Transcript Familiarity Breeds Contentment

Familiarity Breeds Contentment
Sarah Cant & Peter Watts - 14th October 2009
Enabling student transitions into
HE through taking a holistic
approach to level IV delivery
Changing Students, Changing Contexts
• Sector-wide
– Massification of HE / increase in ‘non-traditional’ students
• Falling school roll drives recruitment of more mature /
international students
– Changes in the nature of secondary education (Elander et al 2009)
– Engagement in paid work to support study (Jones et al 2004)
• Post-1992 in particular?
– Lower grades on entry
– Recruitment through clearing
– Students less informed about / committed to / prepared
for study (Biggs 1999, Crozier 2008))
– Economically deprived (Crawford et al 2008)
– More local students, still living at home
– Need to teach more students with fewer resources
– Modularisation
Changing Students, Changing Contexts
• Such factors lead to:
– mismatch between capabilities / expectations / aspirations on
entry and HE actualities
– diversity of capabilities / expectations / aspirations on entry
• NB ‘non-traditional’ is a homogenising concept! (Hockings et al 2008)
– fragmented HE experience
– serious challenges to academic and social integration
– an HE level IV experience very different from our own!
• Re-evaluation of what is reasonable to expect from students?
• Re-evaluation of the academic role?
• Particular issues and / or experiences
in your discipline / at your institutions??
Transitions into HE and the Sociological Imagination
• Tinto – Learning Communities
– Learning involves shared experiences, shared
knowledge creation, shared responsibilities
• Wenger – Communities of Practice
– Learning = moving from peripheral to central
participation in the CoP
• Key insight: learning is socially situated and as
such social factors are key to successful
transitions
• Implication that HEIs need to create
circumstances in which LCs / CoPs are likely to
emerge
Transitions into HE and the Sociological Imagination
• Nicol, Yorke & Longden, Harvey etc. also draw on
sociological ideas through concern with: e.g.
– academic integration (re formal and normative demands
of the institution)
– social integration (re developing good social relations with
peers and staff)
• Transitions also involve acquisition of tacit, embedded,
practical competencies – practical consciousnesses?
• Practical and discursive consciousnesses (following
Giddens, following Schutz)
– To excel in HE you need to develop a discursive
consciousness...
– But to engage in HE in the first place you need to have the
right practical consciousness
– Traditional students came with this, new
students do not?
Bourdieu
• Distinction (1984), Outline of a Theory of Practice
(1977), Homo Academicus (1990)
• Habitus
– an habitual disposition to think, act,
feel, respond, know, learn etc. in given
ways – a way of being
– acquired through early socialisation
– shaped by socio-economic / cultural
factors
– largely non-reflexive (e.g. both a
consciousness and an embodied state
– it is ‘taken for granted’ / ‘secondnature’)
– bestows forms of ‘capital’ – not only
economic but cultural (knowledge /
values), social (networks), symbolic
(prestige), physical (bearing)
• Field
Bourdieu
– A territory of social practice (such as
education)
– Shaped by historically & culturally contingent
values & power relations
– Defines, constrains, values & devalues certain
actions & dispositions
– i.e certain Habituses fit certain Fields
• The ‘Traditional’ University = a Field
requiring a middle class Habitus
– Mechanism of social reproduction
– Having the right habitus helps you navigate HE
– Having the wrong one can be a criterion for
exclusion / failure – for judging ‘good’ and
‘bad’ students?
• Universities have their own institutional
habituses
– Diane Reay
What makes a ‘good’ student?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Perseverance / longer term view
Valuing of learning for its own sake
Independence
Analytical / critical insight
Appropriate etiquette / deference
Competence with elaborated code
Asking appropriate questions
– “...many University students – especially in their first year – struggle
with the simple task of asking ‘appropriate’ questions”
(Handley et al 2007)
“Who’s Obama?”
• Inappropriate Habitus:
ask out loud, in class =>
loss of status
• Appropriate Habitus:
keep this lack of
knowledge to yourself –
know how to find out
about it later
• How do we respond?
