relationship between secondary and higher education

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SECONDARY

AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Younas Alam Chowdhry & Usman Riaz WarraichImperial College of Business Studies, Lahore.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Many studies have been conducted to discern the influence of secondary education on the learning abilities and performance of students pursuing higher education.

Some studies have compared local secondary education systems with internationally competitive systems.

In Pakistan much of the research conducted on Secondary education highlights the need to upgrade the curricula and make it globally competitive.

INTRODUCTION (CONTD.)

In Pakistan there are predominantly two secondary education systems

1. Local or intermediate education system

2. General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), also known as the Cambridge Examination system.

The former’s examination is certified by the local education board

whereas the latter is an internationally recognized examination board.

The aim of this study was: To find out if the type of secondary educational route is a

predictor of academic performance of BBA students at business schools of Lahore.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A lot of research in the field of educational psychology has been conducted to understand the myriad predictors of academic success in higher education.

One such area of interest is “Secondary Education”

Usher(2008) reports that secondary academic achievement had a strong association with participation in bachelors level study.

LITERATURE REVIEW(CONTD.) Huws & Taylor (2009), found that

students with A levels background tended to demonstrate higher academic performance as compared to those with a national diploma.

Peers & Johnston (1994) discovered that there was a small but significant relationship between A level education and university performance.

Reddy & Talcot (2006), Concluded that secondary education wasn’t a predictor of university performance

LITERATURE REVIEW (CONTD.) Muhammad (2007) Compared A levels

curriculum with FSC (Science). It was concluded that the subjects aren’t competitive with the global education system and need to be upgraded according to the current global standards.

Amin Rehmani (2003), reports that that intermediate examination is seen as burdensome by students.

In most of the researches, dealing with higher academic performance, the CGPA is used as a measure of success (J Brumbaugh et al, 2007). The present research also used CGPA as a measure of academic success

LITERATURE REVIEW (CONTD.) Other studies have considered a variety of

variables as predictors of higher academic success:

SAT scores (Kruck, S. E. and Lending, Diane, 2003),

Self-efficacy (Bandura,1997; Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991),

Intrinsic motivation (Schunk, 1994; Zimmerman,

1994) Self-regulation (Schunk, 1994; Zimmerman, 1994)

Social support (Cutrona, et al, 1994).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Independent Variable:Secondary

Education type(Intermediate or

GCSE)

Dependent Variable

Higher Education Performance

(CGPA SCORE)

Intervening Variables: (Self efficacy, social support,

intrinsic motivation, assignments, attendance, class participation ,exams

etc.)

Hypothesis

Null hypothesis: Ho: The A-levels and intermediate

backgrounds do not have any relationship with academic performance of BBA students.

Alternative Hypothesis Ha: A levels students have a relatively higher

academic performance compared to intermediate students, in a BBA programme.

METHODOLOGY

Sample size: 192 BBA students from 3 business schools of Lahore. 64 from each school (equal number of GSCE and Inter students).

Sampling method: Simple random sampling Schools selected: ICBS, COMSATS and University of

Lahore. Institutional codes: ABC, XYZ and DEF for I.C.B.S,

COMSATS and UNIVERSITY OF LAHORE, respectively. Instrument: Questionnaire Instrument reliability: Test-Retest method with 100%

score. Instrument validity: Content Validity method was used. Data analysis technique: Independent t-test was used to

compare mean CGPA scores. Data software used: SPSS Nature of study: This was a cross-sectional research.

Questionnaire 

Institution: ABC

Q1. What is your degree program?

BBA(honors)

BBA

Q2. What type of secondary education did you undertake?

Intermediate

GSCE (Alevels)

Q3. Were your final secondary exams administered by the board of secondary education or The British Council?

British Council

Secondary Board.

Q4. What is your current CGPA? (On a four point scale)

__________

RESULTS

GSCE Intermediate

Mean CGPA Score 3.42 3.01

Standard deviation .351 .449

T-test score: Independent t-test score with a 95% confidence interval showed a statically significant difference of 6.766.

DISCUSSION & RECOMMENDATION The null hypothesis is rejected and the

alternative hypothesis is accepted. Our study shows that, on average, students

with GCSE background performed better than students with intermediate background, while studying in BBA programs at the three business schools of Lahore.

It is recommended that business institutions introduce measures that may eliminate this apparent disparity caused by the educational background of the students.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This study was focused on BBA students

studying at business schools of Lahore only. The results might not be applicable to the students enrolled in other disciplines and studying in other cities.

Academic records of the participants were inaccessible, so there was no way to cross-check and verify their CGPA scores.

It was a cross-sectional study that spanned three months. A longitudinal study might produce different results.

RECOMMENDATIONS: FUTURE STUDIES It is recommended that for future

studies: 1. A longitudinal research should be

carried out to check how CGPA scores vary over time in both groups.

2. Assess if the results are similar for other disciplines

3. Assess if the results are similar for masters level students.

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