Abstract

Student well-being has gained prominence on both the scientific and political agendas, as it is recognized as a crucial skill in addressing the economic, ecological, and social challenges of the 21st century. Relationships that students form with teachers and peers in the classroom are important for their academic, social, and emotional development. Building and maintaining positive relationships contributes to psychological growth and well-being. This article strives for a deeper understanding of the association between student well-being and classroom relationships from the students’ perspective. Mediation regression analysis was conducted between student well-being, teacher–student relationships, and student–student relationships to overcome limitations of prior studies using a unidimensional approach on student well-being and considering relationships in separate models. This study shows that both relationships are related to student well-being, however associations differ regarding different dimensions of student well-being and students’ individual factors such as gender, migration background, and socio-economic status. Providing a multi-dimensional approach on student well-being as well as taking both relationships into account adds to a profound understanding of processes in classrooms. Insights on these relations can help educators, schools and researchers develop strategies to foster relationships in the classroom and, in succession, enhance well-being in school.

Introduction

Adolescents are growing up in a rapidly changing world characterized by uncertainty, information overload, and competition. This increasing complexity and challenges may lead to anxiety disorders, mental health conditions, depressive symptoms, and a range of psychological and emotional disturbances (Green et al., 2012). Therefore, student well-being (StudWB) has advanced to the scientific and political agenda and is considered as an important skill that is crucial in facing the mentioned 21st century economical, ecological, and social challenges (OECD, 2018). Although recognizing the need to not only focus on students’ academic outcomes but also taking their well-being into account, research on StudWB is still diversified and a wide variety of definitions are applied in academic and policy circles (Diener et al., 2009; Dolan et al., 2008; Land et al., 2007; OECD, 2017; Seligman, 2011; UNESCO, 2016). To comprehensively address StudWB a multidimensional approach is needed considering both student’s subjective positive and negative experiences in school environment, including emotional, cognitive, and physical elements (Hascher, 2007).

Building and maintaining positive relationships fulfills a basic human need (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000) and contributes to psychological growth and well-being (Gunnell et al., 2013). Considering the substantial amount of adolescents’ time spent at school, it becomes apparent that teachers and peers assume a pivotal function in the attainment of social relatedness. Therefore, in the recent two decades increasing emphasis has been placed on teacher–student relationships (TSR) and student–student relationships (SSR) in understanding the complexity of interpersonal processes in the classroom and their multiple outcomes (Endedijk et al., 2021). In line with attachment theory, teachers are important attachment figures for young people (Beam et al., 2002), especially in adolescence when critical attitudes toward school and teaching increase (De Fraine et al., 2005; Eccles et al., 1991). By establishing close and low conflictual relationships with their students, teachers provide an environment for successful learning and StudWB (Hall-Lande et al., 2007; Hascher, 2003; Koomen & Jellesma, 2015; Roffey, 2015). Moreover, teachers can be referred to as the invisible hand (Farmer et al., 2011) determining the quality of SSR. The intricate dynamics of peer relationships within classroom environments are shaped not only by the interpersonal behaviors exhibited by students themselves but also by contextual factors set by the teachers and by the nuanced interactions with a specific student. Close peer relationships in a secure and fair school environment are consistently associated with StudWB (Hall-Lande et al., 2007; Hascher, 2003; Roffey, 2015). Despite the ongoing research on TSR and SSR, studies mainly disregard the simultaneous coexistence of both types of relationships within the classroom as well as individual student factors, such as gender, migration background, and socio-economic status (SES).

Conclusion

In the recent years, there has been a growing interest on researching StudWB driven by the recognition of its significance as a vital skill in addressing the 21the century challenges. Thus, investigating the interplay of StudWB and predictors such TSR, SSR and individual student factors holds importance in understanding StudWB and classroom processes. To our knowledge this is the first study that has examined the association among the three constructs by using a multidimensional approach on StudWB as well as considering TSR, SSR and StudWB in one mediation regression model. In conclusion, findings illustrate the importance of social relationships in the classroom for multiple dimensions of StudWB. Specifically, the current study contributes to the field by highlighting, that relations between StudWB, TSR, and SSR differ regarding different dimensions. Associations also vary regarding students’ gender, migration background and SES. Therefore, our study provides useful information for teachers and researchers to develop strategies and intervention to foster relationships in the classroom and enhancing student well-being.

