Socio-economic factors of students' academic performance (using the example of a sociological study of Barnaul)

Akhmedova Angelina Rustamovna Assistant, Department of General Sociology and Conflictology, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Territory, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, room 520 axmedovaangelina@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Chukanova Tat'yana Viktorovna PhD in Sociology Associate Professor, Department of Social and Youth Policy, Altai State University 656011, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 515 chukanova@socio.asu.ru Other publications by this author     Vasilenko Irina Aleksandrovna PhD in Sociology Associate Professor; Institute of Humanities; Altai State University 66 Dimitrova str., 413 block, Barnaul, Russia, 656049 irina@plusweb.pro Other publications by this author

Mazailova Tatyana Aleksandrovna PhD in Sociology Associate Professor; Institute of Humanities; Altai State University 66 Dimitrova str., 503 block, Barnaul, Russia, 656049 socrabota@socio.asu.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

In the context of modern life, society is undergoing a number of intense changes, which are caused by a number of factors such as the development of technology, globalization and, of course, economic factors. Higher education plays a key role in such conditions, striving to adapt to the various challenges and needs of the modern labor market. In this regard, we consider it important to note that the academic performance of students becomes a key indicator that reflects not only the individual success of the student, but also affects the image of the educational institution itself.

Let's focus on the subject of the study. The main purpose of the work is to identify significant correlations of the influence of socio—economic conditions of the student environment on the academic performance of the students themselves. Within the framework of the work, five groups of performance factors are considered. First of all, this is the very financial situation of the student. This group of factors includes income level, living conditions, as well as the availability of necessary material and technical resources for education. The assessment of these factors forms an understanding of the student's ability to fully concentrate on the learning process. The next block of academic performance factors includes the student's work. Note that this factor may be related to the previous one. If a student does not have enough financial support, he is looking for an opportunity to receive money - employment. Often, a student's secondary employment is an obstacle in the learning process.

Separately, we note the level of social support from the state, friends and family. The social environment shapes a person's personality, affects his psychological state, level of motivation and self-esteem. This factor is directly related to the student's socio-cultural environment. The attitudes and values regarding the professional path and career that prevail in the student's inner circle have a direct impact on his academic activities. It is advisable to include accessibility and quality of education in the last group of factors. One of the motivators of acquiring knowledge is the quality of its presentation by the educational institution, its ability to choose the educational trajectory that it is interested in.

The scientific novelty of this study lies in a number of factors, which will be discussed below. First of all, it is the very identification and systematization of socio-economic factors and their direct impact on students' academic performance. The localization of the phenomenon under consideration is also a special feature. The difference between this study and others lies in the locality of the context and regional characteristics of educational institutions, as well as the labor market and infrastructure of the region as a whole. The paper substantiates empirical indicators of the relationship between the subjective assessment of one's own socio–economic situation and the academic performance of respondents. Also, based on the results of the sociological research, social recommendations were developed to improve the academic performance of a modern student.

The degree of scientific elaboration of the problem

Academic performance is the results of learning activities that indicate the achievement of specific goals in an educational environment, including school, college, and university. Typically, school systems define cognitive goals that can be extended to multiple subject areas or encompass the acquisition of knowledge and understanding in a specific intellectual area. According to the Encyclopedia of Sociology, academic performance is the degree of assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities corresponding to the curriculum ^[2]. The assessment of academic performance can be carried out by various methods, such as exams, tests, intermediate assessments, etc. However, despite the variety of methods, there is currently no consensus on which one is the best. This is due to the difficulty of accounting for factors such as anxiety during testing, motivation, and the environment.

The influence of students' academic performance on their career trajectories is also of scientific interest. J.V. Badulina defines a number of approaches for studying career trajectories. In the so-called content approach, the author's attention is focused on the technology of determining the optimal set of elective and elective subjects in order to increase student satisfaction with the learning process and results ^[1]. The next approach highlighted by the author is personality-oriented, which is aimed at developing models of adaptive formation of the educational trajectory, taking into account the individual characteristics of students. The competence-based approach, in turn, is aimed at increasing competitiveness by acquiring narrow-profile competencies that represent the professional portrait of a highly qualified specialist. In his research, Shapovalov conducts a sociological interpretation of career as a social process. The author offers a theoretical typologization of career types, identifies and characterizes the structure and stages of the career process. The author has introduced a number of scientific terms to describe a career. In understanding career, he identified a number of indicators: career process, career distance, career turnaround, career space, career strategy, career potential, career behavior ^[7].

