Samenvatting

Procrastination is a big problem among students. Several studies show that 38% to 95% of the students procrastinate (Ackermann & Gross, 2005; Ellis & Knaus, 1977 in Janssen & Carton, 1999; Özer & Saçkes, 2011; Schouwenburg, 1992; Schraw, Wadkins & Olafson, 2007; Strunk, Cho, Steele & Bridges, 2013). A lot of research has already been done on the individual factors that influence academic procrastination. However, less research has been done on the environmental factors that influence academic procrastination (Ackerman & Gross, 2005; Nordby, Klingsieck & Svardtal, 2017). This research looks at four different educational environmental factors that influence procrastination: social factors, task characteristics, teaching factors and digital factors. The goal of this research is to find out which educational environmental factors influence academic procrastination. The research question is: ‘in what way does the educational environment influence academic procrastination according students?’
To answer this question, a 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was set-up. This questionnaire was conducted among TP-students (N=89). This showed that in particular the teaching factors have a big influence on procrastination. Students indicate that they procrastinate more on an assignment when instructions given by the lecturer are unclear. Students also indicate that they procrastinate more when a lecturer is unorganized.
By dividing the respondents into low, average and high procrastinators, it emerged that high procrastinators get influenced by educational environmental factors way more than low procrastinators.
To help students reduce their procrastination, the AMA could set up training  for lecturers to help them give clearer instructions and be more organized. This could be done by an applied psychologist. Furthermore, in follow-up research, a more detailed research project about these teaching skills could be done to get deeper information about this particular factor.