Role models, mentoring and university applications - evidence from a crossover randomised controlled trial in the United Kingdom

Sanders, Michael; Burgess, Simon; Chande, Raj; Dilnot, Catherine; Kozman, Eliza; Macmillan, Lindsey

doi:10.5456/wpll.20.4.57

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Those pupils from "disadvantaged backgrounds" are less likely to have the support of positive role models and so lack confidence about their future (Marshall, 2019). This can be alleviated by the use of alumni and student ambassador initiatives (Sanders et al, 2018) including higher education outreach, such as the GROW Programme, highlighting how informal interactions allow students to develop shared "learner identities" with student ambassadors, and in so doing help them understand the reality of a university education and how they themselves could belong in this setting (Gartland, 2015). The role of mentors in addressing learners' confidence and motivation are covered in the literature, including how motivation is adaptive of past and present experiences, and that "success matters."…”

Section: The Effects Of Lockdown On Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A “Curriculum of Hope”: Designing and Evaluating a Remote Mentoring Program for Pupils in a Pandemic

Pountney

2022

ECNU Review of Education

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Purpose This paper reports the evaluation of an ongoing intervention, the GROW Programme, aimed at meeting the needs of 15–18-year-old pupils who were unable to attend school in England for periods during 2020–2021. The aim of the paper is to theorize the underlying basis of practice in such a lockdown context to inform future responses. Design/Approach/Methods Thematic analysis of a mixed-method evaluation, using surveys and interviews of teachers and mentors, and pupil focus groups, of the remote mentoring of pupils and their learning during lockdown, is further analyzed by means of Bernstein's knowledge codes, and his concept of open schools, to identify the form of knowledge inherent in online mentoring. Findings The analysis offers a framework for open schooling, valuable to schools in uncertain times, and identifies the shift to metacognition and self-regulated learning as having particular benefits for learning in disruption. Originality/Value The paper takes a novel view of disruption brought about by the partial closure of schools and offers a methodology for evaluating its effects by means of a unique intervention. It makes visible the characteristics and the potential benefits of alternative approaches, in order that schools can make informed choices.

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Section: The Effects Of Lockdown On Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A “Curriculum of Hope”: Designing and Evaluating a Remote Mentoring Program for Pupils in a Pandemic

Pountney

2022

ECNU Review of Education

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“…However, successful role modelling also involves successfully completing studies (Burgess et al 2017). The interviews indicated that there were many barriers for student parents, and many students had considered giving up.…”

Section: Challenges To Student Identity and Role Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘My achievement will be their achievement’: the challenges of role modelling for student parents at UK universities

Mulrenan

Redd

Allison

2022

Journal of Further and Higher Education

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Student parents, particularly women, cite role modelling as a key reason to come to university and persist with their studies. However, this role modelling relationship remains largely unexplored. This study examines the role modelling relationship between student parents and their children. There are distinct practical and emotional challenges faced by student parents, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and these impact on the role modelling relationship with their children. Using Bandura's notion of 'attention', we found that there are some potential problems with the theory and practice of student parent role modelling. The 19 students interviewed identified balancing academic study and family life as the key issue, but also identified space as a major concern for participants. Lack of access to the library and campus during COVID was particularly problematic for student parents in practical terms, and in undermining a sometimes-fragile sense of student identity. However, the students were not simply modelling a student identity or aspiration to their children, but demonstrating efficacy, that it was possible to achieve by overcoming obstacles. A key challenge in terms of role modelling was getting an appropriate balance between demonstrating determination, but concealing some of the significant stresses they faced in their studies.

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“…Importantly, the text messages were personalised with the names of the individual participants, using a direct address ("Hi, [student name]!"). This followed evidence according to which personalisation was important in the provision of information in higher education outreach [12], and sought to create rapport with participants, which was hypothesised to increase the likelihood of action following the reception of the text messages.…”

Section: The Behavioural Nudging Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further evidence [5,9,10] suggests that particular types of interventions, specifically nudging programmes which provide participants with relevant information and seek to spark certain behaviours, are effective at improving both application rates and take-up of places in higher education. Even as very recent evidence finds small and inconsistent effects from nudge interventions [11], the provision of information is an established form of higher education outreach in the English context and there is some causal evidence [12] that, alongside further support, the provision of accurate information increases application rates, particularly to selective universities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Budge for any Nudge: Information Provision and Higher Education Application Outcomes

et al. 2022

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Despite increasing efforts to improve their access, students facing socio-economic disadvantages are still underrepresented in UK higher education. In this paper, we study whether behavioural nudging with information provision through text messages, embedded within a larger programme of widening participation activities, can be effective at increasing higher education application rates. We conducted two randomised control trials in which final year students in schools and further education colleges in areas with low higher education participation rates in the East of England region received a series of text messages that prompted thinking and/or action regarding the process of applying to higher education. We find null and statistically insignificant effects on application outcomes, suggesting that behavioural nudging in a setting where it is implemented as part of a more intensive widening participation programme is not effective at increasing higher education application rates. These results add to recent evidence regarding the potential impact of nudging in education by studying such interventions within a busy intervention space.

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Role models, mentoring and university applications - evidence from a crossover randomised controlled trial in the United Kingdom

Cited by 9 publications

References 13 publications

A “Curriculum of Hope”: Designing and Evaluating a Remote Mentoring Program for Pupils in a Pandemic

A “Curriculum of Hope”: Designing and Evaluating a Remote Mentoring Program for Pupils in a Pandemic

‘My achievement will be their achievement’: the challenges of role modelling for student parents at UK universities

No Budge for any Nudge: Information Provision and Higher Education Application Outcomes

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