The primary aim of the research was to establish the effectiveness of the pilot in facilitating successful entry of a disadvantaged group of adult prospective students to university level study, in absolute terms and also in comparison with both an existing access award for disadvantaged adults at the same university and with bridging courses across the country funded by the federal Enabling Program.
To do so it investigated:
- the relative disadvantage of the relevant cohorts of students in terms of their equity characteristics as nationally defined72 and other indicators of their socio-economic location;73
- and their retention and success rates, as well as their progression rates along three different pathways into award level study.
The 2003 expansion of the pilot in its second year enabled comparisons to be made between the UniSA-PAL student cohorts in the four schools in terms of these same factors, as well as the retention and success of those 2002 UniSA-PAL completers who undertook award level study at the University of South Australia in 2003.
A related issue of significance to the primary research question is the nature and extent of the motivation of the students in the pilot course, since recent research has shown that levels of academic commitment, involvement and study motivation are more relevant determinants of academic outcomes than, for example, hours spent in paid work.74 The students’ experience of the course, and its suitability for their purposes, are similarly important in terms of its potential as a more effective pathway to higher education for disadvantaged adults in a more extensive context and over time.
The teachers’ experience of teaching the pilot course, in particular the teaching and learning and other support needs of this group of students compared to their usual year 11 and 12 adult students, is also significant in terms of the policy relevance and potential wider replication of the pilot, as is the nature and effectiveness of the collaboration between the University and the schools, most especially between the staff actively involved in the pilot.
The scalability of the pilot is a pivotal matter if it is to be replicated on a much larger scale, across South Australia and potentially nationally, and in more normal non-pilot circumstances. Matters of relevance here include resourcing questions for all of the institutions involved as well as educational policy and boundary issues. The experience of the original pilot school and its staff in the second year of the pilot is relevant to these questions, and especially to the level of involvement required from the University and its staff over time. For example, Para West’s increased familiarity and confidence with the course in 2003 enabled it to provide ongoing advice and support mechanisms to the other three adult re-entry schools which were offering the course for the first time. The professional engagement, development and satisfaction of the teaching staff is also an important matter since the pilot made workload demands on them and required them to teach and assess in very different and somewhat challenging ways.
Finally a range of teaching, learning, assessment and curriculum matters needed to be explored to establish the suitability of the pilot course, including its mode of delivery, for disadvantaged adults wanting to return to study and in particular to enter higher education. There is also the related question of whether the pilot course might provide a more appropriate and effective senior secondary completion qualification for adults whose secondary education is incomplete for a range of reasons. While its primary purpose is as an entry to and preparation for university studies, completion of senior secondary education has meaning and relevance beyond these purposes, not least the satisfaction and dignity of having done so for adults whose previous experiences of schooling have largely been negative. Currently such adults re-engage with the final two years of secondary education in an effort to complete the requirements of the relevant state or territory senior secondary assessment and accreditation system, requirements which in their curriculum content, sequencing, and mode of instruction and assessment have been designed for young people completing twelve years of schooling, usually sequentially, rather than for adults returning to study. In South Australia such adults undertake their senior secondary study in adult re-entry high schools, and while there are a small number of similar schools elsewhere in Australia, the commoner model is for them to do so in VET, largely in TAFE facilities.
About a quarter to a third of Australia’s secondary school students leave school early and do not complete their secondary education,75 the proportion varying in different states and territories. A half of these return to try to complete their secondary education or enter post-school training, more males than females undertaking the latter and mainly in TAFE. An estimated 65 per cent of female early school leavers and 35 per cent of male early school leavers remain that for their lifetimes.76 Nationally about 45% of each age cohort is anticipated to enter higher education, two thirds likely to do so immediately after leaving school while the remaining third (or fifteen percent of each successive cohort) will achieve this through re-entry education of some form. While the number and proportions vary in different parts of the country, these re-entry higher education commencers form a significant proportion of those going on to university studies. Further since their retention and success rates in the re-entry secondary setting are extremely low, the number of adults attempting to complete senior secondary studies in this way and for this purpose amounts to an even greater number of people.
Provision of effective and worthwhile re-entry pathways to education is a significant policy issue in South Australia in the context of falling senior secondary retention rates, as it is nationally for different reasons given the global emphasis on lifelong learning. Questions have been raised for some time about the appropriateness of senior secondary studies as a re-entry pathway for adults, given the immense time commitment involved77 and the nature of the assumptions underlying curriculum requirements at this level of education. The identification of whether the UniSA-PAL course has the potential to provide a more appropriate and effective re-entry pathway to learning for the many adults with incomplete schooling in Australia was also a focus for this study. In February 2004, the relevant South Australian assessment and certification authority78 formally agreed that successful completion of the UniSA-PAL course was comparable to satisfying the requirements for the senior secondary certificate of completion (SACE), that is, comparable to having successfully completed secondary education in that State. Consideration needs to be given elsewhere in Australia as to whether courses especially designed for adults, but equally rigorous as year 12, are acceptable as the completion of secondary education as well as for higher education entry. This is a matter of some significance, not least for the questions it would raise about current delineations between secondary and tertiary levels of education. This last is a matter for further investigation through discussion with the relevant authorities and institutions throughout Australia following consideration of the findings of this project, and is taken up in the recommendations below.79