This study set out to replicate a survey conducted 20 years ago on Finnish parents' social representations of educability. A nationwide sample of parents (N = 642) were asked to indicate their opinions on a set of statements pertaining to topical educational issues. The results indicated that educational discussion is still structured by two major…

This study set out to explore the contribution of parents' own school memories to the way they remembered their child's school years and took part in his/her schooling. The respondents were a group of academically and vocationally educated fathers and mothers (N = 326), who participated in a full 9-year follow-up study of their child's schooling.…

The study set out to examine Finnish and Russian children's images of intelligence as contextualized in the systems of the school and gender. Finnish and Russian pupils, aged 11-12 years, were asked to draw pictures of an intelligent and an ordinary pupil and a good and an ordinary pupil. A distinctive feature shared by the children in both…

The study examined children's and their parents' and teachers' perceptions of the malleability of the child's academic competencies. A total of 103 third- and sixth-graders and their parents and teachers were asked to rate how much the child could improve her/his competencies in mathematics and Finnish. The participants were asked to use…

This study set out to examine children's notions of the malleability of their academic competencies and the relations of these notions to the child's grade-level and gender and the parent's educational level. In interviews of a total of 103 boys and girls of the third and the sixth grade, children of academically and vocationally educated parents…