Staking van studie aan landbou-opleidingsinstellings in die Wes-Kaap : waarskynlike oorsake en strategiee vir students-ondersteuning

[摘要] Student dropout at higher education institutions in South Africa is an aspect that isreceiving increasing attention from the various role-players who have an interest inthis aspect due to the negative influence it has on students, higher educationinstitutions, and the economy of the country. Higher education institutions that offeragriculture as a course of study also have to deal with this problem. Approximatelyone quarter of the students who are admitted at most agricultural training institutionsare forced to discontinue their studies or do so voluntarily. Most of these cessationsof study occur during or near the end of the first year of study. The cessation ofstudies is not the only negative aspect. The low pass rate of students at highereducation institutions in South Africa is also alarming.The main object of this study was to ascertain why students discontinued theirstudies and why they took longer than the minimum time allowed to complete theirstudies. In order to substantiate this theory, an attempt was made to obtain both aninternational and a national perspective of the student dropout rate in general, aswell as to determine what factors were responsible or contributed to successfulcompletion of their studies by students. A background perspective of agriculturaleducation in South Africa was included. The literature reviews are supplemented bya qualitative investigation of students who discontinued their studies specifically atagricultural higher education institutions. A case study approach was employed, inwhich an in-depth interview strategy was utilised to obtain descriptive and illustrativedata.The study demonstrated that dropout rates can be attributed mainly to academicand/or social factors. These factors prevented adequate integration, which isessential to successful studies, from occurring. Various academic factors may bethe reason for inadequate academic integration, of which the most important wereunclear objectives, a lack of motivation, wrong academic expectations, amisconception of hard work, as well as a lack of the necessary explanatoryknowledge in the agricultural study field. New students' academic adjustmentappeared to be the most problematic factor. It appeared that new students wereinsufficiently prepared to make the adjustment, and in fact, less prepared for thisstep than was generally the case in the past. Ineffective social integration was the result of too little student participation in socialactivities or the absence of adequate opportunities for social activities at agriculturaltraining institutions. Unbalanced and unhealthy social activities were often the majorfactors that contributed to student dropout. Furthermore, the study demonstratedthat non-academic factors such as inadequate accommodation or financial problemswere not significant causative factors for student dropout, but rather non-academicfactors such as unbalanced or unhealthy social activities and poor timemanagement.After the probable causes for student dropout had been established, a theoreticalframework was created that could offer possible explanation for the student dropoutrates at agricultural training institutions. The framework was created to establishstudent dropout from a longitudinal perspective, and not only to explain thephenomenon as a result of what had occurred during the time that the student wasat the institution. The framework was therefore designed to explain student dropoutagainst the background of the student, together with various factors that wererelated to students or the institution and which were responsible for inadequateintegration. From this framework it was possible to develop individual models forspecific agricultural training institutions or for one specific institution in respect of thedropout phenomenon.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University