In the theory of personnel management, E.V. Maslov, like sociologists, considers a career from the perspective of professional and work activity. "A career is the result of a person's conscious attitude and behavior in the field of work related to official or professional growth." In management theory and management, a professional career is distinguished as the growth of knowledge, skills, and abilities. According to E.V. Maslov, a professional career can follow the line of specialization (deepening in one line of movement chosen at the beginning of the professional path) or transprofessionalization (mastering other areas of human experience, rather associated with the expansion of tools and fields of activity) ^[14].

J. Coleman was one of the first to draw attention to the fact that in families with higher incomes there is the possibility of creating additional conditions that positively affect the academic performance of schoolchildren. In the following years, researchers from different countries confirmed the existence of a positive and significant correlation between the income level of parents and the student's academic performance. One explanation for this relationship is that income determines the ability of a family to bear the direct and indirect costs associated with parents' support of children in their education, namely, to pay for school, preparatory courses, additional classes and tutors in basic subjects, to support the child during education ^[9].

Another explanation for the impact of income on academic performance is related to the fact that a high family income allows a mother not to work and devote more time to raising children, which can contribute to higher academic performance. Lack of financial resources in the family may be the reason for a child to receive a lower-quality school education. Educational opportunities for children from poor families are limited already at preschool age, and then they tend to study in schools that provide lower-quality education, receive lower grades, cannot study additionally, attend various courses and clubs, and as a result, their level of their own human capital is lower than that of their peers. from affluent and more educated families.

M. Azhar's research revealed a positive relationship between income and academic performance of students. Low family income forces parents to spend more time meeting the basic needs of the whole family, therefore, time to support their children and monitor their academic performance is limited, and vice versa. The results of his research show that the higher the family income, the higher the average student's GPA ^[17]. The next significant factor in the socio-economic status of a family is the education of parents. Researchers agree that a student whose both parents have a high level of education is more likely to receive high grades. The authors offer various explanations for this relationship. Children from families with parents with higher education have advantages over children from other families, such as a more thorough choice of school, the choice of a teacher, the choice of additional courses for the child, and so on. In general, children of more educated parents put more effort into learning, as they have been focused on higher education since school, which affects academic performance. Parents with low literacy levels are less likely and less confident to help children with reading and writing. Children of such parents have lower cognitive abilities and language development, which creates barriers to high academic performance. Thus, the results of modern research show that parental education predicts academic success and the level of education that children can achieve.

I. Hakkinen and her colleagues, based on a study conducted in Finland, found that although the level of education of both parents has a positive effect on the academic performance of students, the education of the mother has a stronger positive effect on the grades of children than the education of the father. Researchers explained this fact by the closer bond between the child and the mother, while students' communication with their fathers is limited due to the fact that, on average, fathers spend most of their time at work ^[11]. Most likely, this result turned out to be dependent on existing cultural traditions in society, therefore, it was not confirmed during research in Uganda and Turkey. Thus, R. Wamala and co-authors found that in Uganda, the father's level of education has a more significant impact on children's reading and math results than the mother's level of education. Even the father's initial level of education has a positive effect on school performance, while the mother's significant influence is observed only if she has secondary or higher education. Researchers say that fathers' education can play an important role, as they largely determine the socio-economic status of a family: for example, the higher the father's income level, the higher the status of the family as a whole on average.

P. Bourdieu described a direct link between family background, social capital, and academic achievement, and used social capital to explain the disparity in student academic success. Subsequently, P. Bourdieu's concept was updated and supplemented by J. By Coleman. He proposed the following structure of family social capital: the presence of two parents in the family, the number of siblings, parents' educational expectations (i.e., whether the child will study at a university), the frequency of discussions with parents about school life, and intergenerational closeness (i.e., close relationships with parents of their children's friends). Using these variables, J. Coleman found that family social capital has a significant negative relationship with the likelihood of dropping out/dropping out of school. The five—variable structure of family social capital described above is considered traditional, but many studies focus on the first two factors - the presence of two parents in the family and the number of siblings.

