Page 244 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

always share stories about how they experienced the transition, what they liked about university, what they found challenging, what kind of courses they took, what type of assignments were common, and what kind of thinking and working was expected. is role cannot be underestimated, because Chapter 6 showed that among the most common university preparation practices currently done by teachers were answering students’ questions about degree programmes at university and providing them with information about the university environment. It is highly doubtful whether teachers from professional education can answer these questions. Furthermore, especially for potential rst-generation students it is important to be in contact with people who attended university, as they may not easily meet university-educated people in their own environment.
Consequently, it is vital that urgent measures be taken to increase the number of university-educated teachers. e government has already taken note of this and some initiatives have started or will be started soon, such as 1) increasing the attractiveness for university students to pursue a university-level teacher education degree by lowering the fees; 2) making the entrance requirements for teacher education more exible (e.g., o ering personalised routes based on an intake for second-career teachers or students with a bachelor degree in an area that does not directly relate to a school subject); and 3) enhancing the image of the teacher profession in the academic world (KNAW, 2017). Increasing, or at least maintaining, the number of university-educated teachers in the upper grades of pre-university education may be one of the most important steps in the quest for more university-ready students, because how can teachers prepare their students for something they have not experienced themselves?
8.6 Concluding thoughts 8
e highest level of secondary education in the Netherlands is literally called preparatory university education, but does it actually prepare students su ciently for university? Many rst-year university students struggle with the transition to the new learning environment that demands students to be independent, where the learning content is more complex, and the learning pace is faster. From this thesis, 1) we know the skills and attitudes that are needed for students to be successful in university; 2) we know that a typology of secondary school students can be made that shows which students are more and who are less at risk of a di cult transition
Conclusion and discussion
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