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Journal ArticleDOI

How Different Diversity Factors Affect the Perception of First-Year Requirements in Higher Education

12 Mar 2021-Vol. 9, Iss: 2, pp 78-95
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how the different factors affect the students' perception of the formal and informal requirements of the first year as more or less difficult to cope with, and found that the differences in the perception largely depend on the individual factors self-efficacy and volition.
Abstract: In the light of growing university entry rates, higher education institutions not only serve larger numbers of students, but also seek to meet first-year students’ ever more diverse needs. Yet to inform universities how to support the transition to higher education, research only offers limited insights. Current studies tend to either focus on the individual factors that affect student success or they highlight students’ social background and their educational biography in order to examine the achievement of selected, non-traditional groups of students. Both lines of research appear to lack integration and often fail to take organisational diversity into account, such as different types of higher education institutions or degree programmes. For a more comprehensive understanding of student diversity, the present study includes individual, social and organisational factors. To gain insights into their role for the transition to higher education, we examine how the different factors affect the students’ perception of the formal and informal requirements of the first year as more or less difficult to cope with. As the perceived requirements result from both the characteristics of the students and the institutional context, they allow to investigate transition at the interface of the micro and the meso level of higher education. Latent profile analyses revealed that there are no profiles with complex patterns of perception of the first-year requirements, but the identified groups rather differ in the overall level of perceived challenges. Moreover, SEM indicates that the differences in the perception largely depend on the individual factors self-efficacy and volition.

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Citations
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Journal Article
TL;DR: A detailed review of the education sector in Australia as in the data provided by the 2006 edition of the OECD's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance' is presented in this paper.
Abstract: A detailed review of the education sector in Australia as in the data provided by the 2006 edition of the OECD's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance' is presented. While the data has shown that in almost all OECD countries educational attainment levels are on the rise, with countries showing impressive gains in university qualifications, it also reveals that a large of share of young people still do not complete secondary school, which remains a baseline for successful entry into the labour market.

2,141 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article , the authors investigated the associations between self-efficacy, academic achievements, and regulation in first-year university students during their transition into higher education and found that students' selfefficacy was positively associated with self-regulation and negatively associated with a lack of regulation.
Abstract: Transition into higher education (HE) has received increased interest in recent years, since it represents a challenging period for students. The aim of this study was to further understand the associations between self-efficacy, academic achievements, and regulation in first-year university students during their transition into HE. The convenience sample consisted of 374 first-year university students (230 females, 61.5%), aged from 18 to 33 (M = 19.86, SD = 1.51) and recruited from an Italian university. Self-efficacy was assessed using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire; regulation strategies were assessed with the Inventory of Learning Patterns of Students; and a self-reported grade point average was taken as an indicator of each student's academic performance. Result shows that students' self-efficacy was positively associated with self-regulation and negatively associated with a lack of regulation. Students with higher self-efficacy and self-regulation strategies had better academic performance. Female students performed better in academic activities and adopted more external regulation strategies. The findings represent an opportunity for university institutions to consider the interventions they provide to first-year students in order to facilitate the successful transition from secondary school; they also provide researchers with further knowledge about the effect of self-efficacy, and regulation strategies on students' adjustment to HE. Le transizioni scolastiche hanno ricevuto un crescente interesse negli ultimi anni, poiché rappresenta un periodo delicato e impegnativo per gli studenti. Lo scopo di questo studio è stato quello di comprendere le associazioni tra autoefficacia, risultati accademici e regolazione negli studenti universitari del primo anno durante la loro transizione all'Università. Il campione di convenienza consisteva in 374 studenti universitari del primo anno (230 femmine, 61,5%), di età compresa tra i 18 e i 33 anni (M = 19,86, SD = 1,51). I risultati mostrano come l'autoefficacia degli studenti era positivamente associata all'autoregolazione e negativamente associata alla mancanza di regolazione. Gli studenti con maggiore autoefficacia e strategie di autoregolazione hanno avuto migliori prestazioni accademiche. Le studentesse si sono comportate meglio nelle attività accademiche e hanno adottato più strategie di regolazione esterna. I risultati rappresentano un'opportunità per le istituzioni universitarie di considerare gli interventi a supporto degli studenti del primo anno al fine di facilitare la transizione. Author's declare no conflict of interest. The data that support this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

2 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
12 Jul 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide an overview of how the different papers contribute to methodological development in the field, in particular by their use of advanced multi-factor analyses and accounting for diversity in student transitions at several levels.
Abstract: This discussion addresses the methodological approaches used in the special issue on student transitions and diversity. We provide an overview of how the different papers contribute to methodological development in the field, in particular by their use of advanced multi-factor analyses and accounting for diversity in student transitions at several levels. The discussion touches upon challenges concerning (a) the distinction of analytical levels, (b) different conceptualisations and operationalisations of diversity and (c) the types of data collection methodologies. We conclude by discussing future steps to widen the methodological lens in transition research.