Let's consider the impact of these components of family social capital on academic performance. Despite the fact that a cross-cultural study by Y. Chertkova et al. confirms that living with two parents provides higher academic results in school, there are studies in which this relationship is insignificant ^[13]. This contradiction in results can be explained by the role of women in society, which has a decisive influence on the upbringing of children and their schooling, and the low involvement of fathers in the education of children with two parents. That is, even if there are both parents in the family, it is usually the mother's responsibility to support the child's schooling, with minimal involvement from the father. Having two parents can have an impact on academic performance not directly, but indirectly through family income. When there is only one parent in a family, they have to work to provide for the family, so they can devote relatively little time and attention to their child's academic performance. High family income, in turn, determines the social environment through interaction with families with the same income level, which forms social capital and positively affects academic performance. The number of siblings can be considered as a form of resource allocation, meaning that the more siblings there are in a family, the fewer total family resources (money, time, etc.) each child has. It can be assumed that the number of siblings has a negative impact on academic performance. As a rule, only children have higher intelligence, achieve the best academic success, and are more likely to receive higher education than children with siblings. And among children who have siblings, the oldest (first) children are in the most favorable position in terms of cognitive development. Only children mainly communicate with adult family members, receiving knowledge from them, acquiring useful skills and abilities, which enriches their cognitive sphere. Older children, in turn, develop through interaction with their parents, while also teaching younger siblings. Younger children communicate mainly with older siblings and have less access to their parents' social capital. Later, such an indicator as parental involvement began to be considered as a component of family social capital.

Parental involvement in the educational process of their children is understood as the conscious and active participation of parents in various components of this process. There are three main areas of parental involvement: involvement at home, involvement at school, and academic socialization (as parents develop problem-solving skills and independent academic decision-making). Analyzing parental involvement, the researchers focus on different levels of schooling. In elementary school, parental involvement is at its maximum. Further, as the child grows up, the proportion of parents involved in the learning process decreases. During a child's transition to high school, family participation strategies in education change; at this stage, parents contribute more to the socialization of children.

However, it should be noted that the impact of parental involvement on academic performance remains positive throughout the entire period of schooling.

A study conducted in East Asian countries characterized by high academic achievement, a relatively standardized education system, and a lack of policies encouraging family-school relationships (unlike the United States) also shows a positive relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement. The strength of the relationship between parental involvement and academic performance varied depending on the type of engagement, and academic socialization proved to be the strongest predictor ^[10].

Thus, despite the fact that researchers recognize the importance of family social capital for the academic performance of schoolchildren, its individual components can have different effects. As well as the academic performance of schoolchildren, the presence of both parents has a strong influence on the attitude to study and academic performance of university students. This conclusion can be explained by the fact that children raised in single-parent families often suffer from some emotional problems and have problems with discipline, which can hinder their academic performance. On the other hand, children who grew up in a complete family with two parents are often emotionally stable and experience fewer emotional problems, thereby increasing their desire for academic results. The number of children as a component of the family's social capital has an impact on the academic performance of schoolchildren.

The most obvious is the influence of abilities on students' academic performance: "The relationship between intellectual development and academic performance of students of different universities, specialties and courses has been experimentally established. Young people who have found low productivity according to intellectual tests often have poor academic performance."

However, students' abilities are improved and developed in the course of learning activities, so abilities are not the most significant factor in academic performance, and in some sources the influence of abilities on learning success is completely denied.

In addition, the low level of student creativity and intellectual abilities is often offset by the development of social intelligence (a set of abilities underlying communicative competence that ensures successful solution of tasks related to adequate human perception, establishing and maintaining contacts with other people, influencing other people, ensuring joint activities, and occupying a worthy position in a team). and society). The academic performance of students with a high level of social intelligence "can be overestimated due to skillful influence on teachers in order to obtain the desired higher grade."

In turn, a high level of intellectual development often leads to an inadequately inflated self-esteem of the student, in connection with which he ceases to systematically engage in educational activities, and the level of success of his studies decreases.

Low self-esteem and the associated lack of self-confidence and a low level of aspirations are factors that reduce the success of students' academic activities: "An insecure student often simply does not undertake difficult tasks, admits defeat in advance" ^[15].

