Page 172 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Table 6.5 Barrier themes
Teachers’ beliefs and practices
Category
Perceived barriers
Wishes
Themes
Final examinations
Lack of time
Not knowing what universities expect
Students’ lack of interest or level
Not all students pursue a degree in the teacher’s eld More coordination and collaboration with universities More attention to university preparation in general More information on degree programmes
More attention to promoting students’ attitude
Percentage of teachers who mentioned it
40 38 36 34 24 46 20 16 8
6.4.5 Other in uences: Background factors and up-to-date knowledge
During the interviews, 58 per cent of the teachers referred to their own experiences
at university, which clearly in uenced their beliefs and practices. For example,
mathematics teacher T11 recounted: “During my time at university I learned a lot
of research skills and I also transfer them to my students.” Furthermore, 24 per
cent of teachers talked about their own children’s university experiences and how
they functioned as triggers, making them more aware of the secondary school
teacher’s role in university preparation. us, teachers’ experiences at university 6 and whether they had children attending university constituted important
background factors.
Pertinent knowledge that in uenced teacher beliefs and practices was
the level of familiarity with the current university environment and the degree programmes in the teacher’s eld. Speci cally, 48 per cent of teachers mentioned they remained quite familiar with the degree programmes o ered in their eld. ese teachers also talked more o en to students about the available programmes and were better able to answer students’ questions. In contrast, the 42 per cent of teachers who explicitly admitted they were not up-to-date on the current programmes referred students to the guidance counsellor with questions about degree programmes.
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