Identifying characteristics of successful tertiary students using path analysis

Academic achievement is the outcome of a complex system of learning and teaching relationships existing within the context of the university. A causal path model was developed and tested using a partial least squares path analysis procedure in order to examine the relationships among factors hypothesised to influence tertiary students’ academic achievement. Of the eight predictor variables included in the model (Approach to Learning motives and strategies; Learning Style; Age; Sex; Locus of Control; Metacognitive Capability; and students’ Self-Rated performance), Metacognitive Capability most clearly identifies successful students. Relationships among the other variables also provide valuable information about student learning outcomes.     

Fissures in the Federal Structure? The Case of the University of Wales

The paper describes the evolution of the University of Wales, and describes the attempts made at the end of the 1980s to instigate university-wide planning. These arrangements were, however, of short duration and have recently been reviewed and revised. A degree of tension and instability is endemic in all federations and 'Wales' is no exception. Its large colleges are impatient of central control and planning, and the Welsh Funding Council is unsympathetic to an increase in the sphere of influence of the federal university. Such factors are fissiparous forces, but they have to be set against the symbolic importance of the University of Wales as a means of representing and giving expression to Welsh national feeling.     

Beyond English hegemony: language,migration and Appalachian schools

Co‐authored by an academic who has worked in ESL teacher improvement programmes under the No Child Left Behind Act, an assistant director of an Appalachian school district, and a trilingual translator and teacher who works with indigenous Mexican populations, this article is narrated in the voice of the first author. The essay addresses how teachers in a Tennessee school district have learned to engage new English speakers and how existing ‘English only’ law affects the process. Contrasting today's immigrants with those of the past, the narrator relates her experience of working with Purépecha children in Morristown and considers the perils of stereotyping others' literacy. The children's comfort with speaking English is affected by their awareness that, as undocumented people, they and their families do not enjoy full citizenship.     

Was East German Education a Victim of West German 'Colonisation' after Unification?

German unification took place very rapidly, and it is sometimes argued that East German education was colonised in a process according to which ideas and structures (some of which were not very successful in the West) were foisted on the East in the cause of unity and homogeneity. This paper argues that the 'victim/colonisation' hypothesis is exaggerated. There was a suppressed reform tendency in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that resulted in several distinctive educational institutions in the New Bundesländer. Although it is true that a controversial divided secondary school structure replaced the GDR unified school, it was the East Germans themselves who clamoured for the grammar school without paying sufficient attention to the implications for those pupils who failed to obtain entry into it. Their suspicions that their most able children were under-achieving were not validated by empirical studies. To a certain degree, reverse transformation can be observed (influence from East to West). In the field of pre-school education and childcare, for example, the spectacle of a well-developed sector in the East made the Westerners realise that they themselves had no adequate policy or strategy so they began to develop one. The Wisssenschaftsrat (Higher Education Council) too drew attention to the efficiency of the GDR higher education system, and in certain respects is striving to emulate it in the Old Bundesländer. The conviction of having been 'colonised' feeds resentment that could result in a backlash against democratic values. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the implications of the colonisation hypothesis for citizenship.     

The third Amendment to the Higher Education Law of the German Federal Republic

The article describes and analyses some of the important changes which have been brought about by the most recent Amendment to the 1976 Higher Education Law. It attempts to show the rationale for some of these changes and to give a flavour of the public debate surrounding the new legislation. The following issues are discussed: university democracy, research, staff structure, the curriculum, the problems of non-university institutions and the position of comprehensive universities.     

Institutional lifecycles in British higher education

Summary The twentieth century has witnessed exponential growth in the provision of higher education and this growth accelerates the dynamic of institutional change. The change structures discussed in the present paper can be summarized in a cyclical model of development as presented in Figure 8. Long-term development along familiar, accustomed lines is no longer the universal or ‘normal’ expectation — if indeed it ever was. Morphological change is probable, though the direction of that change may take time to clarify. One thing seems clear: the political and economic pressures on universities are much more intense now than they have ever been and these pressures can be expected to cause metamorphoses, mutations, births and deaths amongst our ‘population’ of higher education institutions.     

English language learning difficulty of korean students in a Philippine Multidisciplinary University

This qualitative study analyzed the English language learning difficulties of 13 purposively chosen Korean students relative to their sociolinguistic competence, motivation in using the English language, and cultural factors. Interview responses were transcribed, categorized and thematised according to saliency, meaning and homogeneity. The findings of the study disclosed that, on the whole, while the subjects never had the opportunity to use the English language in Korea, they use it almost everywhere in the Philippines. Their difficulties exist both in daily conversation and in the academic setting. Such difficulties are attributable to both the subjects’ and the Filipinos’ different entry points in the learning and use of English. Despite cultural barriers in communication, however, the Koreans studying in the Philippines are instrumentally motivated to learn the English language.     

