The contours of disadvantage and academic progress : analysis of perceptions of students from disadvantaged schools at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

My gratitude goes to the University of KwaZulu-Natal for partially funding my study, and the College of Humanities (under the direction of Professor Sarojini Nadar) for sponsoring the editing of my thesis. The overall aim of this study was to analyze the perceptions and experiences of students from disadvantaged schools regarding their academic progress at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Introduction

Background to the Problem

Significance of the Study

To 'guide the development of the whole person' one must understand the social, economic, material and cultural context of the participants (the students from disadvantaged schools) at the center of this research; and also have a “close and extensive acquaintance with the environment” (Blumer, 1969) in which these participants find themselves (the university). This summarizes the main aim of this study, which is to explore the perceptions and (lived) experiences of students from disadvantaged schools in higher education institutions in South Africa (using UKZN as a case study) that may have an impact on their academic progress.

Purpose of the Study

Objectives of the Study

The main aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions and experiences of disadvantaged students at UKZN regarding the influence of socio-economic variables, material conditions and the learning environment on their academic progress. Analyzing the relationship between socio-economic factors and the learning experiences of disadvantaged students at UKZN; And.

Key Research Questions of the Study

To examine data on disadvantaged students and their academic progress available through Student Management Systems (SMS); To analyze the perceptions of disadvantaged students regarding their pre-university experience and learning at university.

Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks

Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) Framework

Livelihoods
The livelihood context
Livelihood Assets
Livelihood outcomes
Summary of application of SLA items

Social Capital
Social Justice
Synthesis: SLA – Social Capital – Social Justice Framework

The first is that the context in pre-university becomes an asset in the university stage. On the other hand, social capital theory appears mainly in the text when the findings are highlighted (see for example chapter 6 at the end of each section, and other chapters of course).

Table 1: Operationalisation and application of SLA items in this study

Clarification of Concepts

The Notion of ‘Disadvantage’
Disadvantaged Schools
Deciles and Quintiles
Disadvantaged Students
Academic Progress
Social Integration
Academic integration

In this study, the term 'disadvantaged' or 'poor' is measured by the quintile as it relates to the poverty of the community in which the school is located. However, in the South African context, these concepts would be problematic as the majority of people in this country are still marginalised.

Table 3: Three Key Areas of the Amended Norms and Standards for Schools Funding

Research Methodology

Sampling frame

Care was taken to determine whether these students were actually from disadvantaged backgrounds by aligning the name of the school with its classification in the DoE lists. Moreover, the research also focused on the social and material aspects that emerge from the many variables in the literature (see chapter two).

Limitations and delimitations

Data on these students was obtained directly from UKZN's Division of Management Information Division (DMI), as well as from CHES' SPS data using DMI downloads. The CHES files also contained the quintile variable along with all other biodata, making it possible to perform a statistical comparison of the sample with similar categories in the large main database (see Chapter 4).

Ethical Issues in this Study

Structure of chapters

Introduction

Livelihood Assets: Pre-university Stage

Social Wealth (social capital) and Academic Progress: Pre-university

Educational Level of Caregivers and Parents
Socialisation

However, this does not negate the father's role in children's educational achievement per se. A number of studies show that human capital in the form of the father's education is directly related to the student's chances of attending university (Marjoribanks, 1998 on the Australian experience; Tinto, 1975 on the North American situation; Royal Society, 2008 on the British experience).

Livelihood Assets: Pre-university and University Stages

Gender and Social Capital

Women in higher education institutions tend to cluster in certain disciplines such as health sciences and the humanities (Shackleton et al., 2006). Male students were found to spend significantly less time on private study than their female counterparts (Arquero et al., 2009).

Livelihood Context: Pre-university

School SES and Academic Progress
Size of Household and University Attendance
Material conditions at home
Food [In]Security and Academic Progress

Children from larger families had small odds of attending school compared to children from smaller families (see Margaret et al., 2001). The lower the educational level of the household head, the larger the household (Margaret et al., 2001).

Livelihood Assets: University

Family household income
Student Funding, University Attendance and Academic Progress
First Year Experience at University and Academic Progress
First Generation and Academic Progress

The literature shows that in South Africa, the main contributor to black attrition rates in higher education institutions is lack of financial aid (see Letseka et al., 2008)7. This observation is related to another perennial phenomenon of higher education in South Africa: the dropout rate (Letseka et al., 2008).

