Transition To University Essay

All four articles that have been reviewed claim that university is not like school and that students may find the transition from school to higher education difficult. However, the two newspaper articles (Giles 2003; Shimmon 2006) produce no evidence to support the above claim. Alternatively, two journal articles support the claim and produce evidence from surveys. For example, coping with subtle differences in acceptable behaviour (Giles, 2003) or the jump in the level of academic study required (Lowe and Cook, 2003). This shows that school and university is a different experience for students care. Furthermore, from Lowe and Cook’s (2003) survey only (20-30%) found the transition difficult. This may be because students may be home sick

However, from the newspaper article Giles (2003) supports the claim that you need to be accountable for your own learning. From the above quote we can interpretate that students have not been prepared properly for the transition to university, and that students need to be an independent learner. This does not resonate with my experience. This is because I had the ability to take control of my own learning. I did not rely on the teacher too much. If there was a problem I tried to solve it independently and if I could not solve it and needed advice then I asked the teacher but I was not told what to do, therefore this may be why at university I do not find being a self-learner as hard as some students may find this difficult in their transition to

Lowe and Cook (2003) argue that teachers should have put more effort and focus on preparing students for university and trying to get them into the university life. Moreover, having meeting with the students and talking to them about what the changes may be at university, what problems they may encounter and if they have any personal problems or what the academic support at university may be like. I believe that if teachers had supported students earlier and had advised them about the transition to university and the difficulties, then less students would be finding it