Structured role orientation and academic self-concept in the secondary school

Gordon's (1978) School Environment Preference Survey (SEPS) and Cohen's (1976) six-item adaptation of the Brookover (1967) Self-Concept of Academic Ability Scale were administered to 25 pupils in each of the first four years in a Scottish secondary school. The correlations obtained provide support for Gordon's (1971) hypothesis that pupils with a high degree of structured role orientation, as measured by the SEPS, lack confidence in their academic ability. In addition, there was a decrease in SEPS scores and an increase in academic self-concept over successive year levels.