Revisiting individualism and collectivism: a multinational examination of pre-service teachers’ perceptions on student academic performances

Abstract

This study explores how pre-service teachers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States perceive educational diversity in relation to students’ academic achievement by means of qualitative content analysis. It takes cultural psychological perspectives to revisit the attribute reasoning embedded in individualist and collectivist orientations. Pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore are found to attribute academic failure of low social economic status (SES) students to personal factors, such as individual effort, intelligence, and motivation. Pre-service teachers from the United States tend to attribute academic failure of low SES students to situational factors, such as family, school, and community.