– Opens questions about
tutor role?
What makes a ‘good’ tutor?
• Views on your own experiences of
being tutored at university?
• What should the contemporary tutor
role encompass? What should it not
encompass?
Transitions into HE and the Sociological Imagination
• Sociology of professions
• Experts in modernity hold and mete out valuable, esoteric
knowledge – they write, they lecture, you listen!
• Traditional authority (Weber)
• Epistemology internal to the discipline
• Recipients are deferent and grateful!
• Use of arcane language etc. establishes and reproduces social
distance – fits with
• Ideological function of university – to reproduce social
distinction?
Transitions into HE and the Sociological Imagination
• Sociology of Consumerism
– Massification / marketisation of HE
– Response to late-modern capitalism: ‘flexible specialisation’
– Epistemologies / expertise subject to external factors – demand in
the market, from the State etc.
• Knowledge becomes to a degree public and contested / contestable:
changes relation of the lay public to knowledge – ‘performativity’
– Tutor becomes service provider, delivery becomes as important as
the product
– Tutor’s performance judged on retention, degree profiles of
students rather than expertise per se
– Ideological function – produce good workers / consumers?
Transitions into HE and the Sociological Imagination
• Bauman – the role of intellectuals
• In late-modern world neither model is appropriate:
expert as legislator untenable, student as pure consumer
problematic (Higgins 2002)
• Expert must become interpreter
• “...the ordinary competence of otherwise
knowledgeable members cannot cope without
assistance...” - therefore
• “...experts, armed with specialist knowledge...”,
working within specialist arenas, are still necessary for
engaging with / transmission of knowledge, but
• “Interpretation must make the interpreted knowledge
sensible to those who are not inside...” (1992:22)
Transitions into HE and the Sociological Imagination
• Bauman – the role of intellectuals
• The interpreter role
• “...consists of translating statements, made within
one communally based tradition, so they can
understood within the system of knowledge based
on another tradition ... this strategy is aimed at
facilitating communication between autonomous
(sovereign) participants. [This involves
maintaining]... the delicate balance between the
two conversing traditions necessary for the
message to be both undistorted (regarding the
meaning invested by the sender) and understood
(by the recipient)” (1987:5)
What is to be done?
• A quick note about ‘Bolt-on’ academic skills
interventions - they:
• are deficit models?
• fail to recognise that academic, social and cultural
factors are intertwined?
• absolve academics of responsibility?
• alienate ‘weaker’ students from their learning
community?
• fail to recognise the dynamic, socially mediated nature
of the HE context?
Three premisses
• Learning is socially situated:- social and
academic integration should be the focus of
level IV provision, equal with content delivery
• Mismatch between habitus of many nontraditional students and academic field :beyond social and academic integration, there
is also a need for cultural integration?
• Re-evaluate the role of tutor and the
student:- integration rather than assimilation
implies movement on both sides
What we did
• Three premisses:
• Learning is socially situated
• Mismatch between habitus of many non-traditional students and
academic field : social, academic & cultural integration
• Re-evaluate the role of tutor and the student
• What we didn’t do (but might have):
•
•
•
•
Rely heavily on ‘virtual’ resources (e.g. ‘Develop Me’ at Bradford)
Isolate ‘weak’ students for supplementary instruction
Provide separate basic skills courses
Establish student fora independent of teaching sessions / staff
• Where did we start?
