Perceived traits as a factor of academic achievement in different groups of pupils
s: dr. Mojca Peček and dr. Ivan Čuk and dr. Irena Lesar

Summary:  This paper aims to determine the level of academic achievement and the traits that are perceived by teachers as the ones that explain the academic results of regular pupils, pupils with special needs, Roma pupils, children of immigrants from former Yugoslavia, and poor pupils. As a counterpart to poor pupils, children of wealthy parents were analyzed. Our research study shows that except the children of wealthy parents, all other researched groups of children posted lower academic results than regular pupils. The academic results of children from poor families are somewhat lower, but not statistically significantly lower, than that of children of immigrants from former Yugoslavia; the results of pupils with special needs are lower than those of poor pupils; and the academic results of Roma children are the lowest. The results of our study show that some traits that teachers perceive in pupils feature more prominently as traits that can determine the pupil’s academic results. However, these traits are not the same for all researched groups of pupils. Traits which explain the academic results of researched groups are mostly related to academic behavior, with the exception of regular pupils and children of immigrants from former Yugoslavia.

Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies is
published with support of Slovenian Research Agency.