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Secondary school pupils' perceptions of lifeskills : importance and competence
Author
Teo, Song Khuang
Supervisor
Lui, Elena Hah Wah
Abstract
This study sought to investigate pupils' perception of the importance of lifeskills to themselves and their self-perceived competence in these lifeskills. The problem in this study was to determine whether empirical data from pupils' perceptions support the topical contents of Anderson Secondary School's Personal and Social Education (PSE) Curriculum.
A 'Survey on Lifeskills' questionnaire developed by the researcher was used. This instrument had two six-point scales: a Perception of Importance (PoI) Scale and a Perception of Competence (PoC) Scale. Both scales had the same 86 items. Each scale comprised four lifeskill subscales: study (26 items), personal (22 items), interpersonal (28 items) and career (10 items). A Pilot Study was conducted to validate the instrument. After modifications, the Instrument for the Main Study was administered to the sample in the Main Study. Stratified random sampling was used to ensure that the composition of the sample for the Main Study reflected that of the target population which was the pupils of Anderson Secondary School in 1992.
From Cronbach's Alpha, item-total scale and item-subscale coefficients, subscale-total scale correlations and computation of test-retest reliabilities, the Instrument used in the Main Study was found to have high reliability.
Factor analyses of both the PoI and PoC Scales using the maximum-likelihood procedure (Nfactor = 4) revealed a generic dimension to lifeskills in both scales. At the same time, it was found that lifeskills could be empirically classified into study skill-dominant, personal skill-dominant, inter-personal skill-dominant and career skill-dominant clusters though the clusters were not clean-cut and overlapped each other to some extent. These findings implied that the school has greater flexibility in organising the topics of PSE in a variety of combinations.
Pupils were found to view lifeskills to be 'Important' and generally rated themselves as being 'Good' in them. Their perceptions of the importance of lifeskills were moderately correlated with their self-perceived competence in these skills.
There were some significant group differences in pupils' perceptions by gender and course but not by level or age. Girls' ratings for the importance of lifeskills were significantly higher than those of boys. Normal Course girls' ratings of their own competence in lifeskills were significantly higher than those of Express Course girls.
The finding that pupils rated lifeskills as important to them gives greater confidence that the school's effort to implement personal and social education was compatible with the areas that pupils view as significant in their lives. The fact that pupils viewed themselves as being 'Good' but not 'Excellent' in lifeskills suggest (though indirectly) that pupils knew they had room for improvement since they had not attained 'expert' levels of competence.
Though there were some significant differences in pupils' perceptions by gender and course, the differences do not imply a need for educational change in terms of the PSE curriculum design. The finding that there were no significant differences in the perceptions of pupils by level and age meant that it is not necessary to teach certain skills at a certain skills at a certain level or age.
Interestingly, several findings in this study were consistent with similar research done by Poole and Evans in Australia.
A 'Survey on Lifeskills' questionnaire developed by the researcher was used. This instrument had two six-point scales: a Perception of Importance (PoI) Scale and a Perception of Competence (PoC) Scale. Both scales had the same 86 items. Each scale comprised four lifeskill subscales: study (26 items), personal (22 items), interpersonal (28 items) and career (10 items). A Pilot Study was conducted to validate the instrument. After modifications, the Instrument for the Main Study was administered to the sample in the Main Study. Stratified random sampling was used to ensure that the composition of the sample for the Main Study reflected that of the target population which was the pupils of Anderson Secondary School in 1992.
From Cronbach's Alpha, item-total scale and item-subscale coefficients, subscale-total scale correlations and computation of test-retest reliabilities, the Instrument used in the Main Study was found to have high reliability.
Factor analyses of both the PoI and PoC Scales using the maximum-likelihood procedure (Nfactor = 4) revealed a generic dimension to lifeskills in both scales. At the same time, it was found that lifeskills could be empirically classified into study skill-dominant, personal skill-dominant, inter-personal skill-dominant and career skill-dominant clusters though the clusters were not clean-cut and overlapped each other to some extent. These findings implied that the school has greater flexibility in organising the topics of PSE in a variety of combinations.
Pupils were found to view lifeskills to be 'Important' and generally rated themselves as being 'Good' in them. Their perceptions of the importance of lifeskills were moderately correlated with their self-perceived competence in these skills.
There were some significant group differences in pupils' perceptions by gender and course but not by level or age. Girls' ratings for the importance of lifeskills were significantly higher than those of boys. Normal Course girls' ratings of their own competence in lifeskills were significantly higher than those of Express Course girls.
The finding that pupils rated lifeskills as important to them gives greater confidence that the school's effort to implement personal and social education was compatible with the areas that pupils view as significant in their lives. The fact that pupils viewed themselves as being 'Good' but not 'Excellent' in lifeskills suggest (though indirectly) that pupils knew they had room for improvement since they had not attained 'expert' levels of competence.
Though there were some significant differences in pupils' perceptions by gender and course, the differences do not imply a need for educational change in terms of the PSE curriculum design. The finding that there were no significant differences in the perceptions of pupils by level and age meant that it is not necessary to teach certain skills at a certain skills at a certain level or age.
Interestingly, several findings in this study were consistent with similar research done by Poole and Evans in Australia.
Date Issued
1995
Call Number
LC1035.8.S5 Teo
Date Submitted
1995