IMPROVEMENT OF GUIDANCE PRACTICES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF STUDIES ON SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

Contributing to the holistic development of students is a basic principle of educational guidance, and it requires knowledge of the contextual variables that affect school effectiveness (SE), understood in terms of academic performance. It is necessary to study the set of factors that explain why an educational center has different results than expected based on its social, economic, and cultural context. The Coleman report (1966), which could be considered the precursor of this type of study, concluded that the context students come from is the determining factor in their educational progress. Numerous researchers have tried to refute this conclusion, which is one of the most current topics in educational guidance. The aim of this article is to provide information about which contextual variables are the most related to SE, and, in order to contribute to the improvement of educational guidance. To this end, a systematic review has been carried out involving in-depth reading and cross-analysis of 64 documents, that gather research addressing the contextual variables that affect students’ educational performance. As a result of this study, it has been possible to find out which are the contextual variables that contribute to the explanation of SE, allowing us to contextualise educational guidance. The conclusions reached reveal how these variables, which so decisively mark students' development in school, could be addressed through educational guidance.