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39Edukativno-savjetodavni centar “Auxilium” (u sklopu “PRONI” centra za omladinski razvoj) , Brčko , Bosnia and Herzegovina
NVO “Persona” & Psihologija – master program na PIM Univerzitetu , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
40PIM Univerzitet & NVO “Persona” Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Bosnia and Herzegovina
CEON/CEES , Belgrade , Serbia
A large number of students dislike school. Furthermore, a growing number of thinkers are criticizing conceptual, moral, and practical deficiencies of the current compulsory education paradigm (with an emphasis on the importance of freedom). However, systematic research on the structure of students’ attitudes about these fundamental issues is lacking. The goal of this research was to attempt and construct student attitudes about school questionnaire, considered from the point of view of such criticism. Research was conducted on a sample of 460 Brčko District high school students, with an average age of 16.55 (SD=1.02) years. First, 64 items measuring various aspects of (dis) satisfaction with school, teachers, and personal freedom in school were analyzed. After inadequate items removal, 29 remained. Parallel analysis suggested three factors, which were extracted using the exploratory factor analysis(EFA) and rotated with Promin rotation. Three factors explained 66.9% of shared variance and were named as follows: 1) Satisfaction with Teachers and School, 2) Dissatisfaction with the Compulsivity of School, and 3) Dissatisfaction with the Concept of School. Correlations between factors suggested a possibility of aggregating second and third factor, and potentially a hierarchical structure. This should be tested confirmatory, using new and larger sample. Based on a three-factor solution, multidimensional IRT analysis suggested mostly high or moderate item discrimination (“a”) on their primary factors and the same was also true for multidimensional discrimination (“MDISC”). The factors had good reliability (McDonald’s ω: .89, .89, and .84).There were significant differences on factor scores between school grades (years of school), as well as several meaningful correlations with other measures. While its structure has to be confirmed and proposed explanations of the findings have to be evaluated, this questionnaire contributes to better understanding of student attitudes towards school and to the constructive criticism of the current school paradigm.
Attitudes towards school, Compulsory education/schooling, Freedom in school, Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Multidimensional item response theory (MIRT)
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