Brief Description

The School Liking and Avoidance Scale (SLAS-16) is an assessment instrument designed to examine children’s emotional attitudes toward the school environment. It consists of 16 items that assess the extent to which children enjoy school or, conversely, tend to avoid it.

The scale focuses on how children perceive and experience school attendance, providing a concise and structured picture of their emotional adjustment to school.

Aim

The primary aim of the SLAS-16 is to assess students’ attitudes toward elementary school.

By distinguishing between school liking and school avoidance, the scale can help identify different patterns of emotional response to the school experience. This information may be particularly useful during educational transitions, such as the transition from preschool to elementary school.

Main Subscales

The SLAS-16 includes two main subscales:

School Liking Subscale: assesses the degree to which the child enjoys the school experience and expresses a positive attitude toward school.

School Avoidance Subscale: assesses the extent to which the child shows reluctance, withdrawal, or avoidance in relation to the school environment.

The two subscales provide distinct information and allow for a more differentiated assessment of the child’s attitude toward school.

Scoring

Children’s responses are coded using a 4-point scale:

1 = The statement does not describe the child at all
to
4 = The statement describes the child very well

A mean score is calculated separately for each subscale.

Higher scores on the School Liking subscale indicate greater liking of school, whereas higher scores on the School Avoidance subscale indicate greater school avoidance.

Validity

Factor analysis indicated good construct validity, supporting the underlying dimensions assessed by the scale.

Reliability

Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach’s alpha.

For the School Liking subscale, reliability was α = 0.82.

For the School Avoidance subscale, reliability was α = 0.78.

These values indicate satisfactory internal consistency for both subscales.

Data Analysis and Use

The Greek adaptation of the scale was based on a sample of 336 children, including 168 boys and 168 girls, aged 6–9 years, attending elementary schools in the prefecture of Karditsa.

The SLAS-16 may be used for research and diagnostic purposes, particularly in studies of school adjustment and children’s emotional attitudes toward school.

It may be especially useful for examining the transition from preschool to elementary school, as well as the relationship of school liking and avoidance with broader aspects of psychosocial and educational adjustment.

References

Ladd, G. W., & Price, J. M. (1987). Predicting children’s social and school adjustment following the transition from preschool to kindergarten. Child Development, 58, 1168–1189.

Sotiriou, A., & Zafeiropoulou, M. (2003). Changes in children’s self-concept during the transition from kindergarten to elementary school. Psychologia, 10(1), 96–118.