Preparing for Higher Education Studies: Survey of Schoolchildren, April - May, 2017

The purpose of the study: to investigate schoolchildren' attitudes towards preparation for higher education and to identify the factors that influence the quality of preparation.
Major investigated questions: respondents were asked whether it was important for them to achieve the best results in their learning. After a block of questions, it was asked to describe their school. Respondents were also asked to describe their free time. It was clarified for which students teachers’ pay more attention to. Communication with classmates, the classroom teacher, teachers, school administration staff, and parents (guardians) was assessed. It was asked if bullying was prevalent in the school. Further, it was asked whether respondent plans to take at least one school examination. Those respondents who plan were asked in which subjects they plan to take school readiness exams and what grades they expect to get. Those who plan to take at least one school readiness exam were asked in which subjects they plan to take school readiness exams and what scores they expect to get. The aim was to find out how the respondents' teachers might teach their subject. They were asked to describe their learning and to rate their classmates' attitudes towards learning. Respondents were given the opportunity to name what they would like to change first in their school. They were asked if additional support was needed from tutors to help them prepare for exams. Respondents were asked how they felt about students hiring tutors or taking classes to prepare for exams. Respondents were asked what proportion of students in the class were engaged in additional learning and whether they had engaged in additional learning with tutors or attended classes to prepare for the matriculation examinations this academic year. Those who did not study were additionally asked to indicate the reasons why they did not do so. Those who did study in addition were asked what the most important reason was. It was explained that respondent had studied for several different subjects in addition to the tutors and which subjects respondent had studied in addition. Next, it was asked what grade would be used to evaluate respondents college readiness. The key components of college readiness were explained and they were asked to rate their college readiness. After answering the block of questions, efforts to prepare for college were assessed. Further, knowledge about the study process and courses was assessed. The extent to which the school pays attention to the career orientation of the students and on which learning outcomes it depends more was explained. Respondents were given the opportunity to rank the areas of secondary education with the most problems in order of importance. Asked if respondent ever planned to attend secondary school in the future. If not planned, please give reasons. Planners had the opportunity to answer when they plan to enter high school and why they plan to study. It was explained what degree, type of degree and field of study they plan to choose. After a block of questions, it was clarified what is important in choosing a course of study. It was asked if they had already decided what course they would like to study and how confident they were that they would take their desired course. They were asked if they planned to choose one of the engineering or technical courses. They wanted to know if they had already decided which university they wanted to study at and what was most important to them when making their final decision about where and what to study. They were asked how to fill in the application in the LAMA BPO system and whether they had heard about the possibility of receiving state support (scholarship, loan, grant, compensation, etc.) for students studying in non-state funded places (VNF) in Lithuanian HEIs. Those who know about such a possibility were asked what kind of state support students studying in VNF places can apply for. They were asked whether the motivation of first-year students should be assessed when entering a higher education institution and how it should be assessed. Respondents also assessed the current situation in general education and higher education and expressed their views on current and planned changes in higher education. It was clarified how graduates should be admitted to study humanities and how many state matriculation examinations should be passed to enter a university. The goal was to find out what the minimum score for a state matriculation exam should be in order for graduates to be admitted to a college. Finally, it asked who should receive public funding for college.
Socio-demographic characteristics: age, gender, place of residence, or participation in at least one Olympiad in the last two years, number of subjects studied at A level, average of the last semester, time spent on homework, number of books at home, brothers, sisters studying, occupation of mother (guardian) and father (guardian), time spent communicating with parents (guardian), financial situation of the family, college they would like to study at.