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Children left behind: self-confidence of pupils in competitive environments

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  • Miroslava Federičová
  • Filip Pertold
  • Michael L. Smith

Abstract

To sort pupils at the end of primary school, some early-tracking systems apply a mechanism that unwittingly divides classes into two groups: students preparing for exams to enter better schools and everyone else, who decide not to compete for selective schools. Utilizing TIMSS data and a follow-up study in the Czech Republic, we show that this environment has a detrimental effect on pupils’ self-confidence in mathematics, particularly among girls, who do not apply for selective schools but have peers in their classroom who do apply. Our results imply that gender gaps in self-confidence can result from school competitive environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Miroslava Federičová & Filip Pertold & Michael L. Smith, 2018. "Children left behind: self-confidence of pupils in competitive environments," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 145-160, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:26:y:2018:i:2:p:145-160
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2017.1395811
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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