ABSTRACT
During the last decade we have learned much about the psychological processes involved in learning, and this chapter will focus on two lines of research. Classroom teaching has direct effects on children’s educational achievement, their acquisition of literacy, numeracy and scientific knowledge. However, schools also influence children’s social cognitions and motivations and these psychological processes are as powerful in predicting later attainments as intelligence or curriculum. The indirect effects of schooling are more elusive because they concern children’s motivation to learn or avoid learning, their conception of themselves as learners, and the models they create for social life in classrooms. Cognitions and motivations acquired during school continue to shape individual development outside and beyond school. This chapter focuses on the ways pre-school and primary education shape psychological development, which in turn will influence educational outcomes.
