The Influence of Urban Poverty on Students’ Academic Optimism: Does Government Assistance Play a Role?

The present study investigated the relationship between urban poor students’ perceptions of government assistance and poverty and their level of academic optimism. A survey was administered to 500 urban poor students in two major Malaysian cities, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru. The students were identified and randomly selected for the study with the help of their respective schools. AMOS version 24 was used to test the hypothesised model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings revealed a significant direct association between students’ perceptions of poverty and academic optimism. However, no significant indirect influence was found between students’ perceptions of poverty and their academic optimism through government assistance. These findings suggest that government assistance programmes are not necessarily a contributor to students’ academic optimism. The lack of any significant influence between students’ perceptions of poverty and academic optimism, through government assistance, may indicate a need to re-evaluate the existing assistance programmes rendered by the government to students in the urban poor category.

Investigating the Role of Academic Optimism in Classroom Management and Job Burnout of Elementary School Teachers

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of academic optimism in classroom management and job burnout of elementary school teachers. The method of this research is a descriptive correlational study. The statistical population in this study included all primary school teachers in Baneh who were teaching in this city during the academic year 2017–2018. The number of teachers in Baneh was 800, of whom 457 were female teachers and 343 were male teachers. According to Krejcie and Morgan table, the sample size was 260 people. The sampling technique in this study was cluster sampling. To collect data, the following questionnaires were used; Beard et al.’s academic optimism, the attitudes and beliefs of teachers regarding classroom management of Martin and Sass and Maslach Burnout. Data analysis was performed by Amos software. The results showed that the paths of scientific emphasis on behavior management, trust in education management, self-efficacy in behavior management, and education management were statistically significant. Also, the results showed that the paths of scientific emphasis on emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal success; confidence in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal success; and self-efficacy to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal success are statistically significant.

EFL Teachers' Optimism and Commitment and Their Contribution to Students' Academic Success

The present review study determines to scrutinize EFL teachers' optimism and commitment and their contribution to students' academic success. Academic optimism, as a new construct, is evolving from the examination of the positive psychology (PP), societal principal, and communal school assets that affect the attainment and success of all learners. In addition, within the past decades, commitment has received a great level of consideration, principally in the domain of structural research. The straightforward perseverance of this review is to extend the concept of academic optimism to individuals, that is, to hypothesize theoretical optimism and approve the efficacy of this paradigm at the instructor level in relation to students' academic success. According to the literature review, the definitions of these constructs, namely teachers' optimism and commitment, and students' academic success, as well as empirical studies in this domain are presented. As a conclusion, this study, to some extent, promotes the educators' mindfulness about their commitment. In this respect, pedagogical implications for teachers, school principals, teacher-trainers, and future researchers are presented, and new guidelines for further research are determined.

Development of Academic Optimism Model in Learning for Junior High School Students

<p style="text-align: justify;">Academic optimism has an essential role in the adjustment of students in school. This study aimed to examine a model of academic optimism formed from democratic parenting, school climate, internal locus of control, and students’ self-concept. This a cross-sectional non-experimental design research design involved 335 Junior High School students in Kediri. The data collection tool was a scale while the data analysis technique was Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. The results showed that the theoretical model for developing academic optimism in Junior High School students was in line with the research data and obtained empirical support (X2 = 246.056 < 255.6018; p = 0.110 > 0.05), so this model is feasible and can be used in samples that have been studied. In general, this study adds knowledge about positive psychology studies and supports democratic parenting, school climate, self-concept, and internal locus of control as ultimate factors for creating students’ academic optimism.</p>

Investigating the relationship between hidden curriculum and academic optimism in upper secondary school students

This study aimed to determine the relationship between hidden curriculum and academic optimism in upper secondary school students. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population of this research consists of upper secondary school students of Pakdasht city in the academic year 2020-2021 with 3500 people. The sample size was determined based on Krejcie and Morgan table of 346 people. Also, for sampling, after estimating the sample size, the available random sampling method was use. In order to collect data, two standardized questionnaires were used for assessing the hidden curriculum (Fathi Vajargah) and the questionnaire for assessing academic optimism (Schennemoran). Descriptive statistics methods including: mean, percentage and frequency and inferential statistics such as: Pearson correlation test, one-sample t-test and multiple regression were used. SPSS22 was also used to analyze the collected data. The findings of Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that there is a significant relationship between the hidden curriculum and the academic optimism of the studied students at the alpha level of 0.01. Findings of one-sample t-test indicated that the students surveyed were at a relatively good level in terms of the components of academic optimism as well as the hidden curriculum. The results of correlation test showed that there is a significant relationship between the two components of the hidden curriculum (school social atmosphere and teacher-student interactions) with students 'academic optimism, but the findings showed that there isn’t any relationship between school organizational structure and students' academic optimism. The correlation coefficient also showed that there is a significant and direct relationship between the hidden curriculum and all components of students' academic optimism. Also, the findings of regression test indicated that the latent hidden curriculum variable explains 0.28 variance of academic optimism of the students and only the organizational structure of the school did not play a significant role in predicting students' academic optimism. Also, the findings of the regression test indicated that among components of hidden curriculum, the component of teacher-student interactions had the largest share in explaining and predicting changes in students' academic optimism.