Abstract. Previous studies have shown that secondary schools are less successful than primary schools in responding to student needs. Simultaneously, students seem to detach themselves during secondary schooling. Based on this, the present study investigated alienation from learning and its relationship with students’ perception of needs support by teachers and peers by analyzing data from 486 primary and 550 secondary school students in Switzerland. Multigroup structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relevance of each independent variable for alienation from learning within and across the two subsamples. Teacher injustice as an indicator for the teacher-student relationship was significantly associated with alienation from learning for both subsamples, whereas there was a significant effect for competence support only in secondary schools. The findings highlight the importance of just and supportive teachers in preventing students’ alienation from learning in school.
Zusammenfassung. Previous studies have shown that secondary schools are less successful than primary schools in responding to student needs. Simultaneously, students seem to detach themselves during secondary schooling. Based on this, the present study investigated alienation from learning and its relationship with students’ perception of needs support by teachers and peers by analyzing data from 486 primary and 550 secondary school students in Switzerland. Multigroup structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relevance of each independent variable for alienation from learning within and across the two subsamples. Teacher injustice as an indicator for the teacher-student relationship was significantly associated with alienation from learning for both subsamples, whereas there was a significant effect for competence support only in secondary schools. The findings highlight the importance of just and supportive teachers in preventing students’ alienation from learning in school. Forschungsergebnissen zufolge berücksichtigen Sekundarschulen die Bedürfnisse der Schüler_innen weniger gut als Primarschulen. Zugleich distanzieren sich die Jugendlichen zunehmend von der Schule. Entsprechend untersuchte die Studie mit 486 Primar- und 550 Sekundarschüler_innen den Zusammenhang zwischen Entfremdung vom Lernen und den Bedürfnissen von Schüler_innen. Multigroup-Strukturgleichungsmodellierung wurde verwendet, um die Relevanz der unabhängigen Variablen für die Entfremdung vom Lernen innerhalb und zwischen den beiden Teilstichproben zu analysieren. Es zeigte sich bei beiden Teilstichproben ein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen der Entfremdung vom Lernen und Ungerechtigkeitserfahrungen durch Lehrpersonen, verstanden als Indikator für fehlende soziale Eingebundenheit. Kompetenzunterstützung hingegen konnte nur bei den Sekundarschüler_innen einen signifikanten Anteil der Varianz in der Entfremdung vom Lernen erklären. Die Ergebnisse unterstreichen die Bedeutsamkeit gerechter und unterstützender Unterrichtsgestaltung für die Prävention der Entfremdung vom schulischen Lernen.