Intellectual And School Status Of Pupils At Compulsory Schools Attendance

Development of cognitive processes

The development of the cognition area is in the signs of the child’s increasing activity. Children are not comfortable with passive reception of information; they want to be part of everything, understand the context, get to know the nature of objects and phenomenons. In this view, children as pupils are attentive, persistent and systematic. Cognitive processes are slightly connected with emotions. Perception becomes a purposeful act. The increasing ability of analysis and differentiation allows a higher quality of perception. During this developmental stage, the child moves from specific perception to more general perception and at roughly about 10 – 11 years, the perception is almost the same as an adult’s perception. However, the child has less experience for sorting information and making connections. Imagination takes precedence at this stage. The child can differ between reality and fantasy and even more is becoming familiar with the reality of life. Fantasy is slightly limited by reality, by the effect of school-work, deliberate and intentional imagination is developed. The ability of operating with ideas precedes the ability of operating with concepts. Unintentional or mechanical memory dominates at the beginning of compulsory school attendance and it is connected with perception. Nevertheless, memory is improving. Intentional memorization, rationality and logical judgement is used even more. The child is using intentional memory strategies and connects different types of memory.

The dominant role for pupils is the development of attention, which affects the quality of other cognitive processes and subsequently, school achievement. At the beginning of compulsory school attendance, attention is short-timed and spontaneously aimed; excitement dominates and children are unable to resist disturbing influences. Attention, controlled by will, is very demanding and is higly influenced by the organization of teaching, because children do not have created autoregulative mechanisms. With lower school age, tasks should be short and motivation more frequent. The development of thinking is strongly affected by school activity and the personality of the teacher. The child as pupil gradually acquires the ability of logical operations preferring cognition and verification of the reality. According to Piaget (1970) this stage is the stadium of specific logical operations. Visual aids are very benefitial for the teacher at the beginning of the compulsory school attendance as the pupil can connect intellectual processes and thought processes at the level of specific logical operations creating an integrated system. The pupil’s performances are dependent on motivation, appropriateness of the task and other factors. In general, younger pupils are able to work on the illustrative level of objects. Thought processes differ from perception and become relatively separate process. With focused processes, it is possible to develop logical thinking. Cognition at this age is becoming more objective and more precise. At the early school age, the pupil can abandon his/her subjective egocentric view and we can say that his/her attitude is realistic. Logical operations allow the pupil to understand the variability of reality. According to Vágnerová (1999), development of thinking leads to the ability of operating with symbols and signs, which is the prerequisite for reading, writing and calculing. At roughly about 8 years, the understanding of time increases. Generally, children of this age can sort events, tell time, and understand daily or weekly rhythms, seasons and so on. At this age, the image of causality is also changing. According to Vágnerová (1999), the development of metacognition should not be neglected. Metacognition is the ability of thinking about own’s perception and the ability of using feedback. Motivation for a good performace has to come from external sources (praise, a good grade, smile, touch, etc.). On the other hand, some studies (Langmeier, Krejčířová, 1998) show that power motivation itself is a sign of a child’s intelligence.

Emotional and social development

Emotional stability and social adroitness are very important characteristics for useful school adaptation and success. At the early school age, lability and impulsiveness is the typical retreat of the child. The child is able to repress or show emotions taking into account the expectations of the environment (Langmeier, Krejčířová, 1998). At this stage, the ability of emotional understanding is increasing as well as the understaning of ambivalent emotions. There are significant differences among pupils related to emotional satisfaction in early childhood. This stadium is also characterised by emotional influencability. This emotional aspect has a crucial impact on success rate and subjective satisfaction of children. Emotional development and the gradual ability of self-knowledge highlight the relationship with cognitive development. Higher emotions (social, esthetic, athical and intellectual) start to develop. The school has relatively strict rules, and the child is exposed to many expectations at school. If the child behaves according to this expectation, he/she is rewared. The respect of norms is motivated by the need of fulfilling social expectations (Vágnerová, 1999). Moral development is strongly affected by educational process and interactions among family members. The child is strongly tied to its family and absorbs family’s value system and attitudes. Teachers’ authority does not play as important a role as parental authority. The difference in parental and teachers’ attitudes can created emotional problems for the child. The child loses its grip on certainty and safety with the new social role; as a school child. During this stage, evaluation and norms of peers start to become important for the child. In the area of self-concept positive self-evaluation is important, which is vital for overall health and emotional performance. Self-perceptions, and its derivates such as self-concept, self-esteem, or self-worth, influence psychosocial well-being. (Piek et al., 2005; Rose, Larkin &Berger, 1997; Schoemaker & Kalverboer, 1994; Skinner & Piek, 2001). Marsh (1989; 2007b; Marsh, Craven & Debus, 1991) proposed that the self-concepts of very young children are consistently high but that with increasing life experience, children learn their relative strengths and weaknesses, so that mean levels of self-concept decline, multiple dimensions of self-concept become more differentiated, and self-concepts become more highly correlated with external indicators of competence (e.g. skills, accomplishments, and self-concepts inferred by significant others). The natural acceptance of the child in the family is also important. Parents are strong identification idols, interaction between parents is also a model for mutual relationships between men and women. In accordance with current children’s development as an active person, some authors of new studies confirm that the child is socialized not only from outside (parents, siblings, peers, teachers, etc.) but also by the child partially socializing itself (self-socialization) (Langmeier & Krejčířová; 1998). The child creates a certain “theory about itself” which is consequently the basis for its own identity development. The subjective feeling of success or failure at school becomes important. School offers new experiences which may or may not concur with the child’s existing self-image. Consistent failure is highly dangerous in terms of the threat to the child’s “self” as the child could easily experience feelings of inferiority, helplessness and anxiety. The feeling of success or failure that the child is forming during the early school age stabilises roughly from the 4th to 6th grade.

