The Future of Education

The enduring economic crisis across several countries has sparked a growing amount of research interest regarding its potential impact on various aspects of life, including adolescent academic achievement. However, there is not enough empirical evidence regarding the impact of a national-level economic crisis as a potentially traumatic experience on student populations (Bronfenbrenner, 2005; Elder, 1996). This study uses ecological systems theory (EST) as a consistent theoretical framework in order to explore the influence of both distal and proximal factors on students’ academic achievement. The aim of the study is to show that the economic crisis deeply affects adolescents’ academic performance in multiple ways and to identify resilience factors that should be taken into consideration when designing educational programs. Specifically, the current study is a person-process-context-time (PPCT) ecological systems model: a longitudinal study using cross-sectional data from the 2009, 2012 and 2015 cohorts of about 3,000 15-year-old Greek students tested through the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). The results indicate that student performance is not only significantly affected by family Socioeconomic standards and teacher responsiveness, but also that across the three years of testing the economic crisis is a key influence factor; as such, it is a significant risk factor for student and teacher performance as well as class environment..

Keywords: academic achievement, ecological systems theory, economic crisis, risk factors, school policy