Thus, adequate student self-esteem leads to successful learning activities, and low and high self-esteem are factors that reduce students' academic performance.

The properties of nervous processes and the types of temperament of students are significant factors affecting student academic performance. The strength and mobility of nervous processes are factors that increase the success of learning activities, since the strength of the nervous system determines the level of performance, and mobility determines the speed of learning activities. In turn, weakness and inertia of nervous processes can cause low academic performance of students.

At the same time, phlegmatic students with an inert but strong nervous system are more likely than students of other temperament types to receive low grades in oral exams: "Apparently, this is due to the fact that many teachers consider their relatively slow response as ignorance of the subject"^[1].

The success of students' education is also influenced by their character. However, the influence of character on students' academic performance is reduced to the influence of the leading motives inherent in different types of character, and therefore does not require separate consideration.

The next significant factor affecting students' academic performance is the peculiarities of self–regulation: "in addition to all other prerequisites for successful academic activity, it is necessary to have some general ability to independently organize and manage it. For example, V.I. Samokhvalova and A.M. Gelmont cite the inability of students to organize their work correctly as one of the main reasons for academic failure, while A.A. Budarny cites the inability to work independently" ^[4].

Summarizing the results, we can say that there are quite a lot of factors influencing academic performance and they are quite different, however, for a deeper understanding of the field of study, they should be considered in their entirety, since they are all closely related as a factor of personal health and psychoactivity, cultural, social and family, etc.

Methodology and methodology of sociological research

The main methods of data collection in the context of this sociological research are mass surveys of student representatives as a quantitative method of data collection.

The general body of research consists of all students of Barnaul. The study was conducted using a selective method. The sample totals 228 respondents. A single-stage sampling was used, with specific students as the selection unit. The type of sample is targeted. The study used a selection method such as the method of typical representatives (students of Altai State University are typical representatives of Barnaul students, which is due to the possibility of research). The survey was conducted on the basis of Altai State University. The primary empirical information was collected using a questionnaire method. The questionnaire contained questions arranged into semantic blocks according to the research issues and a passport, which included questions defining the respondent's gender, age, course and education. The questionnaire questions are constructed using nominal, ordinal, interval scales, with a single choice.

The collection of primary empirical data in the presented study was carried out through an online survey and face-to-face questionnaires. Both online surveys and face-to-face surveys involve collecting primary sociological information about people's behavior, life events, and opinions through the Internet and live interaction. Online surveys have not been new to the modern world for a long time, this type of survey has been conducted in the world for about 20 years, and today, using the Internet, sociologists can conduct global research on various relevant topics.

The first set of questions was aimed at clarifying the financial and economic factors affecting the student's academic performance. The questions provided the respondent with the opportunity to choose only one of the suggested alternatives. The financial situation, in our opinion, directly affects the student's academic performance, which provoked questions of this nature. This block consisted of the following questions: how do you assess your financial situation; how do you assess the financial situation of your family; where do you live at the moment; in which locality did you live before entering Altai State University; do you have a part-time job, etc.

The second set of questions was aimed at clarifying the social factors that affect the student's academic performance. We found out whether the respondents have brothers or sisters, what level of education the respondent's parents have, etc. Such surveys have helped us to form an idea of the factors influencing the academic performance of students.

The third set of questions was a subjective assessment of the respondent's level of academic achievement. Questions such as: are you satisfied with the quality of your education; what is your academic performance at the moment; what is your average score at the moment; are you satisfied with the amount of knowledge you receive; do you have academic arrears, etc., helped us to fully form the respondents' understanding of their academic performance.

Analysis and interpretation of results

Let's turn to the analysis of the obtained results of empirical sociological research. Adhering to the developed methodology of empirical sociological research on the stated issues, it is advisable to divide the data analysis into three vectors. Firstly, to consider the social factors that affect students' academic performance, secondly, to consider the economic factors that affect students' academic performance, and thirdly, to consider students' subjective assessment of their own academic performance.