Under Stress: The concerns and coping strategies of teacher education students

Two cohorts of teacher education students provided information on their teaching practicum concerns and the strategies they used to cope with these concerns. Data were analysed to: (1) test the psychometric properties of the survey instrument; (2) identify aspects of the practicum that concern students most and least; (3) examine students' experiences of stress in relation to gender, age, and degree status; (4) define strategies that students report help them cope with practicum stresses; and, (5) investigate the relationship between stress and teaching performance. The data yielded a consistent finding of significant reduction in stress from the first to the second practicum. The critical importance of the student/supervising teacher relationship for student success in the practicum emerged both from the students' reports that seeking support from the teacher was their principal coping strategy, and from the strong link found between stress in the relationship and teachers' poorer rating of the students' performance. Deux groupes d'étudiants en éducation ont fourni des informations sur les préoccupations relatives à leur stage pratique ainsi que sur les stratégies adoptées pour y faire face. Ces données ont été analysées dans le but de: (1) tester les propriétés psychométriques de l'instrument de l'étude; (2) identifier les aspects du stage pratique qui préoccupent le plus et le moins les étudiants; (3) étudier les expériences de stress éprouvées par les étudiants en fonction de leur sexe, âge, et niveau d'éducation; (4) définir les stratégies qui, selon les étudiants, les aident à faire face au stress engendré par les stages pratiques; (5) examiner la relation entre le stress et la qualité de l'enseignement. Les données ont clairement montré une réduction des niveaux de stress entre les premier et second stages pratiques. L'importance critique de la relation étudiant-professeur d'encadrement sur le succès des stages pratiques est ressortie tant des commentaires des étudiants, selon lesquels l'appui du professeur était leur principale stratégie d'adaptation, que du lien étroit existant entre une relation tendue et l'appréciation négative des résultats des étudiants par les professeurs. Dos grupos de estudiantes de magisterio proporcionaron información sobre sus preocupaciones respecto a la práctica de la enseñanza, y las estrategias que usaban para hacer frente a esas preocupaciones. Se analizó la información para: (1) probar las propiedades psicométricas del instrumento de encuesta; (2) identificar los aspectos de la práctica que preocupaban más a los estudiantes y los que los preocupaban menos; (3) examinar las experiencias de los estudiantes relacionadas con la tensión, en cuanto a su sexo, edad, y condición con respecto a su graduación; (4) definir las estrategias que, según los estudiantes, les ayudan a hacer frente a la tensión ocasionada por la práctica; y (5) investigar la relación que existe entre la tensión y el rendimiento en la enseñanza. Los datos indicaron consistentemente que existe una reducción importante de la tensión entre la primera y la segunda práctica. La importancia crítica de la relación estudiante/profesor supervisor para que el estudiante tuviera éxito en la práctica se hizo evidente tanto en los informes de los estudiantes, de que la estrategia principal para hacer frente a la tensión era pedir apoyo al profesor, como del marcado vínculo que existe entre la tensión en la relación y las malas calificaciones que los profesores dan al rendimiento de los estudiantes. Zwei Gruppen von Pädagogikstudenten gaben Informationen über Probleme, die während des Lehrpraktikums auftraten, und über Strategien, die sie zur Bewältigung dieser Probleme benutzten. Die Daten wurden anhand folgender Gesichtspunkte analysiert: (1) Prüfung der psychometrischen Eigenschaften des Untersuchungsinstruments; (2) Identifikation der wichtigsten und unwichtigsten Probleme von Studenten im Lehrpraktikum; (3) Untersuchung der Stresserfahrungen der Studenten in Bezug auf Geschlecht, Alter und Studienfortschritt; (4) Definition der Strategien, die laut Angaben der Studenten bei der Bewältigung von Praktikumsstress behilflich sind; (5) Untersuchung der Beziehung zwischen Stress und Lehrleistung. Die Daten zeigten eindeutig eine signifikante Verringerung des Stressvolumens im zweiten Lehrpraktikum verglichen mit dem ersten Lehrpraktikum. Die entscheidende Bedeutung der Beziehung zwischen Studenten und praktikumsleitendem Lehrer für den Praktikumserfolg wurde sowohl aus den Angaben der Studenten, in denen die Bitte um Unterstützung durch den Lehrer als wichtigste Bewältigungsstrategie genannt wurde, als auch aus der eindeutig festgestellten Verbindung zwischen Stress in dieser Beziehung und der schlechteren Bewertung der Studentenleistung durch die Lehrer deutlich.