A Test of the Big Fish in a Little Pond Hypothesis: An Investigation into the Feelings of Seven-Year-Old Pupils in School

Tymms, P.

Abstract

The feelings (self-concepts and attitudes) toward maths, reading and school of 21,000 seven-year-olds in England were investigated using multi-variate multi-level models. The most important explanatory variables were the teacher and the academic level of the pupils supporting the view that it is important to track attitudes in any monitoring system. Data are presented to support the Big Fish in a Little Pond hypothesis and estimates were also made of importance of sex, age, home background and first language to the attitudes of pupils in school.

Citation

Tymms, P. (2001). A Test of the Big Fish in a Little Pond Hypothesis: An Investigation into the Feelings of Seven-Year-Old Pupils in School. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 12(2), 161-181. https://doi.org/10.1076/sesi.12.2.161.3452

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2001
• Deposit Date: Jan 10, 2007
• Journal: School Effectiveness and School Improvement
• Print ISSN: 0924-3453
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-5124
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 161-181
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1076/sesi.12.2.161.3452
• Keywords: Self-concepts, Attitudes, Monitoring.