Secondary school and tertiary study differ in several ways. These differences
relate to how subjects are presented and structured; reading and research
requirements; assignment characteristics; referencing; feedback on assignments;
the learner, and the learning environment. Academic requirements in the
final years of secondary school, in vocational training situations and
in university are compared in the table below.
| Secondary School |
Tertiary Study |
| Selected aspects (not the full scope)
of a subject are taught in a carefully structured way. |
Students are introduced to a discipline
or disciplines and are expected to become increasingly knowledgeable
about their discipline during the course of their university study.
Through reading, attending lectures and participating in tutorials,
students are exposed to a wide range of information, principles, theories
and debates in their field. |
| Students are generally not expected
to have a broad and deep knowledge of their subject. |
Graduates are expected to have expertise
in their discipline at a level that most people do not have. |
| Teachers direct students to the
most important information and ideas in a subject. |
University staff
select and structure the most important aspects of a discipline.
Lectures and study guides take students systematically through these
concepts. |
| Reading and Research Requirements |
| Teachers direct students to what
they specifically have to read. |
University lecturers usually give
out long reading lists. They may point out what’s
essential to read from the list and what’s desirable to read but not
crucial. |
| For assignments, reading only the
set textbook is often enough. These texts provide fairly generalised
ideas. |
In preparing an assignment, students
can use the textbook, if there is one, for gathering basic background
information, but they need to supplement this with wider reading. Students
are expected to search for relevant, specifically focused material to
deal with particular assignment topics. |
| Teachers may supply photocopies
of important articles or book chapters. |
Students need to develop good search
strategies and skills using periodical indexes and online and CD-Rom
databases, as well as Internet search engines. |
| Students may use the Internet and
newspapers for research. |
Students are expected to use a wider
range of sources books, journals, newspapers, online materials, audio/video. |
| Teachers sometimes provide outline
notes. |
Students have to read texts and
make their own notes. |
| Assignments |
| In assignments students are expected
to reproduce the core knowledge they have learnt. Students begin to
consider differing ideas and viewpoints. |
Students are expected to take a
more critical and questioning attitude to the knowledge they acquire
throughout the course of their university studies. Of course, students
become better at this as they become more familiar with the main principles
and debates in their discipline! |
| Teachers set smaller and more frequent
assignments. |
There may be fewer assignments but
these are longer and carry more marks. |
| Referencing |
| There is a less rigorous requirement
for referencing. Students are expected to refer to the set texts but
do not need to acknowledge every
source for each particular
piece of information in their written work. |
Accurate and thorough referencing
is an essential feature of academic writing. Plagiarism
is the failure to acknowledge sources and is regarded as a very serious
matter at university. |
| Feedback |
| Teachers correct and comment upon
students work frequently. |
There is less opportunity for regular
feedback from lecturers/tutors. |
| Marking criteria are explicit for
public examinations used for university entrance. |
Marking criteria may be less explicit. |
| Schools take some responsibility
for students learning in various ways. Teachers regularly monitor student
progress. They remind students about assignment deadlines and try to
make sure students understand requirements. Also, teachers report to
parents. |
Students are regarded as adults
and fully responsible for their own academic success or failure. |
| The Learning Environment |
| The lesson is the usual teaching
mode. Time spent in class takes up most of students learning time. Students
are given more direction about what to do at home and in the library. |
Off-campus students do not have
immediate access to their tutor. Students are required to structure
their own learning time. |
| Timing of assignments can sometimes
be negotiated by subject teachers so that students do not have to submit
assignments for different subjects at the same time in the term. |
Students undertaking several units
of study will most probably have assignments due at around the same
time in the semester. |
