From high school to university: students’ competences recycled

Abstract

The process of transition from high school to higher education might be viewed as a continuum of learning new codes of conduct that guide the exercise of a (re)new(ed) student craft. This article presents a qualitative analysis of the results of interviews conducted with students, focusing on the need for students to trigger a set of adaptive skills to a new and dynamic environment, using their ‘old’ pupil competences acquired in high school and recycling them to cope with this life challenge. The study concludes that transition to higher education is perceived by students as a hard challenge, implying a learning of a renewed student craft, which requires learning new codes that brand intellectual and social life. The transition is made from the pupil’s craft to the student’s craft, but there is also a social promotion from the school culture to the academic culture.