The school class represents a heterogeneous group of students with different learning abilities and psycho-social characteristics. The central aim of the Master's thesis is to examine: (a) the connection between the quality of attachment to significant others, self-esteem and the academic success of students, (b) differences in the quality of attachment to significant others, self-esteem and academic success between students with different statuses (talented students, students with special educational support and students without status), and (c) the importance of students' status (and other variables) as a predictor of their academic achievement. 324 pupils of the last triad of Slovenian elementary schools were included in the research, of which 76 were gifted pupils, 54 pupils with special educational support and 194 pupils without status. Based on the collected data on their academic performance and the answers to the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (SPA) and the Attachment to Parents and Peers Questionnaire (IPPA), we can conclude that better attachment to other people is to some extent associated with higher self-esteem, which is associated with better average academic performance. The findings also show that there are significant differences in self-esteem and average academic performance between students with different statuses. There are also some differences between students with special educational support and their peers in the quality of attachment to their parents, but not to their peers. Last but not least, it turned out that approximately 37.7% of the differences in students' learning performance can be explained by their gender, status and learning self-esteem. The results show the importance of knowing the characteristics of different groups of students and open up possibilities for further preventive work with adolescents in the school and home environment.
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