RISULTATI RICERCA

Devising policies for education, culture and social services cannot but take into account the knowledge of the population’s characteristics as regards the possession of sets of basic skills. Not only must an allowance be made for average levels and scatter of measures referring to the skills assessed, but also for the differences existing in population strata established on the basis of age. This is what was done in a survey promoted by the Monitor on the population profile of the Republic of San Marino. The data obtained allow outlining a picture of the population characterised by a rapid transformation. Moving from the oldest stratum (66-75 years of age) to the youngest (26-35 years of age), we see an evident gradual transformation of cultural features owing to the increase in schooling and, to a much lesser degree, to the initial affirmation of adult education initiatives. However, there are also signals worth reflecting on: the competence levels do not change in line with the duration of education received in the first part of life. The research results were compared, where possible, with those obtained by the Oecd through the International Adult Literacy Survey (Ials), which saw the participation of many industrialised countries.

The article presents the results of a study carried out with 178 parents of fifth-grade pupils of the L. Tempesta state school in Lecce (Italy) within the Indire project Multicultural and Multilingual Schools 2004. Starting from the hypothesis that there is often high levels of subtle prejudice in the family which risks negatively and unconsciously conditioning children, the study aimed to assess the atmosphere, the social climate, that the children experienced in the home. The chosen survey instrument was the scale designed by Pettigrew and Meertens for measuring blatant and subtle prejudice. In its final version, the scale consists of 20 items and respondents must indicate how much they agree or disagree with each item by means of a Likert scale. It allows classifying respondents into three different categories: democratic, hidden and fanatical. The protocol was supplemented with an assessment of the academic qualification variable. The analysis of the whole sample showed a significant presence of democratic parents, for whom an inverse correlation was found between academic qualification and the two prejudice scales; a direct correlation was, however, found between academic qualification and the two prejudice scales for the fanatics category. This finding would suggest that a higher cultural level, instead of checking or restricting a prejudice attitude, actually exasperates it by amplifying and consolidating tendencies already present in the subject.

Student school performance can be related not only to cognitive aspects, but also to the whole set of habits, behaviours and values triggered in the school environment. These involve some heterogeneous components concerning the cognitive, subjective, cultural and linguistic spheres underlying student activity in class, particularly when dealing with reading and writing. The article shows how this theoretical approach focusing on the influence of students’ school and non-school socialisation habits may be useful in explaining the gap between results achieved by French students in the tests within the international Pisa survey focusing on reading comprehension skills. The analyses illustrated in the article largely confirm the hypothesis concerning the heterogeneity of the students assessed. The conclusions arrived at in the article concern various spheres: the Pisa study, the analysis of the task given to students, and the components of the gap in school performance.

The Reliability and Validity of the Grade Point Average as an Instrument for Selection to Higher Education (di Christina Wikström) - ABSTRACT: After an educational reform in the 1990s, all upper secondary programmes in Sweden, irrespective of their orientation, are to give students the basic requirements for higher education eligibility. The grade point average (GPA) is used for ranking students in the selection process. This study empirically investigates grading patterns in upper secondary schools. The purpose is to find out if some programmes are higher or lower grading than other programmes, and also if the course compositions of the various programmes affect the students’ GPA and hence their ranking. The analysis is based on data from all students graduating from Swedish upper secondary schools in 2002. The results show that students in vocationally oriented programmes are favoured, both by easy grading and by their program’s course composition, which affects their competitive strength in the process of selection to higher education.