1 citations


Cites background from "How Different Diversity Factors Aff..."

  • ...In a similar vein, Bohndick et al. (2021) conduct a latent profile analysis on a cross-sectional survey collected at the end of the first study year to identify different profiles of first year students’ perceptions of the study requirements....

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  • ...On the other hand, the paper by Bohndick et al. (2021) could support using students’ perceptions of environmental requirements as a valid measure for assessing the meso level....

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  • ...Another example is the study by Bohndick et al. (2021) that uses a multi-layered conception of diversity that considers the students’ individual, performance-related differences and the social differences related to their background....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper , a study was carried out among 1,048 first-year students from a French-speaking Belgian university using latent profile analysis, their results yielded five profiles representing different combinations of achievement predictors (high school grade, socio-economic status, informed-choice, and self-efficacy beliefs).
Abstract: The transition into higher education (HE) is a particularly challenging process for students due to a large variety of difficulties and requirements. Moreover, increasing student numbers and diversity in European HE have complexified the issue of the successful transition to university. Consequently, it is important to further develop our understanding of the heterogeneity of students and the specific challenges that impact their successful and less stressful transitions into higher education. This paper contributes to this scientific endeavour. More precisely, a study was carried out among 1,048 first-year students from a French-speaking Belgian university . Using latent profile analysis, our results yielded five profiles representing different combinations of achievement predictors (high school grade, socio-economic status, informed-choice, and self-efficacy beliefs). When comparing the profiles, our results further highlighted key differences in the way students experienced the specific challenges associated with the transition and succeeded at the end of the first year. The discussion of the results allowed us to provide practical implications and future perspectives on the thorny issue of diversity into the transition to HE.

1 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
12 Mar 2021
TL;DR: De Clercq et al. as discussed by the authors pointed out that environmental characteristics, such as distinctiveness of countries, is often overlooked in research and pointed out the need for research into the broader context to identify how we can better support the diverse student population as they transition into higher education, but also how to prepare them for a positive experience during and beyond their time in higher education.
Abstract: Apart from the current Covid19 context, the higher education sectors across the world have been faced with major challenges over the last few decades (Auerbach et al., 2018; Haggis, 2004), including increased numbers and diversity. Considering the many challenges in higher education, especially the rise of students’ mental health issues, I am strongly convinced that education sectors, but in particular the higher education sector, have a societal responsibility to not just focus on students as learners of knowledge and/or professional skills, but to support them in being developed as “whole students”. All these challenges also raise a need for research into the broader context to identify how we can better support the diverse student population as they transition into higher education, but also how to prepare them for a positive experience during and beyond their time in higher education. Overall, it can be said that the contributions to this special issue beneficially addressed some of the main foci to widening the perspectives on diversity related to the transition into higher education. The contribution came from different European countries, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. De Clercq et al. (in this special issue) indicated that environmental characteristics, such as distinctiveness of countries, is often overlooked in research. In this discussion article, therefore, some particular references will also be made to a specific country, New Zealand. This may be of interest and relevant for the particular questions raised in this special issue as focusing on student diversity in educational contexts has been considered important for some time in this country. Aoteraroa New Zealand is a country in the South Pacific colonised by Europeans in the 19th century. In the second part of the 20th century, the focus across the New Zealand education sectors, including higher education, started to develop beyond just a European perspective, and started to focus more on recognition of student diversity. Initially, the main focus was on the indigenous population, the Māori people. In the last few decades of the 20th century, the focus was extended to the Pacific Island people, many of whom migrated to New Zealand from a wide range of different islands in the South Pacific. In the 21st century, the focus on Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) groups was further extended, and over the last decade also because of the increase of refugees from the Middle East and Asia. Providing some insights from the other end of the world, in quite a different and de-colonised ex-European nation may help European (and other) countries to reflect on their own approaches.

1 citations


Cites background from "How Different Diversity Factors Aff..."

  • ...Bohndick et al. (2021) also make a point for the role of universal interventions to support students....

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  • ...In their research Bohndick et al. (2021) also identified the importance of self-efficacy beliefs....

