Investigating Secondary Home Education Student Academic Preparation for Postsecondary Education: A Multiple-Case Study

• Author / Creator

  Eaton, Timothy

• This multiple-case study considered the experiences and perspectives offered by four postsecondary students who were home-educated during their secondary years of education in Alberta, Canada. I aimed to discover what secondary home education students do to help them prepare for postsecondary studies. I conducted two semi-structured interviews with each participant or case, analyzed transcription data for each individual case, and cross-analyzed the four cases before interpreting the findings. Important key findings from the four cases in this study include the following:

  1. Home education appears to foster effective self-directed, independent learning, which could aid home education students with managing their time and studies as they transition to the postsecondary education setting.
  2. The home education environment appears to lead students to desire to learn alone and to discourage collaborative learning.
  3. Students who experience secondary home education without emphasizing grades and testing are not necessarily disadvantaged as they enter postsecondary education.
  4. Home education students could be limited in what they know about how their academic progress compares with their peers, and they could experience less anxiety about their learning progress if they increase their exposure to students in other learning settings.
  5. Home education students could benefit from improving communication with their parents about postsecondary academic preparation and planning for postsecondary life more deliberately, specifically by conducting more research on postsecondary institutions, learning more about admittance requirements and courses, and visiting campuses and classes. This study revealed that there are various ways to adequately prepare for postsecondary education through secondary home education. Also, learning from the views and perceptions of students who were home-educated in secondary education provided specific examples of how secondary education students might prepare academically for postsecondary studies. Home education parents, students, and families who are considering alternatives to traditional public schools could benefit from this study because it solicited the views and experiences of students who were home-educated during secondary education and gives readers an intimate look at specific situations where students’ education happened outside of traditional school. Additionally, this research could be relevant for postsecondary admissions officers and administrators because it could help increase their understanding of the needs of incoming home education students.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • academic preparation
  • postsecondary education
  • secondary home education
  • case study

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R35X25V6N

• License

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