Characteristics of the Sociology & Social Science Programme at CCCU
• Fairly large cohort (70-80 students)
– Demographics - approximately: 1/3 mature students; 1/5
from low participation neighbourhoods; 1/7 bottom
quartile
• Recruiting rather than selecting
– Mean A level points on entry = 12 (c/w 14 for post 1992
Universities / 19 for Old Universities)
• Wide range of knowledge of / interest in the subject
• Wide range of combination subjects
– Approximately: 1/5 single honours; 1/3 joint; just under
1/2 bias away from Sociology
• Wide range in terms of both academic ability and study
skills (appropriateness and quality)
• Lowest HEFCE (Band D) funding per student
Holistic level IV delivery
• Interventions:
– Welcoming activities – key purpose less to
transfer information than to generate rapport
between students / students and staff
– Cohort monitoring – proactive, early warning
system
– Year long induction – embedded in
programme delivery
– Regular, early ‘low stakes’ assessment and
feedback – the portfolio (BIBB1)
– Distinctive teaching style – team-teaching,
orientated to building trust relationships,
front loading of staffing resources
– Integrated individual and peer study
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field – Tiered learning:
• A response to disparate student base, wide
variety of levels of interest, ability, aspirations
• Many students don’t understand the need to
read, and / or know what or how to read.
• Sociology involves challenging theory – no
dumbing down here!!
• Theory sessions have linked exercises on the
VLE, each with 3-4 tiers of increasingly
difficulty
• tiers 1-2 covered the basics, higher tiers afforded
more in-depth engagement – if the student
chooses
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field – Tiered learning:
• Exercises make explicit the conceptual
steps otherwise implicit in an academic
habitus
• Deliberate ‘handholding’ regarding the
process but not the content of theory –
e.g. through signalling appropriate
questions to ask, highlighting technical
uses of common words etc.
• “Do some background reading on hysteria so
that you are clear in your mind of the
difference between the commonsense way we
use the term today, and the more technical
way it was used by 19C medicine”
• There are some other examples in your
delegate pack
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field – Tiered learning:
• Students attempt the exercises before the sessions
• Students hear the lecture which recapitulates the
material from the exercises
• Students peer-review and rework the exercises in
class
• Students can revisit the exercises after class – even
some time after (consolidation weeks)
• Finally completed exercises comprise part of the
portfolio submission
• Opportunity to move from periphery to centre, at
student’s pace
• “The intention behind this initiative was to create a
more focussed and structured learning experience for
students, without compromising the self-reliance and
independent learning ability that characterises
University education” (Cant & Watts 2007)
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field – Tiered learning:
• “They have helped me to structure what
sort of reading would be best to use so that
I could understand. Also ... if the tiers have
been done, I go into the lecture with an
understanding, and it helps me understand
the lectures in more depth”
• “They are useful as structured pointers to
develop understanding ... it was quite
difficult to attempt them before the lecture
... and after the lecture I had more
understanding.”
• “The tiered learning I felt worked well in
that it gave me ideas and the confidence to
do my own reading and research as I
tended to use it as a guideline for my own
readings”
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field –
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL)
• PAL fosters cross level peer support
• Five main aims – to help students:
– Adjust quickly to university life
– Acquire a clear view of course direction and
expectations
– Develop independent learning and study skills
– Enhance understanding of subject matter through
collaborative group discussion
– Prepare better for assessed work in
examinations
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field – PAL
• PAL is NOT
– Teaching by students: the PAL
leaders’ role is not to impart
subject knowledge
– A means to reduce lecturer /
student contact
– A means to provide remedial
support for weak students
– A bolt on
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field – PAL provided:
– an alternative, potentially less
threatening, point of access to staff
– social bridges between levels IV & V, and
a sense of belonging for new students
– opportunities for both level IV students
and PAL leaders to practice both the
subject and independent learning
• which foster tacit skills / knowledges /
competencies associated with HE, but not
on formal curriculum
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field - PDP /
personal tutoring
• University policy on PDP “We
see the link between PDP and
the role of the tutor as a key
strategy for engaging students
and staff in recognising and
meeting the changing needs of
students and accessing
appropriate resources and
support.” CCCU PDP Policy Document.
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field - PDP / personal tutoring
• Formally introduced end of term 1, but groundwork
laid in portfolio
• Students asked:
– to reflect over Christmas on feedback from assignments /
expectations and realities of University life / approaches to
learning etc.
