Does your secondary school matter for student

success in higher education?

Annemarie Oomen, APS International

20th October 2011

Frames of Reference

• Senior consultant & researcher at APS National Center for School Improvement

• The Netherlands In Europe…• Next to UK, above Belgium • Doing fine in PISA benchmarking

• Senior consultant & researcher at APS National Center for School Improvement

• The Netherlands: Population 16.5 million 19 year olds: > 90% in education.

Increase participation in higher education incl. university however…. still approx. 30% switch or drop out in year 1.

Research Questions

1. Do secondary schools ( i.e. pre-university track), with

• high (>80%) return and • low (<70%) return at one of the largest University in the

Netherlands, differ? If yes: how?

2. Do these schools differ in the nature and degree in which they prepare students for success at University?

Research model

-Social and cultural capital -Support environment-Gender

-Programme characteristics- Student support- Assessment- Student approach

Educational practice and management

Specific Programme

Academic orientation and preparation

CEIAG

Aspiration & motivation

(academic)Self-efficacy

Social economic and cultural background

Features ofCourse and/or. University

Previousscholing

Adapted from: Tinto: 1987,1993, 2004; Prins, 1997; De Metsenare et al, 2002

Research design- qualitative

• Selected 13 schools in benchmark of a large Uni:• 5 high return (> 80%); 5 low return ( <70%) first

year

• Deskresearch• Questionnaire and interview at site one

month before national examinations:• 1 Schoolmanager• 6 students (M/F; STEM/not STEM oriented;• 6 of their teachers

Do Dutch secondary schools with high and low return differ?No correlations found in respect to: public/private; a

large pre-university section; a specific eductional profile; amount of university-educated teaching staff.

Correlations are found between return and :• the assessment by the national

Inspectorate• assessment of the quality of the student

population by the teachers • having made a course- and university

choice one month before finishing national examinations

Do Dutch secondary schools with high and low return differ?Range school

-return first year on university

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

A B C D E F G H I J

-assessment by Inspectorate

X X X

-assessment quality student population by teaching staff

Below av

Below av

Belowav

Av Aboveav

Aboveav

Above av

Aboveav

Above av

Av

- both parents have university degree

 - -  -  *** * * * ? * *

-students feel sure about choises made

             

-students made both choices

                   

High return: school A, B, C, D, E

The nature and degree of university preparation?

Educational programme and management:• School segregation found at school A, B and C;

Enhanced educational practice at school A• All subject teachers in school A – J

• “knowledge, skills and exploration are important for student success at Uni”

• Most report to prepare students: in knowledge and/or skills

• Most are in direct contacts with Uni-staff: on subjectmatters

• Students in school A-J report to learn academic thinking and develop social and personal skills

• Both teachers and students report a learning culture in which “6 on a scale 1-10 is good enough”

The nature and degree of university preparation?

CEIAG:• Students at these secondary schools are encouraged to

explore academic courses and uni in the last 3 years, but • are not aware of the main and differing features of academic

programmes and of relevant issues that cause drop-out, fail, swith;

• careermanagement skills aren’t developed.• In the last 3 years of these secondary schools:

• students experience they are encouraged to take up own initiative in exploration;

• the role of the school is limited mostly to personal interviews with tutor or career teacher;

• career decisionmaking takes place at home with the parents. • Uni-staff is no ‘natural’interview source. • No real differences in CEIAG between schools with high and

low return but for the position of CEIAG in a school: this is more solid in a school with high return according to schoolmanagement.

Discussion• Students

• at schools with an ‘above average’rated student population and

• one or both parents having a uni-degree are almost obvious supposed to go to uni, with

no need to explore which course or level of HE. • What teachers at these secondary school

think necessary for uni-success differs from what they (can) do

• New perspectives on the national policy ‘to involve parents more in career decisionmaking’