Predicting freshmen’s academic adjustment and subsequent achievement: differences between academic and professional higher education contexts

Abstract

This study tests an integrative model, which delineates how students’ academic motivation, academic self-efficacy and learning strategies (processing strategies and regulation strategies) at the end of secondary education impact academic adjustment in the first semester of the first year of higher education (FYHE) and subsequent academic achievement at the end of the FYHE, in two types of HE programmes. More precisely, the present study explores the extent to which the explanatory values of aforementioned determinants of academic adjustment and academic achievement differ across academic (providing more theoretical and scientific education) and professional (offering more vocational education that prepares students for a particular occupation, such as nursing) programmes. Hereto, multiple-group SEM analyses were carried out on a longitudinal dataset containing 1987 respondents (Academic programmes: N=1080, 54.4%; Professional programmes: N=907, 45.6%), using Mplus 8.3. Results indicate differences in the predictive power of determinants under scrutiny between professional and academic contexts. Firstly, learning strategies and motivational variables at the end of secondary education have more predictive power in the prediction of FYHE academic adjustment in the academic programmes than in professional programmes. Secondly, our results indicate that academic adjustment in the first semester of the FYHE influences academic achievement to a bigger extent in professional programmes than in academic programmes. Moreover, these differences across HE contexts were found after controlling for prior education. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Emotional anticipation of the school‐to‐work transition: A multigroup latent profile analysis

“…This suggests that even though students are enrolled in a different academic environment, the configuration of emotional anticipation is the same for both groups. Although prior research has already examined university and college students’ differences about the academic adjustment to the transition to higher education (Willems et al., 2021), this is the first study that compared the differences in emotional processes among the two educational contexts. From a practical perspective, the present findings represent an important step in relation to students’ emotional anticipation.…”

Discussion to the special issue: Supporting the transition of a diversity of students: Developing the “whole student” during and beyond their time at higher education.

“…Self-efficacy can also be considered important in developing life-long learning. Willems et al (2021) showed in their research that students' self-efficacy was positively associated with academic adjustment. It had a positive impact on academic achievement, both directly and indirectly, through academic adjustment.…”

“…Finally, they found that contextual differences predicted about 15 percent of academic achievement, but that this was different depending on students' study programs. Willems et al (2021) also considered differences between academic programmes and professional programmes. They found that learning strategies and motivational variables at the end of secondary education were more predictive for students' first-year adjustment in the academic programmes than in professional programmes.…”

Widening the Methodological Lens on the Investigation of Diversity in the Transition to Higher Education

“…The study's three-wave longitudinal design allows the researchers to analyse changes within individuals, differences between students and interaction effects between them. Similarly, Willems et al (2021) conduct SEM analyses on a longitudinal dataset to explore to what extent students' psychosocial variables at the end of secondary education can predict their academic achievement and adjustment during the first year at university. It is novel here that the authors also investigate whether the predictive power might differ depending on whether students are enrolled in professional or academic programs.…”

“…The difficulty in separating micro-from meso-level variables without acknowledging their interdependence can be further illustrated by the research of Willems et al (2021). The authors frame diversity at the meso level as 'programme diversity', pointing to differences especially between academic and professional disciplines with regard to their aims, conditions and teaching methods.…”