“They just genuinely don’t understand why we’re not as loud”: An exploration of the educational experiences of secondary school students with introverted personality styles and the views of professionals who support these students

Abstract

Personality research has a well-established history but typically has received less attention in the educational psychology field. Within this area, the introversion-extraversion dimension has attracted particular interest, but research has traditionally been skewed towards the extraverted end of the continuum, with introversion being represented as merely a ‘lack of extraversion’. Extant research focused on introversion in education has broadly concentrated on cognitive factors and academic achievement and relied heavily on views of staff surrounding students or retrospective accounts by adults about their educational experiences. With at least a third of students thought to have an introverted personality style, this is a sizeable demographic whose views have not been adequately explored. Furthermore, the strong tendency towards the extravert ideal in Western society, raises questions about the impact on these young people, particularly in relation to their wellbeing and sense of self.

This research was underpinned by a pragmatic philosophical approach with a two-phase mixed methods design. Phase one used bespoke online questionnaires to explore the views, attitudes and understanding of introversion of secondary school teachers (n=89) and educational psychologists (n=144). Responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and reflexive thematic analysis. Findings from this phase were used to inform the design and focus of phase two, which consisted of one-to-one online semi-structured interviews with secondary school aged young people who self-identified as having an introverted personality style (n=11). This phase sought to champion student voice and explore the thoughts, feelings and unique experiences of this group of young people and the impact on their wellbeing of the educational environment. Data was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

The findings illustrated factors related to the experience of introversion across three levels: the young person themselves, within school and throughout wider society. All three respondent groups felt that current secondary school environments are typically not well-suited to meeting the emotional needs of students with introverted personality styles. Teachers felt students with introverted personality styles were more likely to have greater difficulties with emotional adjustment than their peers, although educational psychologists indicated introversion is rarely raised within their casework. Moreover, educational psychologists acknowledged personality factors are not routinely explored as part of their assessments. The young people expressed a range of positive and negative emotions about school, but with a noticeable focus on anxiety-related feelings of pressure, discomfort and nervousness. They implied their personality style created additional difficulties for them in navigating the school environment, which adversely impacted on their emotional adjustment. They also referenced feeling overlooked on occasions and experiencing expectations to act in more extraverted ways. Relationships with others were highlighted as a key protective factor against these areas of difficulty. Barriers to support for these students were discussed and suggestions were proposed about changes that could be made from individual to whole school levels to improve support.

The theoretical significance of the research was discussed, highlighting contributions to defining introversion, understanding contextual variability in presentation, and recognising the impact on wellbeing and barriers to inclusion in the educational environment. Implications for the practice of educational psychologists and school staff were discussed across four key areas (understand, be aware, accept and adjust), with suggestions about how best to support young people with introverted personality styles in education. Finally, limitations of the study were considered, alongside areas for possible future research.