An inadequate preparation for degree level courses: A study of student perceptions of the appropriateness of AS and A2 levels for undertaking Arts and Humanities courses at the University of Warwick.
An analysis of the reasons cited to explain the growing number of university ‘dropouts’ within both the 1992 and Russell Groups of universities.
August 7, 2021A statistical comparison of the rate of top grade awarded at school and university levels from 1979: A consistent lowering of secondary standards?
August 7, 2021An inadequate preparation for degree level courses: A study of student perceptions of the appropriateness of AS and A2 levels for undertaking Arts and Humanities courses at the University of Warwick.
Example education dissertation topic 6:
An inadequate preparation for degree level courses: A study of student perceptions of the appropriateness of AS and A2 levels for undertaking Arts and Humanities courses at the University of Warwick.
The modularisation of A-levels and the shortening of examinations has led, within a number of arts and humanities questions, to a reliance on short answer questions at both AS and A2 level. In contrast, at university level there is an expectation that students will be able to coherently marshal their arguments into free flowing prose and produce an array of 3,000 – 5,000 word essays. An increasing academic body of literature suggests that the leap between the writing requirements of A level and undergraduate study has grown and that, accordingly, the new A levels do not adequately prepare students for the rigours of independent study in the manner that the old pre-1999 A levels did. Using interviews, statistical data and a review of literature this dissertation adopts a mixed method approach to answering this question.
Suggested initial topic reading:
- Gallagher-Brett, A. and Canning, J. (2011) ‘Disciplinary disjunctures in the transition from secondary school to higher education study of modern foreign languages: A case study from the UK’, Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, Vol. 10(2), pp. 171-188.
- Maunder, R., Gingham, J. and Rogers, J. (2010) ‘Transition in Higher Education: Exploring the experiences of first and second year psychology undergraduate students’, Working Paper, British Psychological Society.
