Extracurricular associations and college enrollment

Factors impeding university students' participation in English extracurricular activities: Time constraints and personal obstacles

The incorporation of extracurricular activities (ECAs) that focus on the English language is of utmost importance in higher education as it serves to improve students' interpersonal abilities and proficiency in language. The objective of this study is to ascertain the primary variables that serve as deterrents to the active engagement of university students in these activities. The results highlight notable barriers, including limited time availability and individual issues such as diminished self-assurance in social engagements and restricted competency in the English language. The findings of this study have significant significance for individuals learning a new language and organizers of English language immersion programmes. The research provides valuable insights into the creation of immersive environments that effectively facilitate language acquisition, experiential learning, and enhanced social interactions among students.

“Involved Is an Interesting Word”: An Empirical Case for Redefining School-Based Parental Involvement as Parental Efficacy

School-based parental involvement is a common practice in the United States, and yet there is an emerging view that parents’ involvement in schools may have little if any academic benefit for their children. However, such conclusions are often based on narrowly construed survey questions, such as “Did you attend PTA in the past year?”. In our study, we re-examine commonly used measurements of school-based parental involvement using 130 interviews with parents and administrators across three diverse elementary schools. We compare conventional survey measures of school-based parental involvement with our own qualitative assessments of parental efficacy. Notably, we find that highly efficacious parents employed a wide range of involvement strategies, undetected by some traditional metrics of involvement (i.e., attending PTA meetings). As expected, we also find that efficacious parents were largely advantaged themselves and concentrated in advantaged schools. However, school contexts can play a powerful role in shaping the reception of parents’ engagement with schools—the presence of a Spanish immersion program transformed how teachers and administrators interpreted the involvement activities of Latinx parents. Our results point to the importance of (1) recasting parental involvement as parental efficacy and (2) integrating school contexts to understand how efficacy can be more effectively encouraged and deployed.

Is Participation in Organized Leisure-Time Activities Associated with School Performance in Adolescence?

BACKGROUND

Organized leisure-time activities (OLTA) have been identified as a context suitable for improvement of school performance. This study aimed to assess the associations between participation in OLTA and school engagement, school-related stress, academic achievement and whether these associations differ by specific pattern of OLTA participation, gender and age. Furthermore, it assessed whether OLTA participants are more likely to acquire support for schoolwork from outside the family.

METHODS

The sample concerned 10,483 adolescents (49.2% boys) aged 11, 13 and 15 from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children data collection in 2014 in the Czech Republic. Logistic regressions adjusted for gender and age were used to analyse the associations between participation in OLTA and four education-related outcomes.

RESULTS

Participation in OLTA was associated with higher school engagement, lower levels of school-related stress and better academic achievement regardless of gender and age. The strongest associations were observed for adolescents involved in various types of OLTA concurrently, with odds ratios ranging from 1.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17-1.54) for lower school-related stress to 1.97 (95% CI 1.73-2.25) for above-average academic achievement. OLTA participants were also more likely to have a non-familial person to help them with schoolwork, though this association was weaker in 15-year-olds.

CONCLUSION

Youth involvement in OLTA is linked to general better school performance and attachment to school. Adolescents participating in more activities at the same time have the best school performance.