Sivanes Phillipson

Academic Expectations, Belief of Ability, and Involvement by Parents as Predictors of Child Achievement: A cross‐cultural comparison

The aim of the present study was to test the hypotheses that parents’ academic expectations, their perception of children’s cognitive ability, and their degree of involvement at home and school would predict children’s academic achievement, and that there would be important differences in this achievement as a consequence of differences in culture. A sample of 158 parents of students from three primary schools (two Chinese and one of Anglo‐Celtic origin) in Hong Kong participated in this study. The three groups of parents differed in terms of both culture and socio‐economic status. Parents completed a questionnaire about their perceptions of their children’s memory ability, their involvement in their children’s activities, and expected and satisfactory scores for their children’s achievement in mathematics and language. Unstandardised achievement scores in mathematics and language were obtained from school records. Parents’ expected scores in these two subjects were found to be the consistent predictors of achievement for all children. Parental belief in children’s episodic memory and involvement at school were predictors of language achievement in one school.

Cultural Variability in Parent and Child Achievement Attributions: A Study from Hong Kong.

The primary aim of the present study was to investigate whether variations exist in child and parent attributions in predicting child academic achievement within a culture and between cultures. Participants were 158 students and their parents from three different primary schools in Hong Kong, including one British international school consisting of students who are predominantly from a British background and two Chinese public schools each with a distinct SES profile. This paper extends the findings of previous research whereby Western parents attribute their child’s success to ability and Chinese parents attribute their child’s success to effort. Additionally, this study found that the Chinese children’s attributions differed according to the SES catchments of their schools; children from higher SES were inclined to attribute success to effort. The results are discussed in terms of parent and child attributions’ prediction of child’s academic achievement within Hong Kong’s family demographic.

Context of academic achievement: lessons from Hong Kong

Vygotsky speculated that parents play an important role in the intellectual development of their children, and that this role includes the transfer of expectations related to their childrens academic achievement. Consequently, different parents can produce different contexts of academic achievement for their children. The participants were 215 Primary 5 and 6 students from four primary schools in Hong Kong, and their parents. Students were administered a test of working memory and their academic achievement was indicated by their school‐assessed mathematics and language achievement scores. Parents reported their expectations of their childrens academic achievement, the extent of their home and school involvement, and their educational and income levels. Correlational and sequential regression analyses showed that different schools yielded different contexts of academic achievement. The results support the hypothesis that parents, and especially parental expectations, play an important role in childrens academic achievement, and that within Hong Kong different schools can be characterised by different contexts of achievement.

Validation of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale for Children and Adolescents using Rasch analysis

OBJECTIVE A validated measure of daytime sleepiness for adolescents is needed to better explore emerging relationships between sleepiness and the mental and physical health of adolescents. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) is a widely used scale for daytime sleepiness in adults but contains references to alcohol and driving. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale for Children and Adolescents (ESS-CHAD) has been proposed as the official modified version of the ESS for children and adolescents. This study describes the psychometric analysis of the ESS-CHAD as a measure of daytime sleepiness for adolescents. METHODS The ESS-CHAD was completed by 297 adolescents, 12-18 years old, from two independent schools in Victoria, Australia. Exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis was conducted to determine the validity of the scale. RESULTS Exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis indicated that ESS-CHAD has internal validity and a unidimensional structure with good model fit. Rasch analysis of four subgroups based on gender and year-level were consistent with the overall results. The results were consistent with published ESS results, which strongly indicates that the changes to the scale do not affect the scales capacity to measure daytime sleepiness. CONCLUSIONS It is concluded that the ESS-CHAD is a reliable and internally valid measure of daytime sleepiness in adolescents 12-18 years old. Further studies are needed to establish the internal validity of the ESS-CHAD for children under 12 years, and to establish external validity and accurate cut-off points for children and adolescents.

Being Gifted in Hong Kong An Examination of the Region’s Policy for Gifted Education

In Hong Kong, a policy for the education of its gifted students has existed in its current form since 2000. However, the gifted education policy is yet to be evaluated, despite growing calls internationally and locally for increased accountability of public policy, including policies relating to gifted education. Using VanTassel-Baska’s five-component model of a high-quality gifted education policy as their conceptual framework, the authors analyze and evaluate the gifted education policy in Hong Kong by first collecting source materials related to the gifted education policy and conducting interviews with three key policy makers. A total of 75 documents and the interview data were subjected to content analysis and the findings indicate that the gifted education policy in Hong Kong has an additional component, which the authors term aims and objectives. Although the aims and objectives differ across the eight groups of beneficiaries, they are not explicitly stated. In addition, the policy neither reflects current research in giftedness nor is it mandated, highlighting possible areas that limit its effectiveness. It is concluded that a thorough update of the policy is warranted if it is to meet its stated aims and objectives.

