Aspirations to Reality: Tracking Diploma Students into BA Phase I

Authors
Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
U. McCloy
M. Steffler
H. Decock
Reference Number
2014-38i
Date
Status
Abstract
Ontario colleges predominantly offer programming which leads to specific occupations in the labour market rather than further education. Nevertheless, students and graduates are enrolling in many college programs with the intention to transfer to a university degree. Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a two year diploma program that prepares graduates directly for the labour market but also historically has had a high transfer rate to university. Using the ECE program in Ontario as a case study, the interaction between the labour market and transfer to university was studied. Several changes have occurred in the ECE profession in Ontario that have the potential to alter a student’s decision to transfer. These include the establishment of the College of Early Childhood Educators in 2008, the phase-in of full-day kindergarten (FDK) between 2010 and 2014, the reduced demand for certified teachers, and the introduction of ECE-related college degrees (starting in 2008). Therefore, the overarching research question for this study is: How have the recent labour market and policy changes affected transfer to university for ECE graduates? To answer this question analysis was performed on ECE graduates at a province-wide and at a college-level...