Um estudo longitudinal de trajetórias de desempenho escolar

Abstract

GARDINAL-PIZATO, E. C. A longitudinal study of school performance’s trajectories 2010. 301f. Tese (Doutorado) – – FFCLRP, Departamento de Psicologia e Educacao, Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Psicologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, 2010. Basic education constitutes a stage of construction of new friendships, and of development of specific academic skills. Since the time a child integrates its first school year/level, it is exposed to a new universe, where it faces rules and responsibilities, beyond those experienced in pre-school education. These challenges require a prior repertoire in order to surpass them, which pre-school education may help to construct. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of pre-school education on some of the children’s indicators of adjustment to basic education, as well as to verify possible compensating effects, when attending basic education, for early pre-school influences that may possibly be observed in the beginning of the third year. As predictors of academic results, included in the research, besides the variable attendance to pre-school, were the following variables: (a) child variables cognitive potential, social skills, behaviour problems, self-concept and level of school stress; (b) context variables – involvement of an adult family member in the child’s school life. The sample was composed of 294 participants of both sexes, pupils in five public basic education schools of a council in the State of Sao Paulo, which has approximately 23.000 inhabitants. The participants were divided into three groups: Group 0 – pupils without previous access to pre-school education; Group 1 – pupils with one year of pre-school attendance; group 2pupils with two years of pre-school. The children were evaluated in three stages: 3, 4 and 5 levels of basic education. The following instruments have been applied: Raven, School Performance Test, collective Pedagogic Evaluation, Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ – 1); Self Perception Profile for Children (SPPC); School Stressors Inventory, SSRSTeacher’s Formulary and Adult Family Member’s Involvement questionnaire. Psychometric quality analyses were tested in the scales used, and ANCOVA, MANOVA (repeated measures), and multiple linear regression were also applied. The ANCOVA results suggest that attending to pre-school contributes to better academic results, more developed social skills, less behaviour problems and higher self-concept, when the socioeconomic level is controlled. The repeated measures MANOVA shows significant progress over the years, in cognitive potential, in social skills and school performance as evaluated by the teacher and through a test (TDE), as well as improvement in internalizing behaviour problems; some measures of self-concept and collectively evaluated school performance show decrements as children go on to more advanced school levels.The advantage of pupils who attended pre-school persisted throughout the years in basic school. The effect of pre-school education was maintained in regression, along with other predictors, mainly social abilities of responsibility/cooperation, and family involvement; self-concept dimensions, cognitive potential, school level stress, and other social skills contributed to predicting some indicators, in a lesser degree. The pre-school had, therefore, a direct influence on subsequent school performance, besides the indirect influence presented through the strengthening of predictors such as social skills and cognitive potential. The progress observed through basic school does not compensate the initial disadvantage of pupils without access to pre-school education. Key-words: Pre-school Education. Transition. Basic Education. Academic Performance.