Competent Learners on the Edge of Adulthood: A summary of key findings from the Competent Learners @ 16 project

6. Experiences of secondary school

We were interested in finding out how students choose the subjects they study, and what kinds of teaching approaches are most likely to engage them. We also wanted to find out more about student and parent experiences with NCEA.

SUBJECT CHOICE—THE FOUR ‘CLUSTERS’

By the age of 16, students have a lot more choice about the subjects they can take at secondary school than they did when they were younger. Schools try to structure their timetables to give as much choice as possible.

One of the goals of NCEA is to open up different learning pathways for students. To some extent this appears to be happening. For example, many schools now offer ‘alternatives’ within traditional subjects such as English and mathematics. However, we found that schools tend to organise their timetables and pathways to subjects in a way that meant we found four main subject ‘clusters’ among the Year 11 and 12 students. These clusters encourage students to follow the same routes they have always followed—effectively either an ‘academic’ or a ‘practical’ pathway.

We found two academic clusters—‘traditional arts’ and ‘traditional science’. These two clusters provide a clear pathway to university or other tertiary study.

We found two more practical clusters—‘contextual’ and ‘vocational’. These two clusters potentially limit students’ opportunities for tertiary study, especially the ‘vocational’ cluster.

We found that students who were in the contextual and vocational clusters were more likely to:

• be less engaged with school
• have had lower motivation levels at age 14
• be among those who did not enjoy reading
• attend school less regularly.
  

HOW DO STUDENTS CHOOSE THEIR SUBJECTS?

Although student choice is constrained, around 80 percent of students said they were happy with their subject mix for the year. However, a quarter said they wished they had had more guidance when choosing subjects. Just over half said there was something they would have liked to do at school but were not able to. They named a wide range of areas that interested them. The main reasons students gave for not being able to follow their interests in these areas were:

• timetable clash
• having to prioritise
• not having the course prerequisite.
  

The most common reason that students gave for choosing a subject was that they thought it would be interesting, or that it would lead to a career. The main reason for dropping a subject was that they did not enjoy it, or they found it difficult. Very few students said they chose a subject because of the reputation of the teacher who taught it.

Only a handful of students—2 percent— said they chose a subject because it would yield easy NCEA credits. Similarly, only 5 percent said they chose a subject because it would be easy.

OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN

We asked students about three different classes:

• the class they most enjoyed
• the class they least enjoyed
• their English class.
  

We wanted to find out how they viewed the learning environment in each class, and in particular how the learning environment of their most-enjoyed class differed from that of their least-enjoyed class.

We also asked the teachers of each of the three classes about their teaching practices, and the learning environment in the classes they taught.

The most enjoyed classes

Students’ most-enjoyed classes included a wide range of subjects, with arts being the most popular subject. This includes the visual arts and drama. As in previous studies, students tended to prefer subjects with a strong practical component, such as art and drama, or health and sport. However, 13 percent of students said science was their favourite subject, and 6 percent nominated maths.

The least enjoyed classes

Mathematics and science were the least-enjoyed subjects, with 37 percent saying they did not like maths, and 25 percent saying they did not like science. The next most unpopular subject was English, nominated by 22 percent of our participants.

DIFFERENCES IN TEACHING APPROACHES

There are several factors which distinguished the teaching of the most-enjoyed classes from those of the least-enjoyed classes.

Teachers of most-enjoyed classes were more likely than the teachers of the least-enjoyed classes to say that:

• students do a lot of group activities and discussion
• students have the opportunity to act on issues that concern them
• students interact with people outside school as part of their school work
• students give input into the context and direction of learning activities
• students do a lot of practical activities
• the class has a lot of fun.
  

THE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES STUDENTS MOST VALUE

Students also saw differences in the learning environment of their most-enjoyed classes and their least-enjoyed classes. The things they valued in their most-enjoyed classes included:

• being treated fairly by the teacher
• understanding their teacher’s attitudes and rules
• knowing the teacher will help them when they need it
• being given clear instructions
• liking the teacher
• feeling that the teacher understands how they feel about things
• getting feedback that helps them see what to do next
• having a teacher who is interested in their ideas
• being able to make mistakes and learn from them without getting into trouble
• getting explanations more than once if they need them.
  

Students also said they enjoyed classes where they could see connections between what they learn and the outside world, where the teacher built on their interests and used relevant examples, and where they had lots of hands-on or practical activities.

ATTITUDES TO LEARNING

Students had a much more positive attitude towards learning in their most-enjoyed classes than their least-enjoyed classes. They said they mucked around less in their most-enjoyed classes, and they were less likely to try to annoy the teacher. Students were also more likely to say they did well in their most-enjoyed class, and that they were confident they could master the skills being taught. They were also more likely to think they would get NCEA credits in their most-enjoyed class.

The teachers of the most-enjoyed classes also viewed the students more positively—and gave them generally higher scores for attitudinal competency. The teachers of the most-enjoyed classes also had higher expectations for the student’s long-term educational success.

IMPLICATIONS

Most of the young people in this sample were engaged with school. But a substantial minority—around 30 percent—had poor attendance, or they were attending school but were not actively responding to it. A small number had already left school.

Young people who are not engaged with school are the most likely to leave school without a meaningful qualification that allows them to gain reasonably-paid employment. They are also more likely to lack the skills and knowledge they will need to cope with a period of substantial and rapid social and economic change.

We found that even some students who were performing well at school were more bored and restless than they had been in the past. This suggests that we need to keep providing support and opportunities that allow secondary school students to stretch and grow, but it also suggests that we may need to do things differently.

What can we do to improve student engagement at secondary level? We can strengthen the opportunities to learn at pre-school and primary school level, so that students coming to secondary school are more likely to have developed positive ‘habits’ of learning, and are strong in both the cognitive and attitudinal areas.

We can also strengthen the opportunities to learn in secondary schools.

Our findings point to the importance of learning relationships in classrooms. Students enjoy classes where their interactions with the teacher are learning-focused, and where the processes of learning receive attention, not just the products. The importance of this type of classroom environment is signalled by the strong emphasis on ‘learning to learn’ in the New Zealand Curriculum. (Learning to learn is one of eight principles that underpin the whole curriculum.)

Similarly, the five key competencies described for the national curriculum focus on the capabilities needed to take advantage of the learning opportunities provided. These five key competencies are:

• thinking
• using language, symbols and texts
• managing self
• relating to others
• participating and contributing.
  

As we have seen, students who already show strengths in these competencies tend to also show higher achievement. However our findings about how students view different teaching approaches are an important reminder that what teachers do also makes a difference. The revised New Zealand curriculum gives teachers and schools a better framework to provide students with the kinds of learning opportunities they need. The result should be that secondary students are better engaged in learning.