The period of early school can be marked as a period of extravagancy, collective life and relationships. The child forms new relationships with peers and learns how to cooperate and compete. At the beginning of compulsory school attendance, the child is more focused on his/her own success and later, considers also school-collectiveness and tries to develop friendships. A group of children at the beginning is less differenced, but later lasting friendships appear and the whole group becomes differenciated. Boys and girls’ groups are very dissimilar at this age. Boys tend to be more active, have more intensive reactions and are able to swich from activity to another. In contrast to girls, boys are less resistent against disturbing influences, are less obedient and so on. The relationship with teachers is non-critical. Vágnerová (1997) states that teachers’ attitude towards children is gradually becoming fixed, resulting in formation of a stereotypes in many cases. The separation of “problematic” pupils become frequent, which later works as social stigmatization. According to Vágnerová (1997) it is to define recurring mistakes in pupils’ manifestation based on teacher’s typology: An authoritative teacher requires compliance of all norms, is untolerant against any misbehaviour, does not want child’s individual manifestation and requires mainly fulfillment of duties. Additionally, an uncertain teacher limits the variability of the child’s actions while a temperamental teacher usually does not have enough patience to understand more active children. An older, tired teacher is little tolerant of any disturbing behaviour and tends to inflexibility.

The main activity of early school-child is learning and working and fulfilling given tasks. Games are very important for the healthy development of personality. Games at this stage are more differentiated. Among the favourites are constructive games, physical, competitive and social games with more complicated rules. Compared to girls’ games, boys’ games are more original and creative and also louder, aggressive, preferring more open spaces. Games are irreplaceable relaxation and natural abreaction from school tasks. While games can be used directly in school especially for younger children, older children appreciate it as a friendly working atmosphere. Games play disgnostic and therapeutic function too. In early school age, participation in hobbies can be seen. Successful self-realization through participation in hobbies develops and enriches the personality and could be appropriate compensation for academic failures. The possibility of self-realization is an integral part of human life.

Is there a relationship between intellectual scores and school status and the level of anxiety in early school aged children?

Does a gender difference exist in the level of anxiety in early school aged children?

Does a gender difference exist in intellectual scores and school status in early school aged children?

Research group

300 pupils from lower level of primary school (151 girls, 149 boys) formed the research sample. The average age of the sample was 9.90±1.03 years (girls 9.67±1.00, boys 9.71±1.05). No child was handicapped. The project was realized from March to May 2017 in primary schools in the Czech Republic. The research was approved by Ethical Committee of author’s institution (N 03/17). Legal representatives (children’s parents) were informed about the aims, methods and process of research before the start of the research. The anonymity of obtained data was declared and all questions about the research were answered by researcher. Possible questions from children were answered adequately to their age. The participation in the research was voluntary, without reward and no benefits for participants. The sample could interrupt or stop participating anytime during the research. After the legal representatives confirmed the participation of their children in the research, the research commenced. Obtained data were processed anonymously Data was obtained for the project IGA_PdF_2017_002.

Research methods and techniques

Data about intellectual and school status and freedom from anxiety were collected using the standardized questionnaire Piers-Harris Children ´s Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers & Herzberg, 2009). The sample were divided based on their T-score into categories. In the intellectual and school status, falling into. Category I (high score (≥56T)) are children who are sure about their intellectual abilities and also in school tasks like reading, ansqering questions and performance in front of classmates. Falling into Category II (average score (40–55T)) are children who think that they reach acceptable school results, but admit certain difficulties. Falling into Category III (Low score (≤39T)) are children who admit that they have problems during school tasks. Falling into Category IV (very low score (≤29T)) are children who have specific learning or attention disorders. Freedom from anxiety is categorised as Category 1 (high score - ≥56T) which has children who hardly experience feelings of sadness, nervousness, fears or unpleasant moods. They also are satisfied with their looks, social environment and other personal values. In Category 2 (average score - 40–55T) are children who usually experience positive emotional states but admit certain difficulties in terms of moods. In Category 3 (low scores - ≤39T) are children who admit to serious problems with dysforic moods. These children do feel anxiety connected to certain school tasks (writing tests, assessed in front of the class, etc.). In Category 4 were children who scored very low score (- ≤29T)

Statistical analysis

Basic statistical values about the sample (number and age of girls and boys) were expressed using average number and standard derivation number. Self-concept factors scores were assessed based on current methodology (Piers & Herzberg, 2009). The relationship between the intellectual level and school status and the level of anxiety was analysed by prostřednictvím χ2. For gender differences in the level of anxiety Mann Whitney U test. The level of significance was established at p<0.05. Data were processed STATISTICA, version 13.0 (StatSoft).