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  • ...In their study, Bohndick et al. (2021) clearly went beyond student characteristics and also considered social and organisational diversity factors, which they proved had an impact....

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References
More filters
Book
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: SelfSelf-Efficacy (SE) as discussed by the authors is a well-known concept in human behavior, which is defined as "belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments".
Abstract: Albert Bandura and the Exercise of Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control Albert Bandura. New York: W. H. Freeman (www.whfreeman.com). 1997, 604 pp., $46.00 (hardcover). Enter the term "self-efficacy" in the on-line PSYCLIT database and you will find over 2500 articles, all of which stem from the seminal contributions of Albert Bandura. It is difficult to do justice to the immense importance of this research for our theories, our practice, and indeed for human welfare. Self-efficacy (SE) has proven to be a fruitful construct in spheres ranging from phobias (Bandura, Jeffery, & Gajdos, 1975) and depression (Holahan & Holahan, 1987) to career choice behavior (Betz & Hackett, 1986) and managerial functioning (Jenkins, 1994). Bandura's Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control is the best attempt so far at organizing, summarizing, and distilling meaning from this vast and diverse literature. Self-Efficacy may prove to be Bandura's magnum opus. Dr. Bandura has done an impressive job of summarizing over 1800 studies and papers, integrating these results into a coherent framework, and detailing implications for theory and practice. While incorporating prior works such as Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) and "Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency" (Bandura, 1982), Self-Efficacy extends these works by describing results of diverse new research, clarifying and extending social cognitive theory, and fleshing out implications of the theory for groups, organizations, political bodies, and societies. Along the way, Dr. Bandura masterfully contrasts social cognitive theory with many other theories of human behavior and helps chart a course for future research. Throughout, B andura' s clear, firm, and self-confident writing serves as the perfect vehicle for the theory he espouses. Self-Efficacy begins with the most detailed and clear explication of social cognitive theory that I have yet seen, and proceeds to delineate the nature and sources of SE, the well-known processes via which SE mediates human behavior, and the development of SE over the life span. After laying this theoretical groundwork, subsequent chapters delineate the relevance of SE to human endeavor in a variety of specific content areas including cognitive and intellectual functioning; health; clinical problems including anxiety, phobias, depression, eating disorders, alcohol problems, and drug abuse; athletics and exercise activity; organizations; politics; and societal change. In Bandura's words, "Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments" (p. 3). People's SE beliefs have a greater effect on their motivation, emotions, and actions than what is objectively true (e.g., actual skill level). Therefore, SE beliefs are immensely important in choice of behaviors (including occupations, social relationships, and a host of day-to-day behaviors), effort expenditure, perseverance in pursuit of goals, resilience to setbacks and problems, stress level and affect, and indeed in our ways of thinking about ourselves and others. Bandura affirms many times that humans are proactive and free as well as determined: They are "at least partial architects of their own destinies" (p. 8). Because SE beliefs powerfully affect human behaviors, they are a key factor in human purposive activity or agency; that is, in human freedom. Because humans shape their environment even as they are shaped by it, SE beliefs are also pivotal in the construction of our social and physical environments. Bandura details over two decades of research confirming that SE is modifiable via mastery experiences, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, and interpretation of physiological states, and that modified SE strongly and consistently predicts outcomes. SE beliefs, then, are central to human self-determination. STRENGTHS One major strength of Self-Efficacy is Bandura's ability to deftly dance from forest to trees and back again to forest, using specific, human examples and concrete situations to highlight his major theoretical premises, to which he then returns. …

46,839 citations


"How Different Diversity Factors Aff..." refers background in this paper

  • ...This definition goes back to the efficacy expectancies by Bandura (1997), and the construct is widely accepted as very important for study success (Bartimote-Aufflick, Bridgeman, Walker, Sharma, & Smith, 2016)....

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Book
Vincent Tinto1
01 Jan 1987
TL;DR: In the second edition of this text, Tinto synthesizes far-ranging research on student attrition and on actions institutions can and should take to reduce student attrition as mentioned in this paper, showing that effective retention is in a strong commitment to quality education and the building of a strong sense of inclusive educational and social community on campus.
Abstract: As enrollments continue to decline, student retention is increasingly vital to the survival of most colleges and universities. In the second edition of this text, Tinto synthesizes far-ranging research on student attrition and on actions institutions can and should take to reduce it. The key to effective retention, Tinto demonstrates, is in a strong commitment to quality education and the building of a strong sense of inclusive educational and social community on campus. This revised and expanded edition incorporates the explosion of recent research and policy reports on why students leave higher education. Incorporating current data, Tinto applies his theory of student departure to the experiences of minority, adult and graduage students, and to the situation facing commuting institutions and two-year colleges. He has revised his theory, giving new emphasis to the central importance of the classroom experience and to the role of multiple college communities.

