School: improving self-esteem by Gwénaëlle Joet
2006 Winner School: improving self-esteem
Born in 1977 in Villefranche-sur-Saône (Rhône), Gwénaëlle Joet is studying for a thesis in education research on “primary pupils’ self-esteem at school”, and in particular on their “feeling of self-efficiency”, that is to say their belief in their capacity to carry out a task. The latter can be very different from their true performance: good students can feel incapable of carrying out certain tasks set at school.
This approach to success or failure at school has been thoroughly researched in the United States; not so in France. There is therefore a long way to go. In the framework of this thesis, Gwénaëlle Joet will fill out questionnaires listing 80 items with 460 pupils in French and mathematics and this four times over!
The aim is to pinpoint the factors that influence the feeling of self-efficiency: school results, judgement from parents and teachers… “Hearing a child say that they are useless and will never be able do it, is intolerable”, explains the young researcher, “I hope that my thesis will enable to improve our understanding of the feeling of self-sufficiency and therefore encourage teaching practices to facilitate its development”.