Livelihood Context at the University Stage

Residence Accommodation
Travel
Teaching and Learning Models
Language and Epistemic Success: Bilingualism and Multilingualism
Student Support Services at University

The use of English undermines the achievement of polyglotism, which assumes that 'the more their learning contexts and contexts of use enable learners and users to draw on the whole of each continuum, the greater the chances for their full biliteral development and expression ” (Hornberger, 1990; see also Boughey, 2005). Mapping the concerns that students experience in higher education will essentially be based on the approach and methods used.

Livelihood Context and Social Capital Creation at the University Stage

Institutional Environment

Interactions with Faculty members
Interactions with Peers and Study Groups
Emotional Integration of Students in the University System

Intellectual development is related to the individual's identification with the normative aspects of the academic system. Most studies have found that a positive relationship between students and faculty members outside the classroom promotes academic progress (Astin, 1993; Moletsane, 1995; Kuh and Hu, 2001).

Livelihoods Assets and Strategies: Student Life at University

Budgeting (Personal Financial Management)

Recent studies have shown that the emotional life of students has an impact on their academic performance. The new US Higher Education Act requires colleges that run federal TRIO13 programs for disadvantaged students to connect them with financial counseling.

Do Perceptions of Students Matter in Academic Progress?

Students’ Own Perceptions of Academic Performance

Perceptions of Academic Inadequacy

Livelihood Outcomes: University Stage

Grade Point Average (GPA) and Factors Affecting Academic Progression

Students’ Aspirations after graduation

Achieving a bachelor's degree has significant implications for the type of job or work one takes, as well as an individual's lifetime earnings. A bachelor's degree gives an individual professional status or prestige and an advantage over high school graduates.

Conclusion

On this topic, Pascarella et al. 2005) observed that "someone received a 'bonus' for completing a degree that exceeded the increase in employment status or earnings for each year of postsecondary education." In the US, the relationship between earnings and graduation is illustrated by the Current Population Survey of the Census Bureau ("Is College Still Worth the Cost?" 1998, in Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005).

Introduction

Discourses of Research: The SLA-Social Capital-Social-Justice Synthesis

The SLA-social capital-social justice framework is an appropriate approach for analyzing the impact of SES, the learning environment, and other variables on the academic progress of students from low-quintile schools at the university because of its range of strengths. Thus unfolds a definition of academic progress that encapsulates asset base, social relations, vulnerability influences, experiences and perceptions.

Research Methodology

Mixed Methods Research Design
Quantitative and Qualitative Data
Data Collection
Sampling
Data Analysis

Quantitative Component: Statistical Methodology
Qualitative Component: The Explicationof Interview Data Procedures in this Study

Strengths and [De]Limitations of Mixed Methods Research
Validity Issues
Ethical Issues

Qualitative factors were derived from the open-ended part of the questionnaire and interviews, and these include feelings, words (perceptions and experiences about residence, the learning environment at the university, etc.) and explanations in open-ended answers (see chapters). five and six). UKZN and the students from low quintile schools provide the case study to explain the findings of this study.

Conclusion

Introduction

Data set and objectives and Methods used in this Chapter

The subsets in Duncan's test for differences in means distinguish between variables that have the same mean and those that have different means than those in the subset. All variables that have the same mean are grouped under the same subset.

GPA (grade point average) versus gender

The method of analysis was rigorous because it did not stop at simply determining whether there were significant differences in the means of various variables, but went further to determine the magnitude of the differences. Comparing gender differences in terms of GPA, this analysis indicates that there was no significance on average by gender for the cohort years and 2009, but in 1999 the average for women was significantly higher than for men, with a p-value of 0.034.

Table 4 Gender in the 10% sample Frequency Percent

GPA versus quintile and gender

Mean GPA according to gender and quintiles in 1994

If this is the case, it is plausible to conclude that not all is bad in the performance of lower quintile students. This finding resonates with the subsequent analyzes in the other cohort years as shown below (see tables 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a).

Mean GPA according to gender and quintiles in 1999

Given the background of low quintile students, we would expect quintile 1 to be lower than all other quintiles; however, the results in this analysis are surprising because, for 1994, the mean GPA for quintile 1 was similar to students in the upper quintile. Here it is in the foreground that there was a differential impact on the survival outcome (GPA).

