SEX DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARD SCHOOL: STUDENT SELF‐REPORTS AND TEACHER PERCEPTIONS

Summary. This research compares teachers' perceptions of boys' and girls' attitudes to school with the students' own reports. Students (N = 2670) in Israeli elementary, middle and high school classes (N = 77) reported on their general satisfaction, commitment to schoolwork and relations with teachers and their teachers evaluated each student's attitudes for these domains. Results indicated that in most classes girls have more positive attitudes than boys and that teachers overestimate the magnitude of the difference. Also, as students progress in school the power of student sex weakens as a predictor of teacher perception of student attitudes. Finally, there is evidence that characteristics of the school environment differentially affect teacher perception of boys' and girls' attitudes to school. 1988 The British Psychological Society