PREDICTING STUDENT'S SELF-COMPETENCE USING SCHOOL CULTURE FACTORS

Numerous studies in educational psychology field investigate academic achievement as well as factors influencing it. Generally, these studies are addressed to cognitive factors but non-cognitive factors, also play an important role in academic success. Presented paper deals with identification the factors associated to students' self-competence, specifically, sense of success and happiness. 224 public schools 9th grade (age 15-16) 5385 students (2655 girls and 2683 boys) were administered with the questionnaire consisted of several blocks: parents involvement in school life, class climate and school culture. Result shows that the best predictors for sense of success in school environment are: parent involvement in academic life, parent learning attitudes, their belief of child's success coping with academic problems, teaching style of teacher, specifically, problem based teaching. The best predictors for student sense of happiness are: student's self-perception of dealing with problem and involvement in learning processes. The study has implication for school teachers and experts of educational psychology.