Page 69 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Chapter 3
Reasons for engagement. e results of two Dutch university studies showed that intrinsic motivation was positively related to GPA, EC, and persistence. In Flemish university studies, it was positively related to GPA and EC, but not to persistence. One Flemish study that had a professional education sample found no relationship with EC or persistence. Extrinsic motivation was consistently unrelated to all outcomes in two Dutch and two Flemish studies. Motivation to study showed mostly positive e ects on EC (in three out of four Dutch university studies, and in one Flemish professional education study) and persistence (in two out of three Dutch university studies). Lack of motivation, investigated by one Dutch and one Flemish professional education studies, was consistently negatively related to EC and persistence. Two Dutch university studies looked into the motivation to be involved in extracurricular activities and found a negative relationship with GPA, but no relationships with EC and persistence.
Expectancy-value theories. Only Dutch university studies used the expectancy- value theory. Expectancies showed relationships with GPA and credits in three studies, whereas the results regarding values and a ect varied: For values, the four studies who investigated it found one positive and one non-signi cant result for GPA and the same for EC; for a ects, one study found no relationship with GPA and another study a positive relationship with EC.
Characteristics and perceptions of the learning environment
Characteristics of the learning environment were only investigated by Dutch studies, mostly in university education. Regarding the quantity of instruction, results showed that the higher the study load, the lower students’ GPA in university (two studies), and the higher the number of contact hours, the higher students’ GPA in university (two studies) and EC (one study) in professional education. Regarding quality aspects of the learning environment, two university studies found a positive relationship between perceived quality of assessment and GPA. Regarding the perceived quality of organisation of the programme, one study found a positive relationship with GPA, and another a non-signi cant one (both at university). A student-centered learning environment, e.g., problem-based, had positive e ects on Dutch university students’ EC obtainment in two out of three studies. A small number of studies focused on preparation for university in secondary school. A positive relationship between the perceived t between secondary school and university and EC was found in two studies. One of two studies found a positive e ect of resemblance of the learning environment in school and university. e
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