Page 223 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Chapter 8
from drawing conclusions about the impact of the rst-year learning environment on academic adjustment and achievement.
e last limitation concerns the very speci c context of the streamlined Dutch education system, which has consequences for the generalisability of our results to other countries. e rst main characteristic of the Dutch system relevant to this thesis is the presence of a level of secondary education that speci cally aims to prepare students for university. Only this level of secondary education grants direct access to university and about 80% of its students directly transfer to university a er graduation and many more a er a gap year. Notwithstanding possible negative aspects of such a highly di erentiated school system (e.g., segregation and unequal access possibilities based on socioeconomic status), the presence of pre-university education as a separate track of education can be seen as a luxury position. In contrast to comprehensive secondary education systems such as in the United States, there is no need for career preparation or preparation for vocational education. In theory, this leaves more room for university preparation and makes it easier for teachers, who do not have to shi focus based on di erent future paths of their students. is unity in the goal of pre-university education, i.e., university-ready students, is central in this thesis. e results are then only directly transferable to education systems with a comparable extent of external di erentation in their secondary education, or systems that still have a type of secondary school that aims to prepare for higher education, such as grammar schools in the United Kingdom. For comprehensive systems, the results are, rst of all, applicable for advanced courses that are designed for students who plan to attend university, such as Advanced Placement courses in the United States. Second, in comprehensive systems, the results can be used in identifying potential university students. Students who score high on factors that are associated with university readiness – e.g., need for cognition, academic interest, self-regulated study behaviour, academic self-e cacy – should be encouraged to go to university if they are unsure about their plans. In the case of rst-generation students especially, they should be guided towards more university readiness by, among other things, increasing their transition knowledge and skills (e.g., knowledge about degree programmes, the university environment in general, and nancial issues).
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