Rising above their circumstances: what makes some disadvantagedEast and South-East Asian students perform far better in science thantheir background predicts?

Abstract

The Programme for International Student Assessment, carried out every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development across a large number of countries and economies, have shown that socioeconomically disadvantaged students are almost three times more likely than advantaged students not to attain the baseline level of proficiency in science. Some of those disadvantage students beat the odds and perform better than expected according to their low socioeconomic background. They are called resilient students. Using data from 2015’s science-focused assessment and a logistic multilevel model analysis, this study examined the relationships between academic resilience and other non-cognitive skills measured by the assessment across seven East Asian countries and regions. Although there are significant disparities between the countries and regions, the results indicate that enjoyment and interest in science are positively related to science resilience. By contrast, when the student has an instrumental motivation for learning science (he or she is interested in science because it is useful for his or her career plans), the relationship is negative. This provides useful guidance for policymakers, educators, parents, and students on how to foster better Science results for students, and especially for disadvantaged students.