Mean GPA according to gender and quintiles, 2004

A Duncan's test for differences between 2004 GPA means across quintiles revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean GPA for the 2004 cohort of students for gender by quintile. Ultimately, the means for quintiles 2, 3, 4 and 5 are significantly larger than those for quintile 1 (see table 9b).

Table 9a GPA2004 according to gender and quintiles Source

Mean GPA According to Gender and Quintiles in 2009

2 The average 2009 GPA for women in quintile 1 is significantly lower than that for women in quintiles 4 and 5 and for men in quintile 5 (see Table 10c). Another finding is that in 2009 the mean GPA for quintile 1 women was lower than those recorded in quintiles 4 and 5.

Table 10a GPA2009 according to gender and quintiles

GPA 2009 versus matric scores and quintile for each Faculty

GPA2009 versus matric scores and quintiles for the Faculty of Science
GPA2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Health Sciences
GPA 2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Education
GPA 2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Humanities
GPA 2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Management Studies
GPA 2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Engineering
GPA2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Medicine
GPA2009 versus matric scores and quintile for the Faculty of Law

1 The average GPA 2009 for matric score categories (codes) 1 and 3 is significantly greater than that for category 2 (see table 11 above for matric categories). 1 The average GPA 2009 for Matric score for quintile 4 is significantly greater than that for category 2.

Table 13a shows mean GPA for 2009 according to matric scores and quintiles for the Faculty of Science

GPA 2009 versus quintile for each Faculty

Matric scores for quintiles
Faculty of Science
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Education
Faculty of Humanities
Faculty of Management Studies
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Law

In the Faculty of Science, the quintile factor is related to average GPA with a p-value=0.000. There was no positive correlation between quintile and GPA 2009 at the Faculty of Law with a p-value=0.271.

Table 21b Duncan’s test for differences between matric score means for quintiles

Graduation and Attrition rates per quintile

Registrations per Quintile, 1990 – 2010
Time-to-Degree and Graduation Rates for three-year Degrees
Time-to-Degree and Graduation Rates for four-year Degrees
Dropout Rates for Three-Year Degree per Year per Quintile
Dropout Rates for Four-Year Degree per Year per Quintile

On the other hand, in the faculty of law they seem to have also 'overlooked' the SES imbalance through their admission criteria, which include only the selection of students with high matric (as shown in table 12) including selection tests and also some national standard tests. As with three-year degree programs, the chances of a student graduating on time (in this case within four years) depend on the student's quintile.

Table 30 Number of students registered per quintile, 1990-2011 quintile reg3 reg4

Conclusion

Based on my analysis, unfavorable contours lay in lower matric scores (low asset base) for students in the lower quintile. Further useful research could be on what factors in a low quintile school could produce better matric results.

Introduction

The SLA-Social Capital-Social Justice Synthesis

While studying, disadvantaged students are confronted with stress and shocks such as food insecurity, failure or dropout. Vulnerable students' livelihoods are thus only sustainable to the extent that they 'can cope with and recover from such shocks and stresses'; in this way, they improve their capabilities and assets from the moment they enroll to the time they graduate and beyond.

Comparison of Sample Survey with the main Database

Livelihood Assets at the University Stage

Quintiles
Gender and GPA
Matric Scores and GPA
The Relationship between GPA and Matric Score for 2008 and 2009
Year of Study Level Distribution
Type of Degree

So it is interesting that low quintile students in the survey sample are not all underachieving, despite their socioeconomic status. A scatter plot was used to examine the relationship between mean GPA and matric score of low quintile students in the survey sample in 2008 and 2009.

Livelihood Assets Associated with Social Capital and Human Capital and Academic

Number of people dependent on household income
First Generation to Study beyond Matric

First Generation and University Participation

GPA and Parental Education Level
GPA and Older Relative that lived with Participants when they were Teenagers
GPA and Tertiary Qualification of the Participants’ Relatives
Biological Parents’ Education and Academic Progress
Academic Socialisation: Influence of Adults on Academic Progress of Children
Relatives with highest qualification above NQF4 (reduc) versus strugglers

Most of the lower quintile students lived with their grandparents, which suggests fewer adult-child interactions related to children's education. However, in this study the majority of adults who stayed with students from low quintile schools were relatively poor.