Table 1. Distribution of respondents' responses to the question "How do you rate your academic performance?" (in % of the respondents)

Having considered the subjective assessment of students' academic performance, it is advisable to find out whether the respondents believe that they receive a sufficient amount of knowledge at the university. To do this, we formulated the question "Estimate the amount of knowledge you receive." The following results were obtained. One third of the respondents are not satisfied with this indicator. This is a fairly high level of discontent. A quarter of the respondents are completely satisfied with the amount of knowledge they receive. In turn, half of the respondents noted their partial satisfaction with the presented indicator. The presented indicator indicates that the insufficient amount of knowledge acquired may be one of the factors contributing to the decline in academic performance among students.

More than half of the respondents do not have a part-time job. This is an indicator that this number of respondents receives financial support from their parents. Since most of the respondents are undergraduates, this result is quite obvious. Every fifth respondent earns extra money to the detriment of obtaining professional skills. It is also interesting that the same number of students have part-time jobs, but in their spare time from studying. Only 11% of respondents work permanently in their free time (see Fig.1).

Fig. 1. Distribution of respondents' answers to the question "Do you have a part-time job?" (in % of the number of respondents).

Today, higher education institutions provide a huge number of scholarship programs for students, so that students have the opportunity to provide for themselves. The following results were obtained. The majority of the surveyed students of the Institute of Humanities (53%) are not interested in receiving special payments for success in various areas of student life. This could be influenced by various factors such as distrust of the payment distribution system, lack of confidence in personal qualities, etc.

Fig. 2 Distribution of respondents' responses to the question "Have you received government/personal scholarships or government awards to support young people?" (in % of respondents)

Despite the majority's skeptical attitude towards special payments, 25% of respondents still received various types of payments and bonuses for their achievements. Of this number, only 2% of students receive an increased state academic scholarship for achievements in research activities. This result is due to the fact that students consider it too resource-intensive for themselves, and most graduates are not going to continue their scientific activities. In turn, 6% of the surveyed respondents already receive an increased state scholarship for academic achievements. During the interview, the guys claim that they were just lucky that they were allocated enough quotas for scholarships in their academic activities. Almost the same number of students receive an increased state academic scholarship for achievements in creative and social activities. Most likely, this result is related to the humanitarian orientation of students' education. The guys note that they are engaged in an interesting activity for themselves, and besides, they receive a scholarship for it. Thus, only one quarter of the surveyed students of the Institute of Humanities of Altai State University use the opportunity to receive an increased state academic scholarship for various achievements. Another quarter did not know about this possibility, and most of them were not even interested in it, considering it unrealistic and energy-consuming.

The next question was: "What extracurricular activities do you do?" Correlating relationships with hollow respondents were found in the answer to this question. The following results were obtained.

Table 2. Distribution of responses to the question "What extracurricular activities do you do" (as a percentage of the number of respondents)

Most of the men and women surveyed are exclusively engaged in studies. The motivations of the respondents coincide with the previous question. More than half of the women surveyed (51%) are engaged only in educational activities. Slightly less than half of the men surveyed (46%) also choose exclusively to engage in educational activities. Most of them argue that a man should earn money or he will join the army after graduation anyway. Significantly more men than women are engaged in scientific activity (18% and 4%, respectively). Despite the fact that there are more girls studying at the Institute of Humanities of Altai State University, they are less interested in studying sciences. Similar results were shown by the athletic activities of graduates, men are more interested in playing sports. The indicator of social activity gave the exact opposite result. 21% of the women surveyed prefer it to all other types of extracurricular activities. Men, on the contrary, are skeptical in this regard. Among the respondents, only 6% of men are engaged in volunteering. Cultural activities are of almost equal interest to both women and men graduates of the Institute of Humanities (18% and 24%, respectively). Most likely, this is due to the specifics of humanitarian training areas. Thus, many have already started their career growth with various side jobs, where they plan to receive certain privileges in the future. However, today, a higher education diploma is required to obtain a higher education degree, which motivates young professionals to improve their skills or to obtain higher education.

This completes the questions related to socio-economic factors of students' academic performance, and they can provide a full description of the reasons for students' academic failure.

Based on the conducted empirical research, a set of social recommendations has been developed to improve students' academic performance.

