Relevance Of Training Profiles For High Schools In Relation To Student Motivation

Abstract

The paper explores the answer formulated by Romanian High School students to a questionnaire aimed at measuring the interest in studying History. The instrument was developed within the framework of a European research, coordinated by the Groningen University and which includes five countries. We analyzed the answers of the Romanian students starting from the working hypothesis that a potential corelation between the answers and the training profile of the specific High School in which they learn (in our case, theoretical and vocational) can be identified. Starting from the initial research instrument, students' answers were organized in eight categories within three clusters, organized around their perception of the utility and interest of studying History for their professional life, for general learning, and for their personal development. In more technical terms, three testlets were developed in order to better pinpoint their attitudes towards History as a subject. The comparative analysis is useful in the context of the debate concerning the training profiles provided by High Schools (as specific stage in their compulsory education), and over the ways in which the History curriculum might be better developed. The null hypothesis, that is, there are no significant differences within the target group, will enable a debate concerning the relevance of training profiles for High Schools in relation to student motivation.

Keywords: History teachingstudent attitudeperceived utility of learninghigh school profiles

1.Introduction

History as a subject in High School has a twofold position. One the one hand, it is considered to be

of significant importance in shaping critical skills for the young generation, ranging from communication

skills to critical thinking, and from job-related skills to social skills and cultural awareness. On the other

hand, History is perceived as being a significant element in shaping identities, local, regional, or national

and beyond (Capita, 2001; Schissler & Nuhoglu Soysal, 2005). Finally, History – at least through the

elements related to the broad category of cultural heritage – is part of the daily life of each of us.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the way in which History is taught in schools is a focus of educational

research. The present exploratory research uses the responses given by a number of 82 high school

students from Romania to a questionnaire used by a team at the University of Groningen that focuses on

student perceptions on History as a school subject. While the number is not statistically relevant for the

entire student population of the study conducted at the University of Groningen, it nevertheless might

demonstrate several issues of methodology, as well as trends in the way in which students' motivations

relate to a specific school subject.

2. Problem Statement

3. Research Question

The present study is a spin-off of a larger project organized by the University of Groningen. The

Groningen study will look at perceptions about History as a school subject from a (international)

comparative perspective. The authors of the present study, however, wanted to see if a national

perspective might also be of interest. The research question was if significant differences appear between

perceptions on History as a subject of students enrolled in vocational or theoretical high schools. Given

the differences in selection, and the fact that the Upper Secondary School is critical for the students in

choosing a professional career, the existence or lack of differences between students enrolled in different

types of high schools might inform about the degree to which student attitudes concerning History are

influenced by the formal educational setting.

4. Research Instrument and Sample

The instrument is based on the Attitude Scale Towards Mathematics . This subject-specific interest

questionnaire was developed by the Dutch Centre of Educational Measurement (1987) and comprises 32

items representing four subscales: 1) Pleasure, 2) Fear and Difficulty, 3) Effort and Interest, and 4)

Usefulness and Relevance. All subscales consist of both negative and positive statements and all items are

scored using a five-point Likert scale ranging from “I do not agree at all” to “agree completely”. The

original questionnaire was validated for reliability and validity by Martinot, Kuhlemeier & Feenstra

(1988). Kuhlemeier, Van den Bergh & Teunisse (1990) showed that the questionnaire could also be used

for other school subjects, such as English. Logtenberg, Van Boxtel & Van Hout-Wolters (2011) translated

the original questionnaire to the school subject of History. A higher score on this questionnaire represents

higher students’ individual interest in the school subject of history. They used the adjusted questionnaire

among 174 Dutch secondary school students (16 years old) and found good internal consistency of the 32

items (α = 0.94). Wilschut (2013) also used the translated questionnaire to examine how students’ view

the school subject of history. His study confirmed the good internal consistency of the instrument.

Given the fact that the present study wants to identify possible differences in attitudes towards

History as a school subject between students enrolled in different types of high schools, we regrouped the

32 questions in 8 categories: epistemological beliefs (5 items), enjoyment of History as a school subject

(6 items), the History class (6 items), assessment and self-assessment (4 items), the significance given to

the subject of the (future) professional life (3 items), the significance given to the subject for the daily life

(4 items), the importance of History for leisure (3 items), and if History as a subject is considered useful

or not (1 item). The resulting (new) clustering is summarized below (Table 1)

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The regrouping of the items in the questionnaire was determined by the following factors: the

educational aims of the Upper Secondary level of schooling, as they are stated in the training profile of

High School graduates; the repertoire of psychological and physical developmental traits that are relevant

for that specific age-group, in particular elements of moral development, of self-regulated learning and

their relation to knowledge acquisition (Schommer, 1998); the didactic practices in implementing the

curriculum at classroom level: the program of study encourages teachers to focus on introducing students

to historical methodology, to promote activities that ate run as projects, and the production of personal or

imaginative texts (Program of Study for History, Grades XI and XII); the increased relation with the

professional world: during this stage in their schooling, students have the opportunity to link their school-

based activities with experiences more related to the world of work, and with possible professional

careers (Potolea, Toma & Borzea, 2012).

The initial number of responses given by Romanian students was 104, out of which 22 were

excluded as non-responses; therefore, the number of valid questionnaires taken into consideration for this

particular research was of 82 (n = 82), 46 from a vocational high school (National College Dimitrie

Cantemir in Breaza, Prahova County, a military high school) and 36 from two theoretical high schools

(National College George Coșbuc and National College Gheorghe Lazăr, both in Bucharest).

