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School experience, relational justice and legitimation of institutional

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Abstract

This study analysis the relationship between perceptions of the justice of teacher’ behaviour and (a) the legitimation of school authority and (b) the legitimation of institutional authorities outside school. 448 adolescent students participated in the study. In questionnaire participants were asked about (a) perceptions of the justice of teachers’ behaviour; (b) evaluation of the school experience; and (c) evaluation of institutional authorities. Results show that the evaluation of the justice of teacher behaviour, in particular relational and procedural justice, have an impact on the legitimation of the authority of teachers and on the evaluation of institutional authorities outside school. Results also show that the legitimacy granted to teachers is a mediator variable between perceptions of justice in school and evaluation of authorities outside school. These results are discussed in the context of the studies on the relationship between school experience and adolescents attitudes towards authorities, and in the framework of the “Relational Model of Authority” and of the “Group Value Model”.

Résumé

Cette recherche analyse les relations entre la perception de justice des comportements des professeurs, la légitimation de l’autorité scolaire et la légitimation des autorités institutionnels en dehors l’école. 448 lycéens ont participé dans cette étude. Les participants on répondu à un questionnaire portant sur (a) les perceptions de justice des comportements des professeurs, (b) l’évaluation de l’expérience scolaire, et (c) l’évaluation des autorités institutionnelles. Les résultats montrent que plus élevé est la perception de justice des comportements des professeurs, plus élevé est aussi la légitimité attribuée aux professeurs et la légitimité attribuée aux autorités en dehors de l’école. Les résultats montrent aussi que la légitimité attribuée aux professeurs est une variable médiatrice entre la perception de justice des comportements des professeurs et l’évaluation des autorités en dehors de l’école. Ces résultats sont discutés dans le cadre des recherches sur la formation des attitudes des adolescents relativement aux autorités institutionnelles et dans le cade du “Modèle de la Valeur du Groupe” (“Group Value Model”) et de “l’approche relationnelle de l’autorité”.

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This research was partially funded by a doctoral scholarship (no 13690/97) awarded to the first author by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

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Gouveia-Pereira, M., Vala, J., Palmonari, A. et al. School experience, relational justice and legitimation of institutional. Eur J Psychol Educ 18, 309–325 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173251

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