Positive Youth Development in Norwegian Upper Secondary: The Impact of Sex, Socio-economic Status, and Immigrant Background on the Developmental Trajectories of Academic Initiative, Academic Self-efficacy, and Grade Point Average
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https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3176153Utgivelsesdato
2024Metadata
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Originalversjon
In: N. Wiium, D. Manrique-Millones, D. Miconi, & D. Stefenel (Eds.), Addressing Social Justice: A Positive Youth Development Approach, 223–254. 10.55669/oa311009Sammendrag
The positive youth development (PYD) and social justice perspectives assume that it is important to consider challenges related to equity and inequality in education to understand academic processes and outcomes of the increasingly diverse student population. Students’ socioeconomic status, parents’ educational level, sex, and immigrant background impact on students’ motivation, learning, grades, and development. Norway is considered to have robust conditions for PYD and fair allocation of resources because of the country’s active and supportive welfare state model. Equity, equal opportunities, and inclusion are consistently cited as the goal of schooling in the country. This chapter investigates how sex, socioeconomic status, and immigrant background relate to the developmental trajectories of academic initiative, academic self-efficacy, and grade point average (GPA) throughout upper secondary education in Norway. The authors used data from 1508 general education students attending 16 schools that participated in the COMPLETE study, a randomised controlled trial aimed to improve the psychosocial environment in upper secondary schools and decrease dropout rates. Results from latent growth curve modelling indicated group differences related to changes over a three year-period (2016–2019) in GPA, but not in academic initiative or self-efficacy. Girls reported greater improvement in GPA than boys, students with a high socioeconomic status had a larger improvement in their GPA than students with a low socioeconomic status, and Norwegian immigrant youth experienced a greater improvement in their GPA compared to their non-immigrant peers. Findings are discussed considering school as a socially equalising actor.