Browsing by Subject "profiilianalyysi"

Introduction: The goal of this study was to identify profiles regarding the socio-emotional skills among 8th grade Finnish students during COVID-19. Further, this study examined how students’ profiles differed in terms of school engagement. The research is part of the Bridging the Gaps research project, which aims to find ways to develop the school through collaboration between researchers and practitioners. Identifying the factors that can support school engagement is important as school engagement is related to wider well-being and can prevent school dropout. The study used OECD framework to identify socio-emotional skills. It examined four key socio-emotional skills: grit, curiosity, academic buoyancy and belonginess. According to the demand-resource model, it was assumed that school engagement can be promoted with school-related resources. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that socio-emotional skills are personal resources that reinforce school engagement. Methods. The data were collected in fall 2020 from 1364 8th grade students (of which 40.0% females, 37.9% males and 1.9% non-binary) from Helsinki metropolitan area. First, the latent profiles were identified using Two step -cluster analysis. Then, the differences between profiles in terms of gender and school engagement were examined by one-way analysis of variance. Results. Four socio-emotional profiles were identified: Low skills (26.8 %), High academic buoyancy and high belonginess (30.1%), High girt, high curiosity and high belonginess (22.7 %), and High skills (20.4 %) profiles. The profiles varied by gender, with a higher proportion of boys in the High skills profile and a higher proportion of girls in the Low skills profile. The profiles explained 22% of the variation in school engagement among 8th graders during COVID-19. The students in the High socio-emotional skills profile had the highest amount of school engagement and the students in the Low socio-emotional skills profile had the lowest amount of school engagement. These findings imply that supporting socio-emotional skills can promote school engagement among adolescents.