The Influence of Last Secondary School Attended,Subjects Taken in Last Year of Secondary Education and Gender on Preclinical Performance of Medical Students

Abstract

Considerable concern has been expressed in both the lay press and educational circles that the Higher School Certificate (HSC) scores used for selection of students into university courses have a systematic bias in favour of ex-pupils of non-government schools and also in favour of males. At the same time, some faculties have been criticised for restricting the Year 12 subjects that can be included in the selection scores. It was found that students from government schools did not perform better at university than did their peers from independent schools with similar HSC results and female students performed no better and no worse than did males with comparable results. However students' performance was significantly influenced by the nature of the subjects in their selection score.

Keywords

admission criteria higher education selective admission equal education medical students university admission

References

Anderson

D.S.

(1964). Suggestions for a University Admission Formula and Procedure. Parkville: University of Melbourne, Education Research Office.

Bailey

N.T.J.

(1959). Statistical Methods in Biology. London: English Universities Press.

Committee of Inquiry into Medical Education and Medical Workforce (R. Doherty, Chair). (1988). Australian Medical Education and Medical Workforce into the 21st Century. Canberra: AGPS.

Dunn

T.R.

(1982). An empirical demonstration of bias in HSC examination results. Australian Journal of Education, 26, 190–203.

Finch

P.D.

(1977). Some statistical comments on educational issues in tertiary selection. Vestes, 20, 33–9.

Fomin

(1984). The best and brightest. Cultural Politics—Melbourne Working Papers, 5, 219–61.

Potter

O.E.

(1976). University Admissions Policy (Notes on Higher Education, No. 11). Clayton, Vic.: Monash University, Higher Education Advisory and Research Unit.

Slamowicz

Smurthwaite

A.M.

West

L.T.H.

(1976). Trends and biases in university entrants: Monash University 1970–1975. Vestes, 19, 16–21.

West

L.T.H.

(1985). Differential prediction of first year university performance for students from different social backgrounds. Australian Journal of Education, 29, 175–87.