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Education expansion in Vietnam

3. Literature review

4. Data and methodology

4.1. Data and variables

4.2. Empirical analysis

5. Results and discussions

5.1. The effect of the number of years of education on labor market returns as higher education expands

5.2. The effect of tertiary education on labor market returns as higher education expands

6. Discussion

7. Conclusion

Declaration of Competing Interest

References

Abstract

Expansion of education has effects on many aspects of society. There are debates around a possible change in the economic return to education as it expands and by that education may have become a positional good. This study uses Vietnam Household Living Standards Surveys (VHLSS) data over the period of 2002 to 2014 with a sample of 212,521 individuals to explore how educational expansion influences the strength of the relationship between education (its absolute and relative measures) and income. The instrument-free method was employed to minimize bias. Results suggest that as higher education expands, the effect of the absolute measure of the years of schooling on labor market outcomes does not differ, but the effect of its positional measure on these outcomes does. Likewise, as higher education expands, the effect of the absolute measure of higher education graduation on labor market outcomes does not vary, but the effect of its relative measure on these outcomes does. The findings support the positional theory of education, which predicts that the absolute level of education is not critical, but rather its level relative to that of other individuals.

1. Introduction

Examining the economic return to education has been given much attention for many decades. This attention has been focused on understanding the extent to which each additional year of schooling affects earnings or the extent to which the different credentials affect earnings. There is an extensive literature on the topic, whether on developed countries or developing ones (Barone & Ortiz, 2011; Ortiz & Kucel, 2008; Peet, Günther & Wafaie, 2015). In the last decades, many countries have gone through a process of educational expansion, mainly at tertiary education. Though scarce, studies are recently interested in unpacking mechanisms through which the strength of the return to education varies along with the expansion of education at the societal level. This research agenda has produced mixed results that have led to a debate on the topic. Some researchers argue that the return to education decreases as education expands because education has the status of a scarce good, and reduction of scarcity reduces its premium (Van de Werfhorst, 2011a; Dickson & Smith, 2011).

The impact of entrepreneurship education has received increasing attention in recent review studies [1–6]. Prior reviews have for the most part used a methodological rigour lens examining extant empirical studies on entrepreneurship education impact [2, 3, 7]. Consequently, entrepreneurship education researchers are aware of the methodological weaknesses pertinent to the extant literature and have recommendations as to how to overcome them. Yet, scholars have not been able to explain whether the teaching approaches and methods are adjusted to the various expected outcomes [8], particularly given the diversity and potential complexity of the entrepreneurial learning outcomes that educators might impact [9]. This study attempts to address this gap by asking how have the objectives, delivery modes, and impact assessment been aligned in empirical entrepreneurship education literature? It is customary to differentiate between a “narrow” and “wide” view on entrepreneurship in education. The narrow definition assumes that individuals should be encouraged to start up their own businesses, while the wide definition puts emphasis on making individuals more opportunity oriented, creative, self-reliant, proactive, and innovative [10]. The definition, that one adheres to, affects educational objectives, content design, target audience, teaching methods, and assessment procedures, leading to a vast variety of existing approaches [5]. In the context of this study, we support both views and define entrepreneurship education as a diverse and eclectic phenomenon. It implies that we study entrepreneurship education interventions that employ various curricula and teaching methods as well as outcomes. Consistent with Rideout and Gray [7], we conducted a literature review of relevant empirically based studies between 2000 and 2015 (we include articles published until January 1st 2016). Following Henry et al. [11], we performed a within-journal search. We targeted major entrepreneurship and small business journals and management journals and added two specific journals that widely publish on the topic of entrepreneurship education. We brought the concept of alignment into focus to examine identified empirical studies. In carrying out this research we applied a fundamental concept of effective instruction, instructional alignment, to the entrepreneurship education literature on impact assessment. The evaluation of impact is a key dimension of any teaching intervention and therefore requires to be taken into consideration at the intervention design stage [12]. Impact assessment allows for the evaluation of entrepreneurship education outcomes. As there is a stream of research concerned about the impact of entrepreneurship education in higher education [6, 7, 13], there is a need to analyse the current knowledge; thus our focus is on entrepreneurship education at the university level. We undertake a literature review of empirical impact studies according to the new analytical lens over a 15-year period. This paper contributes to extant entrepreneurship education literature by responding to the need for theory-driven frameworks to assess the impact of entrepreneurship education interventions (cf. [10, 12]). Our study should be of value to scholars researching the impact of heterogeneous entrepreneurship education practices and approaches on individuals.