Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Abstract
The first part of this paper reviews the research evidence accumulated to date which bears on the question, "How useful is information about a student's secondary school for an assessment of his likelihood of succeeding in tertiary studies?" Knowledge of whether a student entering university or college comes from a State, Catholic or other Private school appears to be useful to personnel making admissions decisions. The differing academic performance of students from these three types of schools is largely, unrelated to faculty choice, tertiary entrance qualifications, aptitude and intelligence. The way a student approaches his University or college work seems to depend instead on how he has been taught and the way he has been expected to study at school, given adequate ability and opportunity. The second part of the paper re-examines this idea and presents the results of a multivariate study of University Arts and Science students, and student teachers in a College of Advanced Education. Information about a student's school of entry was useful when added to matriculation score for selected faculties but the location of the school should also be taken into account. It is tentatively suggested that this latter variable modifies to some extent the "school" or "teaching" factor first proposed by Hohne in 1951.
Recommended Citation
Otto, E. P. (1979). Success and Failure in Tertiary Education, with Reference to School Attended : A Re-Examination. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.1979v4n1.1