– To write this up briefly (1 side of A4)
• Each student allocated to a PDP tutor – model was
face-to-face personal tutorials, not VLE mediated
• Students contacted (vigorously!) to set up PDP
tutorials immediately on their return for the Lent
term
• Significant investment of staff time /
effort
Holistic level IV delivery
• Reconfiguring the field - PDP /
personal tutoring
• Made student voice audible in a new
way
– Got to know students who would not
normally be visible to tutors
– Facilitated a holistic appreciation of the
students’ life world and how it impacted
on their academic performance
– Challenged our expectations and forced
us to reflect on our own practice
Holistic level IV delivery
• Life Outside University
– Working hours
– Social Responsibilities
– Some serious social / material
difficulties
• Life Inside the University
– Perceived overload (6 modules)
– Concentrated timetables
– Isolation / ‘hoodlum friends’
Holistic level IV delivery
• Schism between taken for granted assumptions of staff and
students: ‘normal’ students admitted to –
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Never setting foot in the library
Taking a (literally!) last minute approach
Taking a pragmatic / instrumental / fragmented approach
Relying on pre-undergraduate learning skills (spidergrams!!)
Having a short concentration span
Not knowing how to ‘read’ or reflect
Needing and expecting structure
Needing and expecting external motivation
Cutting and pasting from the web
Being bewildered by referencing (not how, but why?)
Being not bored, but petrified!
Being embarrassed about their lack of skills
Holistic level IV delivery
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“I started off quite dubious”
“I felt there was a barrier between
students and lecturers”
“Although they said I could go and
see them about problems, I didn’t, I
thought they were [just] saying it”
“a great way of being able to
interact with the tutors and being
able to look at what you’re doing...”
“...look at your work personally…”
“It’s good to learn about what
you’re doing wrong…”
“It changed the rest of the year for
me”
“…much more confident…”
“I realised I could actually do what
I’m asking myself to do…”
Amy and Joe
Students from Level IV of the Sociology &
Social Science Programme
Holistic level IV delivery
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“I started off quite dubious”
“I felt there was a barrier
between students and
lecturers”
“Although they said I could go
and see them about problems, I
didn’t, I thought they were
[just] saying it”
“a great way of being able to
interact with the tutors and
being able to look at what
you’re doing...”
“...look at your work
personally…”
“It’s good to learn about what
you’re doing wrong…”
“It changed the rest of the year
for me”
“…much more confident…”
“I realised I could actually do
what I’m asking myself to
do…”
• PDP Enabled students:
– To reflect on their progress
(but they needed a lot of
help!)
– To recognise and enhance
their existing capacities
– To recognise their
limitations / confusions
– To develop a positive
approach to learning
– To begin to articulate and
manage their personal
goals
– To recognise the value of
PDP!
Holistic level IV delivery
• PDP enabled the programme team:
• To provide targeted support
• To appreciate the changing educational contexts
from which our students come
• To appreciate the diverse predispositions
(habituses) the students possess on entry
• To realise that a lot of our taken for granted
assumptions are (sometimes) misplaced
– Not all students knew how to reflect independently – a
fairly major hurdle for PDP!
– What staff see as deviant learning behaviour is not
shared by many students
• To recognise the social distance between tutors
and the students – we can be frightening!
• In short, to review the tutor role, in order to meet
the changing needs of students
Sociology & Social Science First Year
Party!
Icebreakers
Social integration
Trip to Margate
(2010)
Peer assessment
PAL
PDP
Front-loading
Cultural integration
Team Teaching
Personal
Tutor
Tieredlearning
Group work
Portfolio
assessment
Academic integration
Subject based study skills
interventions
Did it work?
• Hard data
• Attrition rates
– 2005: 22%
– 2006: 24%
– 2007 (new first year provision introduced):
7.6%
– 2008...
Did it work?
• Hearing students’ voices
– Evaluations:
Did it work?
• Hearing students’ voices
– Evaluations:
– Real, live students!
– Questions or comments?
– Augustine House