What works? Facilitating an effective transition into higher education

Abstract

Improving student retention and success by enhancing transition and the first year experience is widely accepted as an institutional priority. This paper draws on evidence from a three-year programme: 'What works? Student retention and success' in England, involving seven projects and 22 higher education institutions. This study identified the importance of student engagement and belonging. Student engagement enables belonging through: supportive peer relations; meaningful interaction with staff; developing knowledge, confidence and identity as successful HE learners and, an HE experience relevant to students' interests and future goals. The "What works" model emphasises: early engagement; having an explicit academic purpose; and developing student and staff capacity to engage/be engaging. Focusing on transition (pre-entry interventions, induction and learning and teaching in the first semester/year) this paper presents specific examples that have had an impact, and relates them to the What works model to evaluate their implementation and outcomes. It concludes with a reflective checklist to assist readers to improve transition.

Detecting uncertainty, predicting outcome for first year students

“…This can be considered in the light of the work of Thomas (2013) who highlighted the relationship between thinking about leaving and the likelihood of DETECTING UNCERTAINTY, PREDICTING OUTCOME 19 doing so, and that of Xuereb (2014) who described students consider terminating their studies and what convinced them to stay. Students who are not confident in the conviction that they can successfully execute the behaviours (Bandura 1977) required by their course are likely to harbour doubts, which in turn can lead to noncompletion.…”

“…Thomas (2013) highlights findings describing the relationship between thinking about leaving within the first year and increased likelihood to do so. Worryingly, 42%…”

“…Student retention, progression and completion remain a concern in higher education (HE) as reported in The What Works? Report (Thomas, 2013) in the UK as in other countries (van Stolk et al, 2007). The negative consequences of not completing undergraduate studies, either through academic failure or voluntary withdrawal, are many.…”

“…Explicitly, Thomas found that if students felt staff believed in them and cared about their outcomes they would gain self-confidence and motivation. Thomas (2013) and many others argue that improving student belonging should be a priority for all programmes, departments and institutions. Yorke and Thomas (2003) and Yorke and Longden (2008) both emphasise the value of commitment to access and to retention arguing that success in retaining students requires a strong policy commitment and the need for these to be supported by practical action within the HEI.…”

Academic involvement in Outreach: Best practice case studies from health and languages

“…This ensures the aspiration raising pre-16 programmes cover the breadth of disciplines available and that the post-16 content is representative of specific courses and supports applications. Accurate representation of the course is extremely important because of the intense nature of the health professional degrees and the high risk of attrition if students' expectations do not align with the reality (Thomas, 2012;Moore, Sanders and Higham, 2013). Realistic taster sessions are best delivered by academics involved or very close to the pre-registration courses.…”