Étude de trois facteurs clés pour comprendre la persévérance à l’université (original) (raw)

2010, Revue française de pédagogie

ABSTRACT During the first year at university, a remarkably small number of students stay in school and succeed. To explain that phenomenon, we first take into account the students’ socio-demographic characteristics and school backgrounds. For thirty years, other elements have also been studied based on different theoretical trends. On the one hand educational models (Tinto, 1975, 1997; Bean, 1980) underline both the importance of social and school experiences the students have when entering university right after high school and their adaptation to new individual and institutional features. On the other hand motivation models (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Kahn & Nauta, 2001) focus upon the students’ personal features (for instance feeling competent, recognizing goals, etc.). Validating the model of Tinto in the Belgian educational environment and analyzing the complementary role of the feeling of personal efficiency, we try here to clearly show what those different theoretical trends bring to understanding what makes the students continue their studies. This paper focuses in particular on the intention to continue, measured from the very first weeks at university because it is one of the main elements for real perseverance and success and is positively linked to final success. Our results show that perseverance and success, far from being determined solely by the students’ school backgrounds, are significantly influenced by personal and contextual factors as well as the interactions between those factors. This article thus brings out the importance of the educational context and the part that different protagonists can play in practice for each student individually (helping them feel competent, see the importance of the courses or find goals for their studies) as well in the setting-up of devices to help them continue their studies and succeed (promoting relationships with peers, highlighting team work).