Developpement des representations de l'ecole et du soi scolaire : etude longitudinale a la maternelle
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Abstract EN:
In the course of their various experiences with their environment, children store knowledge about objects, events and about themselves. These representations will be organized within their memories as categories and will entail the setting-up of concepts. During preschool years, children will so construct some school representations and an academic self-concept which could influence their school life. The problematics of this research are to bear out both a schematic organization or script of school representations allowing access to a beginning of taxonomic organization at the end of nursery school and the existence of a stable, realistic and multidimensional academic self-concept. Two groups of children are followed longitudinaly (2/3 to 3/4-year-old and 3/4 to 5/6-year-old). School script is studied through children's verbal answers to five questions. Academic self-concept is analyzed in two experimental conditions-verbal and nonverbal (concrete material) answers-and through six questions. Each of those six questions is presumed to reflect one defining dimension of this concept (level of abilities and participation in language and handwritting, general level of academic abilities and perception of teacher's evaluation). From the first year of nursery school, results indicate the existence, of school representations organized as a script, the main acts of which are "to work" and "to play". Moreover, we observe a process of abstraction leading to a progressive class-inclusion organization. For the academic self-concept, results attest a double global effect of the concrete material over children's answers. On the one hand, nonverbal self-evaluations are less positive and on the other hand, they seem relatively stable and realistic. At last, we notice that preschool children's academic self-concept is composed, a minimum, of the six considered dimensions and that these one are easily differenciated. So, children would have some advanced school and self representations as schoolboy (or schoolgirl) which should be taken into account by teachers, particularly if they proved to be a factor of prediction of the later academic success.
Abstract FR:
Au cours des diverses experiences avec leur environnement, les enfants accumulent des connaissances sur les objets, les evenements et sur eux-memes. Ces representations vont etre organisees en memoire sous forme de categories et vont permettre la formation de concepts. Durant leurs annees de scolarisation en maternelle, les enfants vont ainsi construire des representations de l'ecole et un concept de soi scolaire qui pourraient influencer leur vie d'ecolier. La problematique de cette recherche est de rendre compte a la fois d'une categorisation schematique de type script des representations de l'ecole permettant d'acceder a un debut d'organisation taxonomique en fin de maternelle et de l'existence d'un concept de soi scolaire stable, objectif et multidimensionnel. Deux cohortes d'enfants sont suivies longitudinalement (de 2/3 ans a 3/4 ans et de 3/4 ans a 5/6 ans). Le script de l'ecole est etudie par l'intermediaire des reponses verbales des enfants a cinq questions. Le concept de soi scolaire a ete analyse dans deux conditions experimentales - reponses verbales et non-verbales (materiel concret) - et au travers de six questions. Chacune d'entre elles est presumee refleter une dimension definitoire de ce concept (niveaux de competence et de participation en langage et en graphisme, niveau general de competence scolaire et perception du jugement de la maitresse). Les resultats obtenus indiquent l'existence des la premiere annee de maternelle de representations de l'ecole organisees sous forme de script dont les actes principaux sont "travailler" et "jouer". De plus, on observe un processus d'abstraction conduisant a une organisation inclusive progressive. Pour le concept de soi scolaire, les resultats attestent un double effet global du materiel concret sur les reponses des enfants. D'une part, les evaluations de soi non-verbales sont moins positives et d'autre part, elles apparaissent relativement stables et objectives. Enfin, on note que le concept de soi scolaire des enfants de maternelle est constitue, a minima, des six dimensions considerees et que celles-ci sont aisement differenciees. L'enfant aurait donc des representations precoces de l'ecole et de lui-meme en tant qu'ecolier qui devraient etre prises en consideration par le corps enseignant, notamment si elles se revelaient etre un facteur predictif de la reussite scolaire ulterieure.