Beyond Achievement: What School Socioeconomic Composition Means for Well-Being, Effort, and Academic Self-Concept

Summary

Much is already known about the relationship between the socioeconomic composition of schools and academic achievement. Far less is known about what school composition means for other aspects of students’ development.

In this study, Barbara Belfi and Carla Haelermans followed 1,933 students in 151 Flemish primary schools from Grade 4 to Grade 6. They examined the development of school well-being, study effort, and academic self-concept.

The findings paint a nuanced picture. School socioeconomic composition was hardly related to school well-being. Students in more socioeconomically advantaged schools reported slightly lower levels of study effort, and this small difference remained stable over time. The clearest pattern emerged for academic self-concept: students in more socioeconomically advantaged schools started with a slightly lower academic self-concept, but subsequently developed more positively, so that the initial difference had almost disappeared by the end of Grade 6.

Although the differences are small, they provide important new insights into the role of school composition. The findings show that school composition is not only related to academic achievement, but in some respects also to how students perceive themselves as learners and how much effort they report investing in their schoolwork. Moreover, these associations are not always stable, but can change over the course of students’ school careers. This is why research on school composition should look beyond academic performance alone. The study therefore contributes to a broader and more complete understanding of how the school context is associated with students’ development.

Reference

Belfi, B., & Haelermans, C. (2026). Beyond Achievement: Longitudinal Associations Between School Socioeconomic Composition and Students’ Well-Being, Effort, and Academic Self-Concept. School Effectiveness and School Improvement. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2026.2717339