Page 216 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

culture and society). Some subjects are mandatory for everybody (e.g., Dutch and English); some are a mandatory part of a speci c track; one or two subjects have to be chosen as additional part of the track; and nally students can choose subjects that belong to another track (although due to time schedule constraints not all combinations are possible). Table 8.1 presents an overview of the subjects that are part of the speci c tracks (Qompas, 2017) and the percentages of male and female students per track (VHTO, 2017). Regarding the additional subjects that can be chosen, the o er varies per school, e.g., not all schools o er information technology and philosophy. Many university degree programmes have speci c requirements regarding the track a student has completed in secondary education. is is especially the case for science programmes, which can only be accessed with a science track that consists of certain science subjects. In contrast, degree programmes in the humanities and social sciences are o en accessible for all pre- university students, regardless the track they graduated in.
Table 8.1 Overview of the four tracks in the upper grades of pre-university education
Track
Nature & technology
Nature & health
Economics & society
Culture & society
Percentage
of male and female students in 2015/2016 (VHTO, 2017)
Boys: 46 Girls: 27
Boys: 19 Girls: 31
Boys: 32 Girls: 31
Boys: 3 Girls: 11
Mandatory subjects within the track
Mathematics B Physics Chemistry
Mathematics A (or B)
Biology Chemistry
Mathematics A (or B) Economics History
Mathematics C (or A or B) History
Examples of additional subjects that can be chosen as part of the track
Information technology Nature, life, and technology Biology
Mathematics D
Physics
Nature, life, and technology Geography
Geography
Management and organisation Social sciences
Additional modern language
Additional modern language Additional arts subject Social studies
Philosophy
Geography Economics
Mandatory for everyone
Dutch
English
One second
modern language
(usually German
or French) or a
classical language
(Latin or Greek)
Civic education
Arts (or
classical cultural 8 education)
Physical
education
Conclusion and discussion
In our review in Chapter 3 we found that students who had taken a science track in secondary education had a higher GPA, obtained more credits, and were more likely to persist into the second year in university. Secondary school science coursework thus seems to put students at an advantage in university.
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