Science knowledge and trust in medicine affect individuals’ behavior in pandemic crises

in European Journal of Psychology of Education (2022), (37), 279-292

Links between socio-emotional skills, behaviour, mathematics and literacy performance of preschool children in Serbia

in European Journal of Psychology of Education (2018)

Young children’s socio-emotional skills are important for understanding their own and other’s behaviours and interactions. No study in Serbia has investigated this before. In this study we explored the ... [more ▼]

Young children’s socio-emotional skills are important for understanding their own and other’s behaviours and interactions. No study in Serbia has investigated this before. In this study we explored the links between early socio-emotional skills, behaviour, and mathematics and literacy performance of preschool children in Serbia over time. Children (N = 159; 51% of girls) aged 5-8 were rated by the teachers on their socio-emotional skills and behaviour, and their mathematics and literacy assessed at three-time points over 14 months, twice in preschool and once at entry to school. At Time 3, when children entered school, their socio-emotional skills and behaviour were associated with gender, mathematics at Time 1 and their socio-emotional and behaviour ratings at Time 2, controlling for maternal education and literacy at Time 1. Mathematics at Time 3 was associated with mathematics at Time 2, controlling for gender, maternal education, literacy and behaviour at Time 1. No socio-emotional skills or specific behaviour were significant for mathematics. Literacy at Time 3 was associated with mathematics and social skills at Time 1, and literacy at Time 2, controlling for gender and maternal education. At all three times, girls were rated more positively than boys in socio-emotional skills and behaviour, except for adjustment to school setting where there were no differences. This study offers the first insight into the links between socio-emotional skills, behaviour and mathematics and literacy performance of preschool children in Serbia which will inform the development and evaluation of interventions. Attrition of the sample limits the findings. [less ▲]

Are school placement recommendations accurate? The effect of students’ ethnicity on teachers’ judgments and recognition memory.

in European Journal of Psychology of Education (2015), 30(2), 169-188

Educational research has provided evidence that racial and ethnic minority students are disadvantaged in today’s educational systems. Teachers’ stereotypical expectations are believed to contribute to ... [more ▼]

Educational research has provided evidence that racial and ethnic minority students are disadvantaged in today’s educational systems. Teachers’ stereotypical expectations are believed to contribute to these disadvantages because teachers make decisions about grades, special education, tracking, and school placement. Research so far has shown that teachers’ stereotypical expectations might lead to biased judgments, but the cognitive processes underlying those judgments are less clear. Using an experimental design, we investigated whether inservice and preservice teachers’ judgment accuracy depended on the ethnicity of the students. Moreover, in employing a recognition task, we were able to investigate the kinds of information teachers’ took into account about ethnic minority students when making school placement recommendations. In a sample of 64 inservice and preservice teachers, judgments were found to be less accurate for ethnic minority students than for ethnic majority students, and teachers felt less confident about the judgments they made for ethnic minority students. This lower accuracy of school placement recommendations involved recommendations of ethnic minority students to both higher and lower placements than could be justified academically. The recognition data revealed that under- and overestimation of ethnic minority students were due to a less accurate encoding of the information about ethnic minority students than about ethnic majority students and that grade information for ethnic minority students in particular was not strongly encoded. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for tracked systems and in terms of interventions that might have the potential to reduce stereotype application. [less ▲]

Situated trajectories of learning in vocational training interactions.

in European Journal of Psychology of Education (2008), XXIII(2), 213-233