The influence of learning environment on student conceptions of learning

Abstract

Responding to the increasing numbers of students who now study across more than one of the traditional sectors of education and training, this research explored quantitative differences in conceptions of learning between students who had entered university study on the basis of a VET qualification, and those who had entered on a basis of previous university studies. Using the Conceptions of Learning Inventory the research also used gender as an independent variable. While some differences were shown between the previously-VET and previously-university students and some differences between genders these differences were characterised by low to moderate effect sizes only. The authors conclude that the quantitative differences are not particularly important, but that qualitative research may indicate differences in kind between the conceptions of learning of the two groups. Introduction and contextPost-secondary education in Australia, along with much of the rest of the planet, is undergoing significant change and re-alignment between the sectors. Over the past couple of decades post-secondary education has been represented by three identifiable formal education sectors: the adult and community education (ACE) sector; the vocational education and training (VET sector), strongly represented by the publicly funded Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions; and the university sector. In this paper we will be focussing on two of these sectors -VET and university.The focus on these two sectors is the result of a considerable blurring of the boundaries between the sectors expressed in a number of different ways. While it was originally developed to provide sub-degree VET at Certificate and Diploma levels, a number of the TAFE institutes are now offering vocational degrees at the Bachelor, Graduate Certificate, and Graduate Diploma levels -previously the province of the higher education university sector. The vocational degrees in TAFE institutes do not adopt a competency approach to assessment. A second form of 'blurring' is occurring with the movement of students between the sectors. Harris, Rainey and Sumner (2006) have provided evidence that movement between the sectors has been a feature of policy at legislative level for some years; they also provide evidence that the transfer is frequently made between the sectors by individual students. That movement is both ways. University graduates access the VET sector for further vocational related

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