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That’s not fair! The effects of teacher justice and academic achievement on Self and Other’s resistant agency
Author(s) -
Mameli Consuelo,
Caricati Luca,
Molinari Luisa
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/bjep.12335
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , psychology , dissent , economic justice , academic achievement , social psychology , test (biology) , multilevel model , resistance (ecology) , mathematics education , pedagogy , sociology , political science , law , politics , social science , paleontology , ecology , machine learning , computer science , biology
Background Notwithstanding the emphasis on the idea that students should be actively and accountably engaged in their educational pathways, little research has investigated learners’ agentic behaviours that take the form of student resistance to adult authority. Aims This paper presents an experimental study aimed to assess whether, and to what extent, student Self and Other resistant agency depends on perceptions of teacher justice and student achievement. Methods Participants were asked to read one of four scenarios concerning a generic student asking for the possibility to retake a test she/he had previously failed, with an experimental design including two levels of teacher justice × 2 levels of academic achievement. Then, they answered two items regarding the likelihood of protest on the part of the student depicted in the scenario and enforced by themselves in having to deal with a similar situation. Results The multilevel analysis indicated a principal effect of justice and target, with resistant agency rated as more likely in the unjust condition and for the Other. The justice effect was further qualified by an interaction with the achievement level, with resistant agency higher in the unjust and low achievement condition. Finally, a three‐way interaction appeared, with Self resistant agency higher in the just and high achievement condition. Conclusions These results are discussed in terms of their implications for teacher practices, as they emphasize the importance just learning environments have in allowing students to express their opinions as well as dissent.