Livelihoods Assets Associated with Financial Capital and Academic Progress at the

The Association between Financial Aid and Academic Progress (GPA)

Financial aid is a key resource (as financial capital from an SLA perspective) to sustain student livelihoods (access to housing, food, books, relationships) at the university. For example, factors such as individual students' locus of control and the time and effort (or lack thereof) they spend studying, as well as institutional characteristics, contribute to academic progress.

Academic Progress versus Students Ran out of Money during Examination Time

Thus, there was no correlation between running out of money during graduation and academic progress as expressed by average GPA. From the above table, it can be seen that the majority run out of money during the exam.

Table 65 2009 GPA versus ran out of money during exams Run out of Money

Livelihood Context Associated with Social and Human Capital at the University Stage . 159

Socializing on/off campus
Discuss Academic Performance with Friends
Friendship as Social Capital
Friendship for Academic Purposes: Social capital Operationalised

It is a resource that works in the social sphere that produces outcomes in the academic field. In the academic field, it coordinates academic integration and accompanying intellectual development as it encourages social learning through peer groups and tutorials.

Table 68 Socializing with friends on/off campus on/off campus Frequency Percent

Livelihood Context Associated With Physical Assets at University

Academic Progress and Student Residence Accommodation at University

Perceptions about Residence among the Survey Respondents

All in all, from the foregoing factors, two categories emerged: a group of students who 'rated' the hostel as in good condition and those who categorized the hostel as not in good condition. When applying SLA, dormitory accommodation at universities is associated with a host of factors that can be either assets or resources that sustain students' livelihoods – the way of life of low quintile students at university.

Table 74 2009 GPA versus type of accommodation (typacoml)

Academic Progress and Students’ Means of Transport to University

The relationship between GPA and residence accommodation indicated that those living in off-campus residences scored higher than those living in on-campus residences (see tables 73 and 74 above). A student staying on campus or nearby off campus will have fewer problems than those who commute.

Table 75 2008 GPA versus mode of transport Mode of Transport

Livelihood Context Associated with Perceptions of Students at University about their

Further examination of the frequency distributions of the learning environment variables revealed that most students from the low quintile experienced all of these learning environment variables. The concept of the learning environment emphasizes caring, collaboration, deep learning, reflection and engagement as elements of critical and constructive thinking (see Chapter Two).

Table 77 2008 GPA versus lack of background knowledge of subject (LBKS)

Livelihood Outcomes

The Relationship between Failing a Course and Academic Progress: University Stage

Some research has shown that black African students tend to overestimate their abilities in terms of their academic performance compared to their white counterparts (see section 2.9.1 Students' own perceptions of academic performance in Chapter Two).

Province to work in: Post-University Plan

Community Participation/Community Development by Survey Students: During

People who are intrigued by their career are likely to pursue it to the end, and this could be the motivation to persevere until graduation. For low quintile students – who are first-generation students and also come from low-income, low-education families – this can happen if there is social capital in the area of student support services, which are primarily career guidance and include financial assistance. that is provided, but is not always sufficient for the subsistence of students at the university) and living space.

Conclusion

Thus, even if students from the low quintile scored on average around 50%, this represented progression to graduation, an important survival outcome for them given their low baseline assets.

Introduction

SLA-Social Capital - Social Justice Synthesis Framework

The findings from this study suggest that the issue is not so much about the availability of these resources, but the access to some of the resources (assets) for disadvantaged students. For example, disadvantaged students found it difficult to access physical resources such as university housing and financial capital.

Livelihood Context: Pre-University Experience

Disadvantaged students

Low Quintile Students and Poor Communities

Disadvantaged Schools and Academic Progress

Households or families of students from disadvantaged schools

Livelihood Assets at the Pre-university Stage

Motivation to come to the university

Livelihood Context and Strategies at University

Advice to University Authorities about First Year Students in Particular and Student

Advice to First year students About Academic Integration and Coping Strategies

Livelihood Context: The University Environment

Difficulties Experienced at University

Some of the things that they did not like
On food insecurity or Student Poverty
Staying off-Campus
Language and Communication at University
Things that were surprising
Least successful or useful methods
Discrimination against Students from Disadvantaged Schools (by certain segments of the

Livelihood Strategies