In more competitive school environments, students from lower SES backgrounds report more positive self-views than their more advantaged peers, narrowing SES gaps in self-views¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Lower-SES students in the 69-country PISA 2018 sample had more positive self-views (self-efficacy and self-perceived ability) in more competitive environments, contrary to the widening hypothesis; the article prints no effect size for this finding. → Nathalie Aerts 2026

Evidence¶

Nathalie Aerts 2026¶

Nathalie Aerts, Thijs Bol, Eddie Brummelman. (2026). Competitive school environments and socioeconomic achievement inequality: A preregistered analysis of data from 69 countries. Learning and Instruction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2026.102414

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Preregistered secondary analysis of PISA 2018 data using three-level hierarchical linear models on the stated results. The article reports that students from lower SES backgrounds "had more positive self-views and performed better in more competitive environments"; no effect size for the self-views interaction is printed here.

"Contrary to our hypotheses, students from lower SES backgrounds had more positive self-views and performed better in more competitive environments, narrowing achievement gaps."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Academic Self-Concept — outcome: instruction changes it
• Socioeconomic Status — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• In more competitive school environments, lower-SES students perform better academically than their more advantaged peers, narrowing SES achievement gaps — related
• The moderating effects of school competitiveness on SES gaps were statistically significant but small in size — related
• Equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-average-ability schools (the BFLPE), with a cross-national effect size of 0.49 — related
• The BFLPE is one of the most robust findings in educational psychology, with negative school-average achievement effects on ASC in 181 of 191 PISA samples — related
• The manuscript reports that income inequality fosters competitiveness at school, as stated in its title. — related