As mentioned in the introduction to this report, the present study was undertaken as part of a wider programme of research conducted by the Starpath Project for Tertiary Participation and Success. Previous Starpath research, including literature reviews and scoping studies, relying largely on statistical data, has established that Māori and Pacific students, and those attending low-decile schools, are less likely than other New Zealand students to achieve the UE qualification and to begin university study, regardless of their individual ability and potential. Recent research conducted by a Starpath Project team (Madjar, McKinley, Jensen, & Van Der Merwe, 2009) has also provided evidence that students who complete little more than the minimum number of credits required for the UE qualification and/or NCEA Level 3 Certificate; who complete only a minimum number of standards from subjects on the approved list; and who do not establish academic goals and strategies early in their NCEA career are very likely to be under-prepared for university study. Furthermore, the research found that this group of students includes many academically able students who wish to go on to university.
Such students can find it more difficult to gain entry to university, particularly into highly competitive, limited-entry programmes, and to succeed in their studies.
The overall goal of the present study was to develop a deeper understanding of the processes experienced by students making the transition from secondary school to university study, with a particular focus on students from currently under-represented groups – Māori, Pacific and other students from predominantly low-decile urban and rural schools.
For the purposes of this study, transition was defined as a series of interlinking processes – personal, social and academic – that often involve an element of geographical relocation, and need to be accomplished to a level that allows individual students to meet the expectations of the tertiary institutions in which they are enrolling.
Some degree of successful transition was considered a prerequisite for students being able to engage and succeed in their chosen fields of study.
Transition to university is a lengthy process that begins while students are still at high school, continues during the ensuing summer, and during the initial months at university, or even longer. Yet despite its temporal nature, most previous research on this topic has used cross-sectional and retrospective approaches, recruiting research participants after their arrival at university, sometimes quite late in their first year. What we
currently do not know is what the process of transition (as opposed to being a first year undergraduate student) is like, especially for students from under-represented groups, including rural youth (Māori and European/Pākehā), Pacific youth from economically disadvantaged communities such as South Auckland, and other school leavers who might be the first in their family to attend university.
For these reasons the present project was designed as a longitudinal, prospective study.
This design allowed us to examine participants’ experiences as they evolved, including planning and decision-making prior to any contact with a university and problem-solving in relation to enrolment and other administrative matters, as well as their adjustment to university study and the new environment, changes in their social networks, and how they dealt with study loads, exams, feedback and other issues as they arose.
The following research question provided the focus for data collection and analysis:
What is the nature of the transition process experienced by academically able students from under-represented groups as they move from high school to university education, and how is the experience of transition incorporated into their life narratives?
More specific aims of the project were to:
• describe the transition process as experienced by students from the end of secondary schooling, through the summer “waiting” period, arrival at university, and the first semester of university study;
• examine the ways in which students with different life experiences talk about and construct the experience of transition and incorporate it into their life narratives (who they are, and who they are becoming);
• identify what students with different life histories experience as “stepping stones”
and “stumbling blocks” within the transition process, and what sustains them during this period;
• identify factors that might contribute to, or detract from, their motivation, confidence, academic and social integration within the university, and decisions they make (to stay, leave, or change courses) during the first semester of university study, and
• determine how we can better prepare and support first year university students through existing and/or new support or mentoring programmes.2
2 An additional aim of the project was to facilitate research with a cohort of Pacific students – a sub-sample within the larger project – to form the basis of MA (Development Studies) thesis by Marianna Deynzer. The thesis was submitted for examination in March 2009 and the degree awarded in October 2009.
4.1 Data collection and analysis
Data collection was organised into five phases, beginning while students were still at school and concluding at the end of their first semester at university. The types of data gathered and modes of data collection are summarised in Table 4.1 below:
Table 4.1 Summary of data collection
Phase Interview Journaling Photography Focus Phase 1.
Arrival at university. Orientation. First impressions and early experiences.
Semi-structured interviews were supplemented by participants contributing periodic journal entries, either in hard copy or online (on a password-protected website), and photographs of people and places involved in their transition experience. Selected photographs were used as stimuli for discussion during the final interview, encouraging reflection on past experiences. Most of the interviews conducted during the summer and in the April-May period were held over the phone. In addition, two students who had enrolled at universities outside Auckland had all but their initial interviews conducted over the phone.
Research participants were recruited from two schools in metropolitan Auckland and six schools in Northland. All data were collected between October 2007 and early August 2008. (A less intensive follow-up study is continuing with participants who agreed to on-going involvement and the outcomes of this follow-up study will be reported at the end of 2009.)
All interviews were recorded using digital audio recorders and these, along with hand-written journals, were transcribed verbatim. All transcripts were checked for accuracy, and the QSR N’Vivo™ (version 7) software programme was used for storage, retrieval and initial open coding of the data. Further narrative analysis was undertaken in relation to different phases of the transition process, different subgroups within the study, and individual participants. Data relating to Pacific students were used in two ways. Initially, these data were analysed independently of other data and used as the basis for the Master of Arts thesis by Marianna Deynzer (see footnote on the previous page). Later, these data were re-coded and analysed with all other data within the larger study.
None of the students who were excluded or withdrew from the study3, asked to withdraw their data. Therefore, the analysis included all data collected during the project. This provided important information on factors that contributed to participants’ decisions, both when participants followed through on their initial plans to embark on tertiary study and when some chose to change such plans and seek paid employment or defer further education.
3See Section 5 of the report for details.