Thiele Tamara, Pope Daniel, Singleton A, Stanistreet D
Department of Psychological Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Department of Public Health and Policy, Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, Liverpool, UK.
BMJ Open. 2016 Mar 11;6(3):e010169. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010169.
This study examines associations between medical students' background characteristics (postcode-based measures of disadvantage, high school attended, sociodemographic characteristics), and academic achievement at a Russell Group University.
Retrospective cohort analysis.
Applicants accepted at the University of Liverpool medical school between 2004 and 2006, finalising their studies between 2010 and 2011.
571 students (with an English home postcode) registered on the full-time Medicine and Surgery programme, who successfully completed their medical degree.
Final average at year 4 of the medical programme (represented as a percentage).
Entry grades were positively associated with final attainment (p<0.001). Students from high-performing schools entered university with higher qualifications than students from low-performing schools (p<0.001), though these differences did not persist at university. Comprehensive school students entered university with higher grades than independent school students (p<0.01), and attained higher averages at university, though differences were not significant after controlling for multiple effects. Associations between school type and achievement differed between sexes. Females attained higher averages than males at university. Significant academic differences were observed between ethnic groups at entry level and university. Neither of the postcode-based measures of disadvantage predicted significant differences in attainment at school or university.
The findings of this study suggest that educational attainment at school is a good, albeit imperfect, predictor of academic attainment at medical school. Most attainment differences observed between students either decreased or disappeared during university. Unlike previous studies, independent school students did not enter university with the highest grades, but achieved the lowest attainment at university. Such variations depict how patterns may differ between subjects and higher-education institutions. Findings advocate for further evidence to help guide the implementation of changes in admissions processes and widen participation at medical schools fairly.
本研究考察了医学生的背景特征（基于邮政编码的劣势衡量指标、就读的高中、社会人口统计学特征）与罗素集团大学学业成绩之间的关联。
回顾性队列分析。
2004年至2006年间被利物浦大学医学院录取，并于2010年至2011年间完成学业的申请者。
571名注册全日制医学与外科学课程且成功获得医学学位的学生（其家庭住址在英国）。
医学课程第4年的最终平均成绩（以百分比表示）。
入学成绩与最终成绩呈正相关（p<0.001）。来自成绩优异学校的学生进入大学时的学历比来自成绩较差学校的学生更高（p<0.001），不过这些差异在大学阶段并未持续存在。综合性学校的学生进入大学时的成绩高于独立学校的学生（p<0.01），且在大学期间平均成绩更高，不过在控制多种影响因素后差异并不显著。学校类型与成绩之间的关联在性别上存在差异。大学期间女生的平均成绩高于男生。在入学水平和大学阶段，不同种族群体之间存在显著的学业差异。基于邮政编码的两个劣势衡量指标均未预测出在学校或大学成绩方面的显著差异。
本研究结果表明，尽管并不完美，但学校的教育程度是医学院学业成就的一个良好预测指标。学生之间观察到的大多数成绩差异在大学期间要么缩小要么消失。与以往研究不同，独立学校的学生进入大学时成绩并非最高，但在大学期间成绩最低。这些差异表明不同学科和高等教育机构之间的模式可能存在差异。研究结果主张获取更多证据，以帮助指导招生流程的变革实施，并公平地扩大医学院的招生范围。
