The attitude of low achievers towards school : a study of secondary schools in the district of Gombak

Abstract

A child’s experience at school is a strong factor that influences his behaviour and shapes his personality. Sadly though, statistics show an alarming increase in truancy and school dropouts. At the same time, cases of juvenile delinquency have also been observed to multiply. This study aimed to look at the school engagement or connectedness of students to their schools, particularly low achievers. It narrowed down to School Attitude, the psychological component of school engagement and looked at low achievers in particular, because generally low achievers are perceived by society as poorly engaged to the school. In reality, truants and dropouts are not necessarily low achievers. The method employed was a survey conducted at four randomly-selected secondary schools in Gombak and the analysis done was quantitative, with some supporting qualitative data. It was found that the School Attitude of the participants were mostly high and there was no significant differences of School Attitude by socio-economic status. However, significant differences were found among races, with the Chinese having lower School Attitude and also gender, with females having higher School Attitude. A negative correlation was also found between School Attitude and absenteeism. These findings suggest that Form Two low achievers in the district of Gombak generally have strong attachments to their teachers and schools and are psychologically engaged to their schools despite their academic disadvantages. Implications of these findings were discussed and recommendations were made.