Methodological framework of research

The research objective was to reveal the character and factors

impacting the behaviour of students in relation to learning after completion

of learning process transformation in the Russian secondary school. The

research tasks were as follows: first, to determine the character of students’

behaviour in relation to learning; second, to reveal the character of their

interests towards learning and their impact on behaviour in relation to

learning; third, to build the probabilistic model of students’ academic

performance.

Parents of the students were the source of primary data for the

empiric research. The parents can give more conscious and objective

assessment to the condition of parameters reinforcing the learning process at

school, motives behind the students’ behaviour, the state of students’ interest

and their behaviour in relation to learning.

The research was initiated by the Sociological Department of the

Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. The researcher

responsible for undertaking a study is Yu.P. Averin. He developed a

questionnaire for the survey and a research sample frame. The questionnaire

consists of closed-type and open-type questions. A method of personal

questionnaire interview was used to examine 1500 parents of students of

secondary schools, lyceums and gymnasiums in 22 constituent entities of the

Russian Federation representing all social and economic regions. The

questionnaire survey was held in central and district towns of the constituent

entities of Russia in 2013. The sample was formed using a method of multistage

random sampling. At the first stage the constituent entities of the

Russian Federation were selected, at the second stage in addition to central

towns the district towns were selected and at the third stage schools were

selected in the district towns. At the fourth stage the classes were selected in

these schools. The survey covered parents of students of all grades - from the

first grade to the eleventh grade inclusive. The sampling error is within ±4%.

Findings and discussion

1. Behaviour of Students in Relation to Learning. A good

illustration of behaviour of students in relation to learning are the marks

received by the students. Approximately a half of the students (51.5%) get

fives and fours. Approximately every fifth student mainly gets threes and

twos (20.3%). These marks don’t depend on the level of income per one

family member and on the locality where the student’s family lives - a central

or district town. The students’ marks depend on their grade (the Spearmen

coefficient is equal to 0.146). The more senior is the grade, the lower is the

performance. The highest level of performance is typical for the first grade

(88.4% of students get fives and fours). It sharply drops down with

transition from the first grade to the senior grades. The lowest performance

is observed in the 5th grade (45.8%), in the 9th and in the 10th grades (circa

40%). The performance considerably improves in the 11th grade (49%). The

higher is the level of education of parents, the higher are the marks (the

Spearmen coefficient is equal to 0.221). An assumption can be made that

parents with the higher education pay more attention to the learning of their

children and link it to their future. A trend of declining performance of

students in transition from the 1st to the senior grades has a stable nature

"Behaviour of Students in Relation to Learning and Factors Shaping it

in the Modern Russia Conditions, which is evidenced by results of tests and sociological survey undertaken byFederal Service for Supervision in Education and Science (Rosobrnadzor) in 2015.

The actions reflecting the attitude of students towards learning are

expressed in the efforts they take to do the homework. The assessment of

parents shows that about one half of students do their homework at a good

level (54%), slightly less students (42.7%) do their homework at a medium

level. The results of parents’ assessment depend little on the place of

employment of parents, the family income and the locality of residence - the

central or district town. The quality of homework depends on the grade of

students. The more senior is the grade the lower is the quality of homework.

The biggest share of children who cope well their homework is in the 1st and

2nd grades (circa 63%). The smallest share of such students is in the 4th and 9th

grades (46.5% and 44% respectively). The reason is that in these grades the

tests get more complicated. These grades are transitional from elementary to

secondary school and from secondary to high school which is a cause why

tests get more complicated. In the 11th grade there are many more students

who cope well with the homework (59.6%). In this grade the students get

prepared for the Unified State Examination the results of which are crucial

for admission to the university and this makes them work harder. The higher

is the level of the parents’ education, the more children cope well with the

homework (the Spearmen coefficient is equal to 0.168).

The behaviour of students in relation to learning was also

investigated in the research by assessing their desire to make necessary efforts

to obtain the school knowledge. As an indicator for measuring this desire in

students a presence or absence of laziness as a reason for low marks at

school was used. Here we mean no desire to make efforts in order to obtain

school knowledge and get high marks. The absolute majority of parents

(60%) believe that one of the reasons of low marks at school is the laziness.

It is spread among all students and in all grades of the secondary school.

Consequently, such assessment has a general nature and relates to the

Russian school in general irrelevant of social group to which the family

belongs.

Thus in the Russian secondary school in general the students show

high performance - about one half of students get fives and fours and cope

well with the homework. Meanwhile there is a noticeable portion of students

who have low performance. For them learning does not represent to a

necessary extent an object for satisfaction of a need for knowledge. The

performance of students dramatically deteriorates with transition from the 1st

grade to more senior grades dropping down to the lowest level in the 9th and

10th grades. One of the major causes of low performance of students is their

laziness, no desire to make efforts for obtaining the school knowledge. The

performance is higher among children whose parents have the higher

education, as compared to those children whose parents have secondary

vocational and general secondary education.