Branksome Hall
The First Year Story Snapshot #1: Academic Preparedness and the Transition to University
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Written By: Branksome Hall
The First Year Story #1
Academic Preparedness and the Transition to University
Overview
Graduation from high school and the transition to post-secondary education is an important developmental milestone for young adults. While this life event creates valuable opportunities for personal growth and change, it can often bring with it increased challenges, stress and anxiety. The first year of university is the most difficult period of adjustment for students (Giddan, 1988) since, in addition to emotional and relational challenges, they also face new and increased academic pressures (Hicks & Heastie, 2008).
Introduction
Many of them will also be living away from home for the first time, and will have to navigate these pressures even as they continue to individuate and adjust to their new lives. How well students are able meet these new academic challenges depends, in part, on the academic self-efficacy beliefs they
hold—how prepared they feel and how confident they are in their abilities (Elliott, 2016). This snapshot is part of a three-part series that reports on key findings from the Road After study about graduates’ experiences in their first year of university. It focuses on the students’ perceptions of their academic
preparedness as they transition to post-secondary education after completing their IB programme at Branksome Hall, an all-girls’ school* in Toronto, Canada.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a liberal arts– focused educational programme that encourages its students to become active learners, critical thinkers, well-rounded individuals and engaged global citizens. Students are encouraged to become inquirers, thinkers, communicators and risk-takers; to be knowledgeable, principled, open-minded, caring, balanced and reflective, traits which cumulatively define the IB Learner Profile.
