The Benefit of Gifted Classes and Talent Schools for Developing Students' Competences and Enhancing Academic Self-Concept
Summary: In a vast amount of educational research, it has been documented that a negative causal relationship exists between class or school ability level and ability self-concept. However, the aim of educational institutions is not to improve self-concept, but rather to support cognitive ability development (acquisition of new knowledge, school performance, etc.). A recent 11-year-long study of six grammar schools in Baden-Württemberg (Germany) involving 22 classes and 544 pupils demonstrated over a 2-year interval that mean class ability lowers individual ability self-concept. Yet it also revealed that this negative effect was compensated for by a positive school effect on self-concept. In particular, it showed that the sum of the effects of class and school level on individual ability development was positive (teachers adapted teaching to the class ability level, and students were stimulated by classmates). Selective schools have a positive effect.