1. Conversations aimed at removing anxiety and insecurity from some students. Practice shows that in the course of studying students, it turns out that some of them begin to experience the situation of exam failure long before the session. This is especially important given that responsible, conscientious students are more likely to experience such conditions. They have anxious thoughts about possible failure in a variety of situations. Such conditions distract from studying, prevent students from gathering, concentrating, and depriving students of self-confidence and their abilities. In this regard, it is necessary to identify this group of students in advance and it is recommended to have conversations with them well before the session. Psychology students can serve as consultants. They will be able to assist students in solving some difficult issues, and in turn, they will gain experience in conducting psychological sessions for themselves. Conversations aimed at overcoming excessive self-confidence (lowering the level of self-esteem). Among average and even weak students, there is a category of people who clearly overestimate their abilities. They have neither expressed strengths nor expressed interest in learning. In the process of communicating with them, the supervisor should try to form the necessary motivation for them before the upcoming session, and be critical of their own capabilities.

2. Encouragement, encouragement in the situation of exams for students with high self-doubt, removing the state of fear before the exam, which reduces their abilities, restricts memory, thinking; before exams, such students should be encouraged, instill confidence in their abilities.

3. Work with passive students in order to overcome their own stereotype of behavior. Such students (not necessarily with low abilities, often just starting their studies, unsure of themselves) do not dare to seek help from teachers or bandmates and therefore accumulate misunderstood material. They are prevented from being active by the fear of showing their stupidity and feeling awkward. Such students themselves cannot get rid of the habit of passive behavior. It has become ingrained, it has become a stereotype. They need the help of a supervisor.

4. Informing junior students that there may be people in their environment who can study satisfactorily or even poorly at the initial stages of their studies, but who nevertheless have special abilities that manifest themselves in senior courses. These students may be characterized by passivity and lack of interest in non-specialized subjects, but they may have pronounced special abilities. In the process of working with such students, the curator needs to perform a number of functions. First, to help their strengths manifest themselves (in particular, it is possible to give specific assignments, which would show the corresponding abilities of students and on this basis would change the attitude towards them within the group, their status among fellow students would increase). Secondly, to conduct a series of conversations in order to convince these students of the need to be more interested in acquiring knowledge in junior courses (in terms of the requirements of the future specialty). Thirdly, to carry out systematic control over the allocation of their free time by these students.

5. Informing students about the expediency of their association in microgroups for independent work on educational material (the association should be based on the mutual attraction of students to each other). Such thinking in microgroups activates thinking, awakens students' interest in the subject being studied and improves its assimilation.

6. The implementation of the organizing function to unite the team of the supervised student group, the study of the structure of interpersonal relations and the psychological climate in the student group.

7. To ensure close cooperation with those teachers who conduct lectures and practical classes in the supervised group, in order to reduce such disadvantages of the educational process as an excessively fast pace of presentation of educational material in some lectures, insufficient concreteness, a small number of examples, etc. In this regard, teachers may be advised to slow down the pace of presentation of new material, search for more effective forms of lecturing, concretize the material, increase the number of examples, etc.

An individual approach is a highly effective means of improving academic performance and preventing students from dropping out. To improve academic performance and prevent dropouts, not only methods of studying personality are needed, but also methods of stimulating students' mental activity, contributing to a better assimilation of educational information. Without intellectual activity, it is impossible to fully assimilate the material, and the abilities of weak and average students are often not developed because they are not encouraged to engage in vigorous intellectual activity.

Purposefully organized communication can be used to stimulate intellectual activity, putting the student in such an active position. Moral and material encouragement is important for increasing activity. Students who have completed the semester with excellent grades and have achievements throughout the semester in the form of participation and victories in National competitions, a large number of publications, primarily in Higher Attestation Commission journals, international journals and conferences, receive additional scholarships on a competitive basis, the amount of which is a serious financial incentive for further activities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that the conducted research revealed a number of socio-economic factors affecting the academic performance of students in Barnaul. The research results can be used to develop and implement measures aimed at improving the quality of education and improving student academic performance.

Empirical research has revealed the relationship between a student's socio-economic status and his academic performance. The main factors affecting academic performance include the financial situation of students' families, housing conditions, job availability, motivation to study, and others. Students from more affluent families have more opportunities for development, including access to additional educational resources. However, the socio-economic status is not decisive for the student. Personal qualities such as determination, motivation, and support from the teaching staff largely determine a student's academic performance.

^[1] Bourdieu P. - Homo academicus.-2018