Academic Achievements of High‐ability Students in Egalitarian Education: a study of able 16‐year‐old students in Norway

Abstract

Forty-three high-ability students were selected through tests of analytic ability at 10 and 12 years of age; school achievement data were collected when they graduated from middle school when they were 15-16 years old, and in the same year they answered a general-knowledge test and a questionnaire about their activities, attributions and self-evaluations regarding past and future achievements. The ability data showed small sex differences. Nevertheless, the 23 boys did better in most academic subjects; in mathematics 3-4 times as many boys as girls obtained top grades. Boys also excelled in general factual knowledge. Parents ' educational resources had a correlation of 0.60 with school achievement. Their academic achievements were related to the reported effort, work habits, attributions, and to the other self-evaluations. However, the superiority of boys in mathematics was not adequately explained. The quite similar superiority of boys in general factual knowledge is seen as being contra-indicative of basic cognitive processes explaining the mathematics difference and as supporting a socio-cultural interpretation. There is a need for in-depth studies of the sex differences in the effort expended in mathematics-related activities.

Social and personal predictors of test anxiety among Norwegian secondary and postsecondary students

“…Also, the determinants of test anxiety can be assumed to vary across cultures due to variations in cultural values, social structures, and the importance placed on individual academic success (Zeidner, 1998). In the current study, we investigated both social and personal predictors of test anxiety in the Norwegian educational and cultural context, which traditionally is known for prioritizing egalitarian values and placing relatively little emphasis on competition and individual distinction (Undheim, Nordvik, Gustafsson, and Undheim, 1995;Warner-Søderholm, 2012). Still, we assumed that personal beliefs and goals among students in upper-secondary and postsecondary education would mediate the effects of family expectation and gender on students' test anxiety.…”

Examining the Effects of Task Instructions to Induce Implicit Theories of Intelligence on a Rational Thinking Task

“…More specifically, in the context of the egalitarian Norwegian culture, with relatively little emphasis on competition and individual distinction within the educational system (Undheim et al, 1995), the entity instruction may have been perceived as less threatening than in a less egalitarian, more competitive context, such as the US educational system (for a similar interpretation, see Braasch et al, 2014).…”

“…More specifically, in the context of the egalitarian Norwegian culture, with relatively little emphasis on competition and individual distinction within the educational system (Undheim et al, 1995), the entity instruction may have been perceived as less threatening than in a less egalitarian, more competitive context, such as the US educational system (for a similar interpretation, see Braasch et al, 2014). Rather, in the Norwegian context, this instruction may simply have intrigued the male students and fueled their task engagement over and above what occurred with the two other instructions, having them strive harder and staying more focused to show that they could skillfully handle the challenge represented by the numerical problems.…”

“…Thus, investigating whether very brief, one-time task instructions that try to induce or prime mindsets about intelligence in a rather subtle way have the expected effects on Norwegian as well as US undergraduates’ performance on a rational thinking task substantially extends prior work in this area. With respect to potential cultural differences, it is conceivable, for example, that the great emphasis on egalitarian values within the Norwegian educational system and society at large (Undheim, Nordvik, Gustafsson, & Undheim, 1995; Warner-Søderholm, 2012) might make entity instructions less threatening for Norwegian than for US undergraduates.…”