Page 112 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Self-efficacy in being successful at university
4.3 Method
4.3.1 Context
We conducted this study in the Netherlands, where the secondary education
system is relatively di erentiated. A er eight years of primary education, students
enter a speci c secondary education channel, according to their abilities, tested
at the end of their primary education. e highest level of secondary education
is pre-university education, attended by approximately 17 per cent of Dutch
adolescents (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS), 2012). Graduating from pre-university grants students direct entrance into university education. About 80
per cent of pre-university students enter university a er graduation (CBS, 2016).
e other levels of secondary education are general secondary education and 4 vocational secondary education, graduating from which grants students access to
professional higher education or vocational education, respectively. Depending on the eld of study, there are alternative pathways to university, such as graduating from professional higher education.
Because pre-university grants direct access to the university track, next to preparing students for their nal examinations, university preparation is the central goal for this education stream. In grades 10 through 12, Dutch pre- university education students undertake either science coursework (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics, advanced mathematics) or humanities and social sciences coursework (e.g., history, geography, modern languages, economics), in addition to subjects that are obligatory for all students (e.g., Dutch, English). e variance in pre-university students’ cognitive capacities is relatively low, which is why we focus on personality, motivational, and behavioural aspects.
We collected data from grade 10 and 11 students at the end of the school year, so most of the students would be attending university in two or one years, respectively, from the moment of data collection. All of these students had started with the mandatory career orientation programme, so they should be able to make a reasonable estimate of their self-e cacy regarding university skills and their academic interest, including their feelings about gaining academic knowledge and their interest in research. e survey clearly described the required university study skills, which are related to pre-university study skills, involving general skills such as planning, organising, text reading, and essay writing. erefore, the student participants should be able to estimate their e cacy in university-level study skills.
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