9,733 citations


"How Different Diversity Factors Aff..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...This assumption is based on a study on the transition to HE, which expanded the traditional notion of academic and social integration (Tinto, 1987) by introducing the distinction of personal, organisational, content-related, and social requirements (Trautwein & Bosse, 2017)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The meaning of the terms "method" and "method bias" are explored and whether method biases influence all measures equally are examined, and the evidence of the effects that method biases have on individual measures and on the covariation between different constructs is reviewed.
Abstract: Despite the concern that has been expressed about potential method biases, and the pervasiveness of research settings with the potential to produce them, there is disagreement about whether they really are a problem for researchers in the behavioral sciences. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to explore the current state of knowledge about method biases. First, we explore the meaning of the terms “method” and “method bias” and then we examine whether method biases influence all measures equally. Next, we review the evidence of the effects that method biases have on individual measures and on the covariation between different constructs. Following this, we evaluate the procedural and statistical remedies that have been used to control method biases and provide recommendations for minimizing method bias.

8,719 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of 13 years of research into antecedents of university students' grade point average (GPA) scores generated a comprehensive, conceptual map of known correlates of tertiary GPA; assessment of the magnitude of average, weighted correlations with GPA; and tests of multivariate models of GPA correlates within and across research domains.
Abstract: A review of 13 years of research into antecedents of university students' grade point average (GPA) scores generated the following: a comprehensive, conceptual map of known correlates of tertiary GPA; assessment of the magnitude of average, weighted correlations with GPA; and tests of multivariate models of GPA correlates within and across research domains. A systematic search of PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge databases between 1997 and 2010 identified 7,167 English-language articles yielding 241 data sets, which reported on 50 conceptually distinct correlates of GPA, including 3 demographic factors and 5 traditional measures of cognitive capacity or prior academic performance. In addition, 42 non-intellective constructs were identified from 5 conceptually overlapping but distinct research domains: (a) personality traits, (b) motivational factors, (c) self-regulatory learning strategies, (d) students' approaches to learning, and (e) psychosocial contextual influences. We retrieved 1,105 independent correlations and analyzed data using hypothesis-driven, random-effects meta-analyses. Significant average, weighted correlations were found for 41 of 50 measures. Univariate analyses revealed that demographic and psychosocial contextual factors generated, at best, small correlations with GPA. Medium-sized correlations were observed for high school GPA, SAT, ACT, and A level scores. Three non-intellective constructs also showed medium-sized correlations with GPA: academic self-efficacy, grade goal, and effort regulation. A large correlation was observed for performance self-efficacy, which was the strongest correlate (of 50 measures) followed by high school GPA, ACT, and grade goal. Implications for future research, student assessment, and intervention design are discussed.

2,370 citations


"How Different Diversity Factors Aff..." refers background or result in this paper

  • ...The importance of individual diversity for the perception of institutional requirements is in line with former findings regarding the predictive nature of these factors for study success (Richardson et al., 2012)....

    [...]

  • ...Effort regulation is part of self-regulatory learning strategies and refers to volitional aspects like the persistence and effort when faced with challenging academic situations (Richardson et al., 2012)....

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  • ...In the meta-analysis, grade goal is the self-assigned goal standard (Richardson et al., 2012)....

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  • ...Self-efficacy is defined as the perceptions of academic capability (Richardson et al., 2012)....

    [...]

Journal Article
TL;DR: A detailed review of the education sector in Australia as in the data provided by the 2006 edition of the OECD's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance' is presented in this paper.
Abstract: A detailed review of the education sector in Australia as in the data provided by the 2006 edition of the OECD's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance' is presented. While the data has shown that in almost all OECD countries educational attainment levels are on the rise, with countries showing impressive gains in university qualifications, it also reveals that a large of share of young people still do not complete secondary school, which remains a baseline for successful entry into the labour market.

2,141 citations


"How Different Diversity Factors Aff..." refers background in this paper

  • ...While early drop-out is a known phenomenon internationally (OECD, 2019), the shift towards the first year in Germany is regarded as an effect of the implementation of bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes, which brought along accumulated demands for first-year students (Heublein et al., 2017)....

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