The Relation Between Orientations to Higher Education and Curricular Experiences
Poster presentation for a project exploring the relationship between students' orientations to higher education and their curricular experiences.
In a recent qualitative study of university graduates’ views and experiences of higher education, Spronken-Smith et al. (2008) found four orientations to higher education:
- gaining a qualification for a specific job;
- preparation for a job;
- developing life skills and learning how to think;
- education for its own sake: growing as an individual.
Graduates’ notions of a degree, of knowledge, and of skills varied in complexity across the orientations. This dimensional variation was supported by other research, such as that on conceptions of learning (e.g., Martonet al., 1993), in which students’ experiences ranged from superficial views reflecting external authorisednotions of knowledge to deep transformative personal change. Whilst the authors found that the level of parental post-secondary education had a strong influence on orientations to higher education, they also suggested that curricular experiences could be influential.
Authors: Rachel Spronken-Smith, Nell Buissink-Smith, Carol Bond and Gabrielle Grigg, Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, New Zealand
Date: 2008