ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the pupils’ general involvement in school, the way it relates to their social characteristics and to the type of school they attend. It presents the general involvement scale and describes the ways in which the scores on the scale are related to the pupils’ social class, sex, age and ability. The chapter deals with the relationships between the pupils’ scores on the scale and the type of school they attend. The schools are typified according to variations in certain key contextual variables including size and status, sex, age, social and ability compositions. The values implied in high involvement in school may have more relevance for middle-class pupils so that high involvement may be more often related to educationally successful behaviour. A possible explanation is basically a psycho-cultural one; that girls have traits which lead to higher school involvement.
