engleski

Reasons for learning and perception of transition to secondary school among Croatian adolescents

Transition from primary to secondary school is important normative event that is burdened with many tough decisions, uncertainties, discontinuities, hopes and mixed feelings for many adolescents. One of the most important decisions is which type of school to choose since that decision has long-term influence on adolescent’s further schooling and life. This paper explores whether adolescents’ feelings concerning transition (anxiety, happiness and curiosity) and their perceptions of secondary school (expected levels of difficulty, interestingness and stressfulness) is related to their goals orientation in learning. Broad orientations or purposes in learning explored were those performance or externally oriented, where the primary concern is to achieve grades, be better than others or avoid looking dumb, and mastery oriented in which focus is on the intrinsic value of learning (i.e. gaining new knowledge or skills). When choosing the secondary school, it is also important to take educational aspirations into account that are defined as the ambitions and goals pupils and parents hold with regards to both immediate and future educational experiences and outcomes. The transition to secondary school in Croatia takes place at the age of 14 - 15 years and is based on the grades achieved during the last four elementary school grades which makes the entry into school selective and stressful. Two main school types are college-preparatory schools or gymnasiums and vocational schools. Since large number of pupils aspires toward gymnasiums, in which the number of places is limited to approximately 30% of the total number of places in high schools, such system of transition places the emphasis on achieving excellent grades rather than intrinsic motives and creates high levels of anxiety. This research is a part of a larger longitudinal study of educational aspirations among Croatian students at transitional points during schooling. The participants were 1031 pupils of the final grade of 22 elementary schools in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, that were aged 14 to 15 years (47.8 % females, 52.2% males). Data was collected via questionnaires, especially constructed for the purpose of this research. Results showed that most of the students or 47.4 % aspire towards gymnasiums, while 38.2% of the pupils aspire to enroll vocational education schools. 14.3% of the pupils had not made the decision yet. For most pupils the main reasons for learning were to have better grades (83.6 %) and to enroll in better high school (91.3 %). Intrinsic motives for learning were positively related to better expected school achievement and to various emotional states associated with upcoming high school enrollment, both negative and positive, such as anxiety, happiness and curiosity, as well as to perceiving secondary school as being interesting, but difficult and stressful. Extrinsic motives were positively related only to anxiety, while no other relations were found. The obtained results can be explained by the above mentioned Croatian system of transition to high school and the high pressure placed on pupils.

orientation in learning, motivation for learning, transition to secondary school, adolescence

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