RESUMO
One of the purposes of education is to help pupils develop a responsible attitude, which is understood to be the capacity to vouch for their actions appropriately and in a way that fits social norms. Training of this type should be intentional, planned, and personalized, which will depend on how developed the individual's social responsibility is. This in turn is influenced by personal and family variables. This article provides an analysis of the interaction of some of those variables with the development of social responsibility in primary education pupils as the basis for the design of programs to promote personal and social responsibility tailored to the features of the pupils. To do this, the Social Responsibility Attitudes Scale was applied to 502 pupils taking grades 2 (8 years old), 4 (10 years old), and 6 (12 years old) of primary education. This scale measures the following factors: (a) obedient in family settings, (b) polite and accepting their mistakes, (c) trust in their parents, (d) responsibility in school setting, (e) friendly and willing to help, and (f) careful of the environment. By carrying out a multivariate analysis with the school grade, gender, family type (single, two-parent), and position among siblings (firstborn, only child, or not firstborn), it was concluded that attitudes related to prosociality start to be differentiated from grade 4 of primary education. It is in grade 6 that children become aware of their responsibility, and this is greater among that from two-parent families. However, no significant differences were found in the level of social responsibility with regard to gender or position among siblings.
RESUMO
The performance of school children has been studied by considering partial relationships between several personal variables such as the link between cognition and motivation. However, contextual variables, such as a child's willingness to accept social responsibility, also influence students' social and academic performance. Thus, students with greater responsibility have a better attitude toward their studies, resulting in higher academic achievement. This 2-year study aims to reveal to what extent an intervention program affects student performance and is based on the Theory of Positive Action among young people proposed by Don Hellison and the Theory of Reasoned Action by Fishbein and Ajzen. The program focuses on positive influences on social and personal responsibility, taking into consideration parental styles, gender, and academic performance. The program was a part of the educational curricula in participating schools and it targeted four main areas: (a) teaching units using academic texts about social responsibility, (b) student training in mediation processes, (c) teacher training, and (d) family training and involvement. A total of 271 students took part from first and second year of Secondary Education (12-14 years old). The experimental group was made up of 132 students while the remaining 139 formed the control group. All participants completed the Assessment Scale of Social Responsibility Attitudes in Secondary Education and the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale. Results show that students in the experimental group performed significantly better than those in the control group. Additionally, the issue of social responsibility seems to be related to commitment, self-discipline and perseverance. Regarding gender, males appear to score higher in the factor for well-mannered, friendly and tidy. Finally, a positive relationship has been identified between social responsibility attitudes and parenting with an open communicational style. This paper discusses the results so that schools can include programs aimed at improving social and personal responsibility.
RESUMO
This study focuses on the analysis of the differences observed between students with different levels of academic performance in their social attitudes and personal responsibility towards study, according to various theories and models. Participants were 235 students from the third cycle of Primary Education (10-12 years old). They completed two attitude rating scales: (a) Assessment Scale of Social Responsibility Attitudes of Primary School Pupils (EARSA-P, Monsalvo, 2012b), consisting of 23 items grouped into six factors (obedience in the family, polite and accepting their mistakes, trust in their parents, responsible in school setting, friendly and willing to help and careful of their environment); and (b) Assessment Scale of General Attitudes towards Study E-1 (Morales, 2006), which consists of 15 items grouped into five dimensions (high aspirations, enjoyment of study, study organization, efforts to understand and desire to continue learning). We compared the levels of social responsibility and attitudes toward study according to the level of academic achievement, finding significant group differences in attitudes toward study and responsibility in terms of academic achievement
Este trabajo se centra en el análisis de las diferencias observadas entre alumnos de diferente nivel de rendimiento, en las actitudes de responsabilidad social y personales hacia el estudio, según diversas teorías y modelos. Han participado 235 alumnos de tercer ciclo de Educación Primaria, a los que se aplicaron dos escalas de evaluación de actitudes: (a) la Escala de Evaluación de las Actitudes de Responsabilidad Social del Alumnado de Educación Primaria (EARSA-P, Monsalvo, 2012b), formada por 23 ítems agrupados en seis factores (obediencia en el entorno familiar, educado y aceptación de sus errores, confianza en sus padres, responsable en el entorno escolar, amigable y dispuesto a la ayuda y cuidadoso con su medio ambiente); y (b) la Escala de Evaluación de Actitudes generales hacia el Estudio E-1 (Morales, 2006), formada por 15 ítems agrupados en cinco dimensiones (nivel alto de aspiraciones, gusto por el estudio, organización del estudio, esfuerzo por comprender y deseo de seguir aprendiendo). Se compararon los niveles de responsabilidad social y las actitudes hacia el estudio en función del grado de rendimiento académico, encontrando diferencias significativas en las actitudes hacia el estudio y en la responsabilidad entre los grupos en función del rendimiento académico
