Component structure of academic adaptation at primary school age

Abstract

Modern education is characterized by the variability of forms and requirements, which necessitates the search for the ways of effective academic adaptation of students. The purpose of this study is to study and experimentally confirm the component structure of academic adaptation at primary school age. The study involved 80 primary schoolchildren of the municipal educational institution "Secondary school No. 59" in Saratov (RF) and 51 parents. To study the component structure of the academic adaptation, the authors' questionnaire and scales for parents and children were used to assess the motivational, emotional, cognitive, communicative, personal (regulatory), as well as psychophysiological components of academic adaptation. New scientific data were obtained on the relationship of the motivational component of academic adaptation (with cognitive r= 0.245, at p < 0.05), cognitive (with internal learning motivation, r= 0.529, at p <0.01), and personal (with cognitive r= 0.375, at p< 0.01). It was found that the most variable characteristic of the academic adaptation of primary schoolchildren is the arbitrariness of mental processes (σ = 0.9). As a result of factor analysis, 7 factors of academic adaptation were identified: "Consistency of self-esteem as a good student", "Orientation towards independence in studies and communication with peers", "Psychophysiological distress", "Avoiding school troubles based on emotional self-regulation and thinking through actions at school", "Striving to improve normative behavior at school", "Social success in school", "General emotional well-being at school". It is also shown that, in the views of parents, the mental stress of students is a positive factor in the academic adaptation of their children, while the students themselves experience a negative influence of this factor on the success of their adaptation. The results of the experimental study enabled to create the scientific basis for developing a technology of psychological and pedagogical support for the academic adaptation of primary school students, contributing to the successful inclusion of a child in the educational environment.