11:05 - 11:55 : Individual Papers - Methodology

Lead author	Dave Putwain
Institution/organisation	Edge Hill University
Co-author(s)
Institution(s)/organisations
Title	The development of a scale to measure teachers' use of fear appeals in the classroom

Abstract

A large international literature has established how different aspects of classroom environment influence student learning and motivation, including the development of reliable instruments with which to measure classroom environments (Fraser, 1998). Two recent studies identified teachers' use of fear appeals as an important aspect of the classroom environment (Putwain, in press; Sprinkle et al., 2006), however at present there are no measures available. This paper describes the initial development of a measure of students' perceptions of teachers' use of fear appeals in the context of the GCSE examination (TFAQ). A construct validation approach was employed, the first stage of which is to define and measure constructs. Self-report items were developed on both theoretical models of anxiety (Endler, 1988; Zeidner, 1998) and empirical observations of how GCSE students perceive the use of teachers fear appeals (Putwain, in press). The questionnaire was completed by 200 GCSE students, sampled from 4 secondary schools, in Years 10 and 11 (the final two years of compulsory education). A principal components analysis extracted three factors with Eigen values > 1.00 accounting for 56% of the variance corresponding to threat, frequency and reassurance/ timing. No factors cross loaded at >.4, however only the first of these factors displayed an adequate reliability coefficient (a >.7). In conclusion, the first version of the TFAQ revealed a clear factor structure, but only one reliable scale. Refinement of this scale is clearly needed. The next stage of this project will be to review and rewrite items to improve reliability.

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Lead author	Jill McManus
Institution/organisation	Institute of Education, London
Co-author(s)
Institution(s)/organisations
Title	The perpetuation of early disadvantage through the use of KS2 data to group pupils by ability

Abstract

Background: This is based on a case study of a secondary school which until 2001 placed pupils in ability bands at the start of Year 7 according to their KS2 SATS scores and taught them in these bands for all subjects. Since 2003 pupils have been kept in mixed ability groups in all subjects in Year 7, with limited setting in subsequent years.

Aims: To consider the impact of grouping pupils by ability based on KS2 SATS scores.

Objectives:

• To use pupil data held by the school to explore the influence of a range of factors on attainment at key stage 2.
• To consider the progression of pupils from KS2 to KS3.

Methodology: Data from school records, which include attainment at KS2 and KS3, and a range of background information, have been analysed using SPSS. The sample consists of data for all pupils from the 2001 banded cohort and the 2003 mixed ability cohort.

Findings: For both cohorts, attainment at KS2 is affected by a range of factors.
For the 2001 banded cohort, lower band pupils make the least progress from KS2 to KS3 and top band pupils the most.
For the 2003 mixed ability cohort, progression from KS2 to KS3 is similar across the ability range.

Conclusion: Some pupils experience early educational or social disadvantage which can limit their attainment at KS2 and hence result in placement in a lower ability band. In this school pupils in lower bands made less progress from KS2 to KS3 than those in higher bands. This has the effect of increasing disparity in educational attainment and perpetuating early disadvantage.