjustment than those born outside the BC. Also, in general, girls were found to have a higher level of adjustment than boys, and students in the last two years of secondary school had lower levels of performance and engagement than both those in the first two years of secondary school and those in higher education. These results are then discussed in the final part of the paper.

[ES] Actualmente una de las mayores preocupaciones de la sociedad es conseguir que el alumnado alcance ciertas cotas de adaptación al contexto cambiante en el que se mueve y una de las estrategias principales es a través de un buen ajuste escolar. En este trabajo se analiza si dicho ajuste está condicionado por el lugar de nacimiento del alumnado (y sus progenitores), su sexo y su edad; los análisis se realizan con un total de 828 estudiantes (M=14.83 años; DT=1.81) de Secundaria de la Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco (CAPV). Los resultados indican que los nacidos en la CAPV son quienes ofrecen una mayor implicación afectiva y mejores calificaciones pero, al contrario de lo esperado, no en todos los casos los inmigrantes de 2ª generación obtienen mejores resultados que los nacidos fuera de la CAPV en las dimensiones del ajuste escolar. Por otro lado, en general, son las chicas las que ofrecen un mejor ajuste y el alumnado de 3º y 4º de la ESO el que peor rendimiento e implicación. Los resultados se discuten.