Who Is the Intelligent Student? A Look into Teachers’ Social Representations

Abstract

This study examined the social representations of the intelligent student among Algerian secondary school teachers using Abric’s structural approach to Social Representation Theory. Twenty-two secondary school teachers participated in a free association task, and the data were analyzed using prototypical analysis to identify the central and peripheral elements of their shared representation.

The findings revealed that teachers primarily associated intelligence with cognitive characteristics, particularly rapid reasoning, attention and concentration, problem-solving ability, and intellectual capacity. Although participants frequently stated that academic excellence is not a prerequisite for intelligence, this belief occupied the first peripheral zone rather than the central core, suggesting that intelligence and academic achievement are viewed as related but distinct concepts. Other characteristics, including creativity, emotional self-control, interpersonal relationships, and supportive environmental factors, appeared in the peripheral zones, indicating that these dimensions complement but do not define teachers' collective representation of the intelligent student.

Overall, the findings highlight the predominance of cognitive conceptions of intelligence while showing that broader personal, social, and contextual characteristics occupy a secondary place in teachers' shared representations.