Hong Kong parents and their children’s music training: measurement properties of the Parental Involvement in Music Training Questionnaire

Abstract Many Hong Kong-Chinese parents are active in their support for their children’s music training. To better understand this support, the Parental Involvement in Music Training Questionnaire (PIMTQ) is designed to measure the variability in parental involvement in their children’s music training. This study begins by exploring the factor structure of the PIMTQ and then establishes its measurement properties using Rasch modelling. Two hundred and ninety-five Hong Kong-Chinese parents completed a Chinese version of the 42-item instrument with principal components analysis of the responses showing seven factors. However, Rasch modelling showed that two of the five factors (Family Music Background and Family Music Interest) are unable to reliably predict variability in parent responses. We conclude, however, that the remaining five factors (Parental Support Toward Music Training, Parental Expectations, Home Music Environment, Music Programme Support and Attitude Toward Music) of the PIMTQ can be used as subscales to measure the involvement of Hong Kong-Chinese parents in their children’s music training.

Validation of the Family Educational and Learning Capitals Questionnaire: An Australian Perspective:

There is a growing recognition that parents play an important role in the academic achievement of their children. This role includes both the interactions they have with their children and the management of resources that can contribute to their children’s achievement. To better understand parents’ roles, it is important to understand their perceptions regarding the availability of these resources. This article reports the validation of the Family Educational and Learning Capitals Questionnaire (FELCQ), an instrument that measures parents’ perceptions of educational and learning resources. Based on the Actiotope Model of Giftedness, the FELCQ consists of five educational and five learning capitals plus parental aspirations for their children’s achievement. The responses of 1,917 Australian parents to the 53-item FELCQ were Rasch analyzed and the Rasch person estimates were utilized in a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the FELCQ as a valid measure of parents’ perceptions of the capitals. The results showed that the FELCQ reflects the underlying theoretical factor structure of the Actiotope Model, including the extension of the model to include parental aspirations as an educational capital for parents in relation to their children’s education. The implications and future use of the FELCQ are discussed.

Cultural variability in the educational and learning capitals of Australian families and its relationship with children’s numeracy outcomes

This article explored the variability of parental educational mind-sets among Australian parents toward the accessible educational and learning capitals that may affect their children’s educational achievement. The participants (N = 1,917) responded to the Family Educational and Learning Capitals Questionnaire as well as their ethnic identity. Parents also reported their children’s numeracy scores in a standardized test of achievement. Six major groups were adequate for statistical analysis, including Australians, British, Chinese, Indian, Other Asian, and Other European. A multiple comparison analysis was performed on the responses by parents from the six ethnic groups to examine the differences in parent responses to access to capitals. Controlled for ethnic groups, stepwise regression analysis showed which capitals predicted numeracy achievement of their children. The results indicated that within this sample of Australian parents, there is variability across different ethnic groups in what is considered important in their children’s educational achievement and this variability is associated with differences in numeracy outcomes.

Attitudes of pre-service physical education teachers to healthism: Development and validation of the attitude towards healthism scale (ATHS)

Healthism is both an ideological and a regulative discourse that manifests as a tendency to conceive health as a product of individual choice. Healthism represents a collection of taken-for-granted assumptions, positioned at the intersection of morality, blame and health, that can lead to a privileging of ‘healthy’ and ‘productive’ individuals. It is argued that healthism is a key issue for physical educators and a significant focus for research. The validation of a scale – the Attitude Towards Healthism Scale (ATHS) – that seeks to quantify pre-service physical education teachers’ attitudes towards healthism is described. Participants were 201 pre-service teachers undertaking a Bachelor of Education degree in Australia. The factor structure of the initial 17-item scale was determined using an exploratory factor analysis followed by Rasch modelling and, lastly, confirmatory factor analysis. Initial exploratory factor analysis supported a unidimensional measure of healthism. Further Rasch modelling suggested that a refined 15-item ATHS scale functioned more effectively as two sub-scales that combined to provide a valid and reliable method of measuring the ideology of healthism. It is suggested that the ATHS will enable teacher educators and PSTs to discuss healthism with reference to attitudinal data, and examine how views change over time.

Time for reflection on maternal child health assessments in Australia: making a case for a three-way partnership

Within Victoria, Australia, although there are a number of health checks for children aged birth to 3.5 years, there are none between the age 3.5-5 years. This means children may not be identified to receive the necessary support for their development prior to starting school. Better ways of intervention are needed before children start school, given that there are limited opportunities for checks prior to starting school. This paper reports on an innovative project implementing a preschool health check by a maternal child health nurse and educator at a kindergarten in Victoria, Australia. Using a narrative informed case study involving the nurse, educator and 12 families of 3-5 year old kindergarten children, the results illustrate how the nurse and educator collaborative work on preschool health check is an important initiative for continuously involving families in extra health checks. The findings are discussed around the importance and benefits of introduction of the health check and how families support such an initiative. The paper concludes with acall for reflection on the implementation and effectiveness of child health checks in Victoria.