Going to university? A qualitative case study into the factors influencing A-level subject choices in a comprehensive sixth form centre.

Hilditch, Stephen (2023) Going to university? A qualitative case study into the factors influencing A-level subject choices in a comprehensive sixth form centre. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the assumption that university selection is a purely rational, economically-driven, and utilitarian decision. At the same time, it explores the importance of emotional, familial, and social factors in candidates’ choices.

The choice of A-levels can be very stressful for candidates because such choices have the potential to have an impact on future employability and career outcomes. This research into the influences of university selection explored the responses, experiences, and challenges of a small sample of students and staff at a single sixth-form centre.

The expansion of tertiary education through widening participation policies has been accompanied by a plethora of resources, such as websites, platforms and dedicated services offering information, statistics and data that can help prospective students make their choices. Yet evidence produced in this thesis indicates these resources do not have a significant role to play when students make their choices. Rather it highlights the important role played by parents who, directly or indirectly, exert an influence on their children, even when their own social and economic capital and experiences of the process is limited. In consequence, such choices may appear to be idiosyncratic, but are nonetheless, equally rational, and valid responses for dealing with the stressful process of making UCAS applications during A-level preparation time.

The findings highlight the importance of parents as trusted and significant influences on students’ university selection. The findings also illuminate three main areas of policy concern and further study. First, they cast doubt on the suitability of A-levels as the best means for university selection. Second, they question the appropriateness of predicted grades as the most reliable indicator of academic potential. Third, they point to a need to reconsider the current UCAS timings and the attendant negative impact on student welfare.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	06 Sep 2023 11:04
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2023 11:04
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/92999
DOI:

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