Student attrition from professional degrees

The presentation outlines a prospective research project that was undertaken to find out whether factors external to the teaching and learning appear to be related to student attrition. The project contacted all second semester new entrants to youth work and children's studies degrees and asked them about their reasons for choosing the course, their work and home commitments and their expectations about study. The results will be compared with existing studies of student commitments in Australia and any pattern of withdrawal from the courses. A sample of students will be followed up during next semester to see how their expectations, work and home commitments have changed and to gauge their level of satisfaction with their degree choice and their teaching and learning experiences, both in the taught part of the course and in their practicum.