In her groundbreaking work, Sarah Hofer researched the overlap between educational inequality, children’s self-perceptions, and academic outcomes. Years of research later, she continues to shine a light on these crucial factors and how they may affect any child walking into their classroom and sitting down. Sarah’s work forces our attention on the fact that these educational inequalities often begin with the lens through which children perceive themselves, a lens invariably shaped by the socioeconomic status of the family.
According to the recent interview of Sarah Hofer by Annie Brookman-Byrne for the podcast Becoming, an understanding of these linkages is critical for providing insight into programs that might ameliorate the impact of educational inequality.
The Root of Educational Inequality: Self-Perception and Socioeconomic Status
Education is a powerful tool for sculpting the future of a child. But the very children who need it most often do not have equal access to a quality education. Considerable obstacles confront children from disadvantaged backgrounds, ranging from fewer resources to inadequate encouragement and expectations from the environment. Such scattered barriers affect the learning habits of children directly, contributing to inequalities being renewed by poor academic performance.
Hofer’s research focuses on a psychological angle to these disparities, especially on how children’s self-appraisals affect their academic outcomes directly. In her latest study, Hofer and colleagues analyzed how self-perceptions (including those related to one’s belief in their own abilities, confidence in success, and attitudes toward learning) relate to performance in reading.
In a study covering 70 countries, Hofer and her team were able to identify five principal domains of self-perception:
Belief in one’s abilities; Confidence in success; Attitude towards learning and improvement; Sense of belonging; Fear of failure.
The comparison between these self-perceptions and the children’s reading abilities provided a compelling pattern that self-views among children are significantly correlated with academic achievement and that these self-views are affected by the socioeconomic status of their families. Interestingly, the study mentioned that children with strong self-perceptions tended to perform better, regardless of whether they were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
This was one of the most fascinating things to emerge from the research: That strong belief in oneself was somehow more important than anything else. The confident children were more likely to succeed, especially in highly socially mobile countries. In such places, the belief itself acted as a strong impetus for academic achievement, spurring even children from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed. In contrast, in countries whose social structures present fewer opportunities for advancement, children from low-income families gain less from this self-belief.
Increasing Self-Confidence as a Counter to Educational Inequities
What can we then do to improve these self-appraisals and reduce the educational inequalities they give rise to? Sarah Hofer holds that a belief in the eventual ability of children to nurture confidence is crucial to bridging the achievement gap. One of the more significant ways of enhancing the confidence of children would be individualized learning opportunities. Nurturing each child’s strengths but also forging opportunities for learning in areas requiring improvement ensures a confident learning experience for children. The cycle keeps on, as these accomplishments motivate children to learn even more and develop a sense of competence and agency.
Incentives also foster an atmosphere where effort, mechanism, and persistence are more appreciated than innate talent. Interventions that encourage teachers and parents to praise these qualities make an extraordinary impact on resilience and self-esteem, according to Hofer. When children see that effort leads to progress, they’ll start viewing mistakes, not as failure, but as lessons to build and improve on-a growth mindset.
Further, parents and teachers can strengthen children’s beliefs about their capabilities by celebrating every achievement the child has earned, no matter how small, and assisting the child in reflecting on his or her strengths. Hofer posits that encouraging such children to assess their personal values and successes, especially at moments when they feel stereotyped or marginalized, can offer these children much-needed help in restoring their self-worth.
Tackling the Bigger Picture: Structural Changes for Lasting Impact
While boosting self-esteem is a strong tool, Hofer insists it is not the only answer to combat educational inequality. The structural barriers preventing children from disadvantaged backgrounds from equally competing must also be addressed. These include insufficient access to educational resources, bad housing conditions, and inequality outside the classroom. These factors increase the myriad challenges children face and set into motion a socially constructed cycle, one that is difficult to undo.
For any meaningful change in society to be realized, it is for these public policymakers to think with regard to structural inequalities embedded in education. Teachers and parents must oppose negative perspectives of children from low-income families, says Hofer. We must acknowledge the challenges these children face and help them with customized, strengths-based interventions that begin the process of dismantling the barriers to their success. Wherever they may be, children who are poor or from isolated social backgrounds face barriers that must be dismantled.
Education as Designed by Persons
Another astonishing finding that Hofer made in the course of her research into educational inequality was that disadvantage children do not constitute a single, homogeneous group. Variations become significant between individual disadvantaging learners; therefore, nothing universal is going to work. Instead, it’s better to center on resources with the person-centered approach proposed by Hofer, which promotes discussing the specific resources and strengths available to that child.
This approach calls for an attitude change: that is, viewing disadvantage children not in terms of lacking resources but instead focusing on the singular qualities and strengths of each child. By collecting and analyzing an array of data pertaining to the needs and capabilities of each child, the educational system can design better interventions, keeping in mind that every child gets to define success on their own terms.
By continuing to put her effort towards this work, Sarah Hofer looks forward to the possibilities ahead for understanding the development of self-perceptions of temporal aspect and their implications for academic success. In her future studies, she hopes to follow a cohort of children over a longer period of time, starting from elementary school age on up, to gain deeper insights on how self-views change over time and are tied to achievement.
In her work, Sarah Hofer teaches us to look at how one can address educational inequalities. By fostering children’s self-efficacy, promoting personalized learning, and working to address the underlying pressing issues facing all children-from the most privileged to the most disadvantaged-held back from realizing their full potential.
