Work

Pre-Arrival Confidence and Perceived Importance Among UK and Australian First-Year Sport and Exercise Science Students: An Exploratory Comparison

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Despite strong enrolment in sport and exercise science degrees in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK), little is known about the expectations of incoming students. Drawing on expectancy–value and self-efficacy perspectives, this exploratory study compared the pre-arrival confidence and perceived importance of first-year sport and exercise science students in the UK (n = 100) and Australia (n = 45) using the Pre-Arrival Survey (PAS), which assesses learning, community, employability and health and well-being. A mixed-design ANOVA showed that students rated importance higher than confidence in all four areas (ηp2 = 0.39), with the largest gaps for learning and community and the smallest for employability. Community was the lowest-rated area overall. The importance–confidence gap was larger among Australian students, reflecting lower confidence, with no evidence of a country difference in importance, and Australian students reported notably lower community confidence (ηp2 = 0.11). Gender differences were small, and no gender effect was significant at the multivariate level. Women rated importance modestly higher in a full-sample sensitivity analysis. Because the two national samples differed in recruitment method, timing and size, country differences should be regarded as indicative rather than as evidence of national-context effects. The findings suggest that pre-arrival and induction support that builds students’ confidence, particularly in forming community connections, may be valuable in both countries.

Source: Education Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/educsci16111881