Page 219 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Chapter 8
discipline in their students. is could be an indication that the di erent secondary school tracks call for di erent learning strategies and thinking skills and thus do not equally contribute to the development of certain skills. is may also be the case for curiosity: In Chapter 4 we saw that science students scored higher on need for cognition and academic interest. Chapter 5 revealed that science students were overrepresented in the group of intellectually highly engaged students and humanities/social sciences students in the group of intellectually highly disengaged students. Again, self-selection may also be at play: More curious students may choose science coursework, because the image of science subjects as being more di cult, more academic, and more rigorous may draw curious students to choose these subjects. Once they are in these tracks, the use of inquiry-based teaching methods and conducting experiments, which is common in science education, may continue to arouse their curiosity and academic interest, while this applies less for students in humanities and social sciences.
ese four reasons may contribute to students with a science background being more ready for university, regardless the degree they embark on. Since one of the reasons for the implementation of the tracks in secondary education was that students would be better prepared for higher education by already choosing coursework in line with their future studies, this is not a good situation. In paragraph 8.5.2 we discuss possible measures to increase the rigor and value of the humanities and social sciences tracks as a preparation for a humanities and social sciences university degree.
8.2.3 The challenge of change: Survival of the ttest?
In our qualitative study about secondary school teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding university readiness and preparation, some teachers said they thought that the substantial change students undergo when they make the transition to university is ‘healthy’, that it is an inherent part of the university experience. Consequently, they did not believe that the transition should be attened. ere are good reasons why these teachers do have a point.
First of all, by means of the process of adjusting to university students develop coping mechanisms that will be useful in the future, as they will experience many transitions throughout their lives. Arguably, the transition from university to work which they will experience years later is even more di cult. Dealing e ectively with the transition from secondary school to university will give them the con dence they need to also be successful when they start their rst ‘real’ job.
218