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Star student links culture and fear of failure
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May 30, 2003
A perfect cumulative grade point average (4.0 out of 4.0 in graduate studies) was just one of the academic feats that earned Rob Klassen a Governor General’s gold medal this spring. The flurry of praise generated by the White Rock resident’s doctoral thesis in educational psychology also made judges take notice.
Klassen’s thesis demonstrated that cultural and developmental factors may play a much greater role in how youths view their self-efficacy (beliefs about capacity to succeed in a particular subject) than previously thought.
"Most research in education and psychology makes the tacit assumption that principles and theories on self-efficacy are universally applicable, regardless of cultural and developmental factors," notes Klassen. His work as a school psychologist during the last 10 years in Surrey and England made him curious about how cultural background impacts perceptions of individualism, collectivism and motivational beliefs, such as self-efficacy.
While still working full time, Klassen researched the individual and collective self-efficacy in mathematics of 300 Grade 7 students from Indo-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian backgrounds. He found that perceived parental expectations and fear of failure weighed more heavily in the Indo-Canadian group’s perception of self-efficacy than the other group’s.
Klassen’s research impressed his senior supervisor, SFU education professor Jack Martin, and his external examiner, Anita Woolfolk Hoy, a professor of philosophical, psychological and comparative studies at the Ohio State University. "Very few students fully grasp how to build a case for what is missing in the literature in a theoretically important area, then go on to propose a study that would address what is missing," says Woolfolk Hoy. "Klassen has done just that." Adds Martin, "I consider Rob one of the top three PhD students I have encountered in almost 30 years."
Klassen, a Burnaby Central Secondary school graduate, is currently examining the learning disability-related beliefs and practices of schoolteachers and psychologists in Western Australia. He has published four articles on his research.
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Contact
Rob Klassen, 011.61.8.9339.2021, klassen5@bigpond.com
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Klassen’s thesis demonstrated that cultural and developmental factors may play a much greater role in how youths view their self-efficacy (beliefs about capacity to succeed in a particular subject) than previously thought.
"Most research in education and psychology makes the tacit assumption that principles and theories on self-efficacy are universally applicable, regardless of cultural and developmental factors," notes Klassen. His work as a school psychologist during the last 10 years in Surrey and England made him curious about how cultural background impacts perceptions of individualism, collectivism and motivational beliefs, such as self-efficacy.
While still working full time, Klassen researched the individual and collective self-efficacy in mathematics of 300 Grade 7 students from Indo-Canadian and Anglo-Canadian backgrounds. He found that perceived parental expectations and fear of failure weighed more heavily in the Indo-Canadian group’s perception of self-efficacy than the other group’s.
Klassen’s research impressed his senior supervisor, SFU education professor Jack Martin, and his external examiner, Anita Woolfolk Hoy, a professor of philosophical, psychological and comparative studies at the Ohio State University. "Very few students fully grasp how to build a case for what is missing in the literature in a theoretically important area, then go on to propose a study that would address what is missing," says Woolfolk Hoy. "Klassen has done just that." Adds Martin, "I consider Rob one of the top three PhD students I have encountered in almost 30 years."
Klassen, a Burnaby Central Secondary school graduate, is currently examining the learning disability-related beliefs and practices of schoolteachers and psychologists in Western Australia. He has published four articles on his research.
—30—
Contact
Rob Klassen, 011.61.8.9339.2021, klassen5@bigpond.com
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR, 604.291.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca