Implementing a Principal Tutor to Increase Student Engagement and Retention within the First Year of a Professional Program

Abstract

With ongoing changes to the requirements for professional registration, greater demand for professional services, and targets for increasing participation, universities must adapt quickly to ensure that the quality of accredited professional programs is continually improving. The problem of retaining students is particularly relevant in accredited professional courses where students often have unrealistic expectations about course content and the profession. In order to address issues surrounding student engagement and retention in an accredited psychology course, a Principal Tutor was appointed to a first year cohort. By using a transition pedagogy framework to support student engagement through incorporating administrative and profession-specific advice within and outside the formal curriculum, the program appears to have been successful in increasing student engagement. Indicators of student engagement were higher than national averages and retention rates improved. Implications for possible application of the initiatives included in this program elsewhere are discussed.

Considering the Role of Tutoring in Student Engagement: Reflections from a South African University

“…Globally, a large body of literature supports the hypothesis that high levels of student engagement yield positive outcomes for the characteristics that promote student success (Astin, 1984(Astin, , 1993Chickering & Gamson, 1987;Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991Goodsell, Maher & Tinto, 1992;Berger & Milem, 1999;Kuh, 1995;Kuh & Vesper, 1997;Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh & Whitt, 2005;Kuh, 2013;Lodge, 2012). These characteristics include: student development, academic achievement as well as social engagement.…”

Using student data: Student-staff collaborative development of compassionate pedagogic interventions based on learning analytics and mentoring

“…If LA deals in numbers and percentages; then the responses to those numbers must deal in people. In other words, following the analysis of student engagement data, what is arguably most important is what happens next; so whether that be an intervention (Sclater, 2017), a 'nudge' (Chande et al, 2015), involvement with specific tutors (Lodge, 2012) or an alternative response, students are supported in a more human and compassionate manner.…”