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The influence of following an extracurricular honors program on the development of twenty first century skills

Baas, M.I.A. (2020) The influence of following an extracurricular honors program on the development of twenty first century skills.

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Abstract:Knowledge and skills that students need for success in the global workplace of the future are conceptualized as ‘Twenty First Century Skills’ (TFCS). Even though it is essential that students develop TFCS, learning these skills is currently insufficiently present in regular secondary education. When students do not learn to master these skills, this can cause problems in their role in society. In contrast to regular education, the focus on TFCS is visibly present in honors programs like the honors program of the Pre-University program in Twente. This is a university offered program specially aimed for high school students. Since the Pre-U honors program focuses on TFCS, it is interesting to study the effect of this program on the development of TFCS. Hence, in this study we evaluated what the influence was of following the Pre-U extracurricular honors program on the development of TFCS among 11th grade honors students (experimental group), compared to students who only follow regular 11th grade education (control group). A longitudinal study was conducted amongst 11th grade students of 25 high schools, following the “VWO track”. Data was collected three times over the course of eight months through a self-assessment questionnaire that was developed for this study. The results showed as hypothesized that students in the Pre-U honors program (experimental group) scored significantly higher than regular 11th grade students (control group) on TFCS at the beginning and at the end of the honors intervention. Contrary to our expectations, students in the control group did develop their TFCS over time, whilst students in the honors program did not to develop their skills over time. Implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed in the thesis.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:81 education, teaching
Programme:Educational Science and Technology MSc (60023)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/81474
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