Page 167 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Chapter 6
Table 6.3 emes in university readiness factors and university preparation practices and the percentage of teachers mentioning it as important readiness aspect respectively as an aspect they pay attention to
University readiness aspect
Study skills
Independence
Perseverance
Curiosity
Adequate choice of programme
Content knowledge
Language skills
Research skills and attitude
inking skills (e.g., critical thinking)
***
%
58 48 44 40 38
36
36 28
24
Category in Conley’s model*
LST LST LST CS TKS
CK
CK CS
CS TKS
University preparation practice
Teaching study skills
Promoting independence
Promoting perseverance
Promoting curiosity
Answering students’ questions about degree programmes
Asking students about their future plans
Making sure students master content knowledge
Teaching language skills
Teaching research skills and an attitude of inquiry
Teaching thinking skills
Giving information about studying at university in general
% Discrepancy**
44 - 42 0 2 -- 5 -- 68 ++
50 +
5 --
15 - 50 +
48 + 44 +
*Conley’s categories are as follows: CS: cognitive strategies; CK: content knowledge; LST: learning skills and techniques; TKS: transition knowledge and skills.
**In the Discrepancy column, 0 implies virtually no di erence in the percentages of teachers who mentioned it as university readiness aspect and as a university preparation practice; - indicates it was more o en mentioned as aspect of readiness than as a preparation practice (di erence ≥ 10); -- means it was substantially more o en mentioned as aspect of readiness than as a preparation practice (di erence ≥ 30); + implies it was more o en mentioned as a preparation practice than as an aspect of readiness (di erence ≥ 10); and ++ means it was substantially more o en mentioned as a preparation practice than as an aspect of readiness (di erence ≥ 30). ***Although providing students with information about studying at university in general was mentioned by many teachers as a university preparation practice, being well-informed about university education in general was not mentioned as a readiness aspect, hence this cell is empty.
6.4.2 Teachers’ university readiness practices
All 50 teachers described teacher behaviours they performed regularly in the classroom that they saw as contributing to university readiness. Most of them were implicit though: 46 per cent of teachers said at some point in their interviews that they were not consciously occupied with university preparation. When they engaged in it, they were not aware of contributing to readiness; instead, they became aware of it only during the interview, when primed to talk about university preparation. Only 24 per cent mentioned that some of their classroom practices were intentionally designed to contribute to university readiness.
e most frequently mentioned behaviour – by 68 per cent of teachers – consisted of answering questions from students about speci c degree programmes
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