5. Main Findings

As a whole, the two groups of students responded significantly similar (see Table 2). In all cases, the

equal variance hypothesis is infirmed, but several significant elements seem to indicate both differences

and similarities between the two groups (students in a vocational High School, and students in a

theoretical, i.e., general High School). The item that seems to be positively valued by most of the students

is item 22 (I usually understand what is covered in history lessons: mean score 4.54; SD 0.76), followed

closely by item 14 ( I enjoy history lessons : mean score 4.40; SD 0.77). The two answers are linked,

because the pleasure in learning is a result of understanding; at the same time, the psychological

ˮdistanceˮ from the subject is the result of not coping with the challenges proposed by the school subject.

At the opposite end of the scale, the question that seems to have the least approval is item 19 ( I find

history a very boring subject : mean score 1.57; SD 0.82). This is relevant, since the latter falls in the same

category with item 14 ( I enjoy history lessons : mean score 4.40; SD 0.77), and indicates a strong opinion

concerning the degree of satisfaction or disapproval of students. The students seem to have a split opinion

over the overall utility of History.

The dominant elements seem to be the questions related to the categories "History class", followed

by "epistemological beliefs" and "enjoyment of learning". The fact that the highest rate of approval is

related to the classroom experiences and the teaching and learning processes indicates not only a stronger

influence of the learning activities than the more discreet conceptual aspects of teaching and learning, but

also the fact that temporal distance influences the rate of approval. It also demonstrates the rather limited

influences of out-of-school activities, a situation that can be the result of both weak links between the

school and the life experiences of students, and of a tight schedule for the students (which are preparing

for the final examinations at the end of High School), who have less time for extracurricular activities.

Students' responses seem to be more related to their present experience than to plans for their future

careers. Also, it demonstrates the influence that teaching style can have on students’ perception of a

subject. The other two categories are significantly linked to the other categories of questions. The

category that was least approved by the students is the one regrouping items related to assessment and

self-assessment. This indicates that students perceive a certain distance between their learning and the

assessment or, to be more precise, between grade-based assessment and an assessment focused on

providing them with the feed-back they need in order to develop their learning to learn skills.

The item referring to the perceived usefulness of History (item 13) poses a certain problem. While

the numbers are in the same range, the fact that students from the theoretical high school seem more

inclined to consider History a useless subject (an opinion that is shared commonly by the group) indicates

the fact that they take into consideration careers and or further education that is not related to that field of

knowledge. It is relevant that they also score low on the items related to the enjoyment of History

learning. One possible explanation is visible when taking into consideration also the items listed under

the heading "utility for the leisure time", where students from the vocational school score somewhat

higher. The data seems to demonstrate that enjoyment of a particular subject may be influenced by the

fact that it is regarded as not being important for a future career (actually, that might demonstrate that

students resent being forced, whatever the reasons, to learn "seriously" a specific subject). However, there

is one category for which the students of the theoretical high school score significantly more than their

counterparts. In terms of epistemological beliefs, students from the theoretical high school tend to value

more History as a subject, although they are not convinced by its usefulness; the situation might be the

result of the competitiveness that characterizes theoretical high schools (the students from this type of

high school tend to dominate the enrolment in higher education, and the grades contribute significantly to

the admission).

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6. Conclusions

The present study wanted to identify possible differences in attitudes towards History as a school

subject between students enrolled in different types of high schools, as revealed by an online

questionnaire. The students that participated in the study are taught in accordance to similar programs of

study (learning outcomes and contents), and have a similar number of History classes per week (1 class

per week). When comparing the results, both differences and similarities became apparent.

First, the fact that the students from two quite different types of high schools seem to have similar

perceptions on History as a school subject, a situation that might indicate that the age group is more

influential than individual decisions concerning a future professional career. Nevertheless, the significant

elements are relevant for the sources of students' perceptions; the vocational high school group seems to

enjoy more History (see the category Enjoyment of learning in Table 1), while the theoretical high school

group seems to have a perception more related to epistemological beliefs (see the category

Epistemological beliefs in Table 1) linked to their future career options. Given the difference in size

between the two groups (the group from the vocational high school has a greater number of answers, ten,

which means almost 30 % more than the group from the theoretical high schools), the relative weight of

the answers for the two categories (epistemological beliefs and enjoyment of History) seem to support

this finding. This might be the result of the fact that the latter group has many more options concerning

the future professional career than the group from the vocational high school, but these options are linked

to their assessed performance during their studies. Given the fact that the curricula of the two types of

high schools are supposed to have a different impact in terms of utility for the professional careers of the

graduates, the fact that the students have similar perceptions might indicate that, at least for some

subjects, student perceptions are strongly influenced by factors others than professional options, such as

teaching style, and the relation with the possible careers taken into consideration by the students.

In terms of the curriculum that is proposed to the students, the research demonstrates the need to

increase differences between the curricula for each type of High School in order to increase its relevance

in relation to the chosen educational trajectory of the students. It also shows that the relation between

assessment and learning is quite strong, and that grade-based evaluation can significantly change student

perception and attitudes towards a specific subject. Finally, it seems to indicate that the lack of a strong

link with the out-of-school experiences of students can alter their attitudes towards a school subject.

Further research, for example, case study and thinking aloud research has to be done to more

accurately point to the factors that make students appreciate a specific school subject. One possible

direction of research would be to use similar instruments for other school subjects. The differences

between student attitudes towards different subjects could help in better designing the curriculum.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants in the research: students from the National College Dimitrie Cantemir in Breaza (teacher: dr. A. Soare), the National Colleges George Coșbuc and Gheorghe Lazăr in Bucharest (teacher: A. Cârlan).

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