School connectedness and beyond: success stories of associate degree students in Hong Kong.

自千禧年開始，香港教育制度經歷了前所未有的轉變；其中，社區大學如雨後春筍般湧現，為未能通過大學聯合招生辦法升讀傳統大學的中學畢業生，另闢一條升學的出路。本研究利用個案研究法，探討本地副學士學生在經歷公開考試失敗之後，如何在社區學院獲取成功。參與是次研究的共有六名副學士學生，透過深入訪談，研究員蒐集了每一位受訪者賴以成功的重要因素，寫出六個成功的故事。在整理和分析資料的過程中，研究員利用開放式編碼以及編碼繪圖，找出類目和主題。研究結果顯示，令副學士學生達致成功的因素包括學校聯繫感、個人、社會以及院校因素。在學校聯繫感因素當中，以教師關懷以及同儕關係最為重要，而於個別個案中，積極參與課外活動亦為達致學業成功的重要因素。其他因素方面，學生的自主性及堅忍、學院的環境、課程和評核方法、來自家庭的支援以及個人信仰，均對學業成功有莫大影響。本研究具有理論價值及實際意義：在理論角度方面，本研究揭示副學士學生在學業上的成功，乃個人、社會與學校聯繫感的互動產物；在現實生活方面，本研究亦為社區學院的行政人員、教師及輔導員提供了幫助本地副學士學生邁向學業成功的方法，例如建立校園內的關愛文化及給予學生適切的支援和輔導等。最後，本文亦為其他相關的研究提出建議。The education system in Hong Kong has undergone some unprecedented changes. Since the turn of the millennium, community colleges have proliferated in the territory and offered an alternative path to higher education for many secondary school leavers who may fail to get a place at university via the traditional JUPAS scheme. By using the case study method, the present study investigates how community college students achieved academic success in an Associate Degree (AD) programme after experiencing serious failures in the public examinations. Six community college students were invited to the study, and an in-depth, face-to-face interview was conducted with each to collect data about factors that contributed to their academic success in AD to portray their unique success story. The data were analyzed by using open coding and cope mapping from which categories of codes and major themes were derived. The results of analysis suggest that factors that affected the academic success of community college students included school connectedness factors and other personal, social and institutional factors. For school connectedness factors, the specific contributing factors included teacher care, peer relationships and extra-curricular activities involvement. For other factors of success, students’ being autonomous and persevering, the campus environment, courses and assessment methods, the support from family and religious beliefs were found to be influential. The research study is important in both theoretical and practical sense in that community college success can be attributed to a combination of personal, social, institutional and school connectedness factors. Further, the study inspires how teachers, counsellors and community college administrators could help community college students to achieve academic success by creating a caring campus culture and providing appropriate assistance and guidance. Directions for future research in school connectedness and community college success are recommended and discussed.Detailed summary in vernacular field only.Lee, An Yee Queenie.Thesis (Ed.D) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 407-435).Abstracts also in Chinese