Author: Celia Popovic
Who are our students?
Access to Higher Education increased dramatically in the late 20th Century in most of the world. As we noted in "Understanding Undergraduates" (Popovic and Green 2012), between 1999 and 2009, participation rates in the UK increased from 56% to 70% of 18 year olds (Department for Education 2011); in the USA over the same period, they grew from 45 to 50% of 18 to 19 year olds with smaller increases for students in other age ranges (Aud et al. 2011). In Ontario, Canada, the number of 25 to 34 year olds with a post secondary qualification tops the world at 68%. This compares with figures of around 10 or 20% of young adults accessing HE in the mid 1900s.
Growth vs Access
Deller et al (2019) in their discussion of access to HE in Ontario, Canada, identify two models aimed at increasing access. One is to provide more places, a Growth model, the other is to ensure all groups in society have an equal opportunity to take up those places. They conclude that Ontario has done well in terms of growth, but can do more in terms of access.
"Decades of research has shown that certain youth are underrepresented in PSE (Post Secondary Education). First-generation students (those whose parents didn’t complete postsecondary), low-income students, Indigenous students and students with disabilities are less likely to participate in postsecondary education, and less likely to attain a PSE credential than their peers". (Dealer et al 2019, p6).
These observations are common in many countries.
An increase in numbers brings with it an increase in diversity of experience, expectation and needs. When university was the expectation for a small proportion of the population, particularly white, middle or upper class men with a homogeneous education, largely selective private schools (confusingly called "public"in the UK), then professors who also came from the same group, could make assumptions based on their own experience. As diversity increases, where access is not wholly determined by membership of a small group, then approaches to teaching also need to change.
For some, this change is seen as a lowering of standards. Educational developers may meet resistance in the form of instructors resistant to change if they regard this as damaging to their profession or discipline. The work of the developer may be as much to encourage and persuade instructors of the wisdom and justice in making changes, as in sharing practice that supports the wider needs of the larger student body. I have always found the most powerful argument for any action that improves support to be the evidence that changes that help a specific group invariably help all students.
This is not intended to provide a complete guide to ways to improve access to learning or to solve the issues of diversity, it is merely a starting point for a conversation. So with that caveat in mind, here is guide to some of the key issues that arise when considering student diversity.
Factors that can increase access to HE and completion of qualifications:
Financial support - this is a key concern, if students are to spend time out of the workforce gaining qualifications, they need to have the means to support themselves. One reason why it was men in higher social groups who accessed HE in the past is that they had the means to do so. Universal grants, scholarships and payments are not likely to be in the control of the individual instructor or educational developer, and are not discussed further here. However, it is interesting to note the range of approaches taken in different countries to the support of students. For example, compare the UK's 9,000 pounds per year tuition, supported by interest bearing loans, with Belgium's approach of free tuition and no entrance exams.
Learning support - this may be the area where educational developers have the most potential to influence access to HE. Many of the pages in this site provide resources and advice on ways to provide support. In brief, the aim of learning support is not to give an unfair advantage to any, rather it is the reverse. The aim is to remove unnecessary barriers to learning.
For example, if a lecturer relies only on his or her voice to secure the attention of the class for 50 minutes, it is unlikely that all will retain the learning intended by the instructor. If he or she breaks down the lecture into shorter elements, uses visual aids and brings in activities, then the likelihood is that more learning will be retained. This will work not only for those who are the first in their generation to attend university, it will help all of the students. In the first model, the students who have cultural capital, in that they have been prepared for university life through learning from the experience of their parents and other family members, whose school teachers expected them to attend university and who have a mental model into which this experience fits, have an advantage over those who do not. Despite this advantage, they will perform better in the second model as well as their less advantaged peers.
Most universities have codes of conduct and policies that guide expectations regarding student needs. In my own institution, for example, affected students are provided with a letter that details their needs (for example the need for a longer time to complete timed assignments) but not the reason for their needs. This is intended to preserve the privacy of the student and remove the decision regarding what may or may not be a reasonable request from the instructor. While this may meet resistance at first, it is intended to ensure equity for the student without burdening the instructor. As an educational developer I would encourage all instructors to question the need for timed assignments, and if deemed unnecessary from a pedagogical perspective, removing the need to make separate arrangements for the students requiring more time.
Community support - Aside from academic performance, engagement in the community side of university life has been shown to be significant as a reason for students completing their studies.
Burke's (2019) comprehensive review of the literature on student retention concludes that:
"Major findings are that the topic of student retention is critical to higher education institutions, but it is highly complex and difficult to predict. The literature is clear that student engagement during the higher education experience leads to higher student retention rates and increased institutional commitment."
Students who feel they "belong", either in HE in general or at the particular College or University, are far more likely to persevere with their studies. Educational developers can help to build this sense of belonging and community through their interactions with instructors. This can be achieved through helping instructors to engage with their students, to encourage engagement between students and their peers and through the creative use of incentive programs. See Students as Partners and Co-creators, for one such example.
What is the role of an educational developer?
To provide meaningful support to faculty to improve teaching and learning it is important for educational developers to understand the institution's student data and the diversity of students. This may be quite different for various programs at the same institution. While it may not be feasible to have figures to hand, it is important to be able to advise faculty on how to get the information about their own students on their own programs. The easiest way to do this may be to run a student survey at the start of a course.
For UK developers the QAA (The Quality Assurance Agency) has some excellent resources in their Enhancement Themes Data Landscape site. For those elsewhere, it may be most fruitful to locate data within your institution. Most have an office that focuses on this information, but not all of us are aware of this.
When meeting with a faculty member, particularly a head of department, I find it helpful to get as much information as I can on the student body. This can help to inform conversations on multiple topics, not all of which seem on the surface to relate to student demographics. For example, a concern by a professor that students are not reading as much as he recalls they did twenty years ago, may give rise to a discussion about the way study is financed for the students in his or her class. What proportion of students work 20 hours or more a week while taking a full-time course for example? What difference, if any, should this make to the professor's reading lists? Some of these discussions can be challenging, but not having them doesn't make the issues disappear!
Related topics in this resource include:
References
Aud, S., Hussar, W., Keena,G., Bianco,K., Frohlich, L., Kemp, J. and Tahan, K. (2011) The condition of education 2011 (NCES 2011-033). US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Burke, A. (2019) Student retention models in higher education: a literature review, American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, Washington, DC.
Deller, F., Kaufman, A. & Tamburri, R. (2019). Redefining Access to Postsecondary
Education. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
Department for Education (2011) Participation in education, training and employment by 16 - 18 year olds in England.
Mattarozzi Laming, M., Morris, A. and Martin-Lynch, P. (2019) Mature-Age Male Students in Higher Education, Palgrave 2019.
Popovic, C. and Green, D. (2012). Understanding Undergraduates, London: Routledge, 2012.
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