School and community effects on pro-social behaviour
This project will be undertaken during 2006 and 2007.
For more information on this project, please contact Leon Feinstein.
Through examining this topic, WBL hopes to increase knowledge on the determinants of pro-social behaviour, in particular on community, class-room and school effects and the interactions between them. This project will provide a basis for the evaluation of these key wider benefits of learning. We will also consider the importance for these outcomes of links and interactions between schools and communities.
This project will have implications for debates about school selection policies and segregation. School peer groups will be amongst the key non-family determinants of pro-social behaviour and so the magnitude and distribution of the estimated effect will add to the literature on the optimal allocations of pupils to schools.
The study provides a multi-level analysis of school and area effects on aspects of child development and behaviour that are important for community capital and social cohesion. They are also key factors in the future success of the child. Outcomes such as conduct disorder, anti-social behaviour, peer relations, communication skills, and relationship formation are considered.
The importance of parents' education is being assessed alongside other aspects of family background. This is leading to indications on the inter-generational effects of education. However, the main focus here is on school and community effects, particularly on the formation of peer groups and the influence of peers on each other.
The project will use the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Clinic based data is available about the children's active and passive experiences of bullying in school as well as observations from teachers and parents about children's behaviour. There is also useful information available about the parents' experiences of offending and of the social capital of families in terms of access to support networks and community inclusion that may be important moderators of the effects of family adversity and/or schools.
The extensive clustering of the data means that it is feasible to consider the reciprocal effects of the reliably measured behaviour of children on each other. Sample sizes are sufficiently large to use the individual-level data described to create indicators of the behaviour of children in each local area, school and school year. Multi-level modelling will be used to estimate the effect of these area and school level behavioural norms on individual children.
