Open AccessA Transitional Year Level to Higher Education: Challenges, Experiences and Self-regulatory Strategies during the Final Year of the University Preparatory Level
Author(s) -
Ernesto Panadero,
Daniel GarcíaPérez,
Javier Fernández Ruiz,
Héctor Sánchez-Centeno
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
estudios sobre educación/ese. estudios sobre educación
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.318
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2386-6292
pISSN - 1578-7001
DOI - 10.15581/004.39.109-133
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , psychology , higher education , medical education , mathematics education , face (sociological concept) , academic achievement , pedagogy , medicine , political science , sociology , social science , psychiatry , law
Final Year level of the University Preparatory cycle (FYUP) –in Spanish 2º Bachillerato– is one of the most challenging academic courses. It is extremely demanding academically in itself and by the end of it students must also pass the university entry exam. Yet research has not investigated how students experience this year. We thus explored, using in-depth interviews with 75 students from two public high schools, their attitudes toward this academic year. Our results showed that (a) the participants struggled greatly during FYUP, experiencing high levels of academic stress (that affects their general well-being, mostly because of the high academic demands); (b) students were looking forward to their university experience but were concerned about failing or not finding their place; and (c) they reported a narrow range of learning, motivational, and emotional strategies. This study shows that students face significant learning and academic challenges during FYUP. A clear educational implication is that interventions should be implemented in earlier years to help the students be better prepared.