Effective teaching and support of Australian
university students from low socioeconomic
status backgrounds: Findings from a
national study
Marcia Devlin
Executive Director, Academic Programs and Services
Open Universities Australia
Overview
1. Context and evidence base
2. Conceptual framework
3. Key advice for teachers
4. Other outcomes from the
research
1. Context and evidence base
 Funding and partners
 Scope and method
1.1 Funding and partners
 Funded by ALTC/OLT, DIISRTE (20112012)
 Led by Deakin University, in
collaboration with Queensland
University of Technology and Charles
Sturt University
 Open Universities Australia and James
Cook University also acknowledged
1.2 Scope and method
 National study, international
reference group
 18 month timeframe
 $220 000 budget
 Focus on practical outcomes for busy
teachers and leaders
 New conceptual framework
developed
1.2 Scope and method
 National environmental scan of
effective practice
 Review of recent peer-reviewed and
other significant literature (200+
papers)
115 individual interviews (89
students, 3 unis; 26 staff, 6 unis)
1.2 Scope and method
 Study focussed on success:
 Environmental scan of ‘what works’
 Interviewed successful students who
were LSES and FIF and asked them “What
has helped you succeed?”
 Interviewed staff known for their
expertise with LSES students and asked
them “What helps LSES students
succeed?”
Overview
1. Context and evidence base
2. Conceptual framework
3. Key advice for teachers
4. Other outcomes from the
research
2. Conceptual framework
Derived from the literature
Guided the research
Underpins the outcomes:
 Guide for teaching staff
 Guide for leaders and policy makers
 Resources for professional
development
 Database of effective curriculum
and practice
2. A new conceptual framework
A rejection of deficit conceptions:
around students and
around institutions
Recognition, instead, that there is
incongruity between the social and
cultural capital of LSES students and that
of the institutions in which they study.
2. A new conceptual framework
‘Sociocultural incongruity’ (Devlin, 2011)
Instead of a deficit conception, a
conception that sociocultural
incongruence should be bridged
A recognition of the agency of students
(and of institutions)
The bridge
Overview
1. Context and evidence base
2. Conceptual framework
3. Key advice for teachers
4. Other outcomes from the
research
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3.1 Know and respect your students
Understand that LSES students are time
poor; communicate with them, embrace
and integrate their diversity and enable
contributions of their knowledge to
everyone’s learning.
3.1 Know and respect your students
Understand their context
They have to undertake paid work; often they have
multiple roles and caring responsibilities; they are
time poor.
…unless this is going to improve their learning
outcomes, they’re not interested. Unless it’s going to
make it easier to do that assessment task in a timely
way, they’re not going to engage in it because they
are very time poor [COL_021]
3.1 Know and respect your students
Understand what they bring to study
…students who came from public high schools
tended to do better and last longer and succeed
faster,...[they] have fewer fails in things, so progress
faster at university, than students who came from
private schools...[the public school students] never
had the resources handed to them and they always
had to fight for everything and they were much
more independent learners [COL_013].
3.1 Know and respect your students
Understand what they bring to study
…stats have shown in our course that, generally
speaking, our low SES students tend to do better.
They’re slightly better motivated and probably more
capable students…[COL_014]
Consider eliciting and integrating the knowledge
students bring with them to study:
3.1 Know and respect your students
…being able to pull in people’s different experiences
because they’ve come from different areas can actually be
really insightful. …when we’re talking about developing
marketing strategy,…we’re talking to different groups and
we want to know why one group might look at that
marketing communication and go ‘That’s…a joke’,
whereas another group might look at it and go ‘It’s
perfectly believable’, and it’s because of that diversity in
their backgrounds. So I’m very strongly in favour of
…[teachers] trying to get as many different voices … into
the mix as possible [COL_013].
3.1 Know and respect your students
Embrace and integrate diversity
…use as much diversity as possible in your
pedagogical practices, because there’s all sorts of
different learners. Don’t presume that groups all
learn in certain ways, watch out for generalisations
[COL_026].
3.1 Know and respect your students
Suggested strategies:
Use student cohort demographics to begin to
understand who your students are at a broad level.
As far as possible, learn and use students’ names.
Examine the extent to which you include the
student voice and student opinions in class or
online.
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
While upholding academic standards,
offer LSES students flexibility, choice in
assessment and variety in teaching and
learning strategies.
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
So to me, to respond to the diverse situations …it’s
about flexibility and responsiveness to a person’s
situation and thinking about what is the contextual
factors around them that are impacting on their
ability to meet all the demands of the course
[COL_009].
When I’m designing my teaching delivery
approaches, I’m quite supportive of not requiring
students to be in a particular place at a particular
time… [COL_027].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
High standards (and assumptions)
I’ve found that...low SES kids ...[are] very smart and
determined people ...[COL_007].
…we take students who are low socioeconomic and
first in their family…and last year and the year
before that we had 25% of them graduate with
distinction [COL_023].
I had someone who got High Distinctions, who came
to see me to be better [COL_001].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Teaching with technology
…the recordings have been really
popular...[COL_030]; The uploading of lectures with
the PowerPoint slides attached to them...
...[COL_002];
…the online interactive …presentations …
[STU_051]; ... the eLive sessions [STU_001]; The
online module... [STU_008]; ... audio…podcast
and…video... email[ing] your lecturer...24-hour
access to your learning material [STU_045];
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Use a wide range of teaching strategies
I try to provide resources that meet every learning
style… because not everybody learns in the one way
[COL_011].
I...use YouTube, or I use a lot of photos or images in
my teaching that represent diversity ... to illustrate
any of the kinds of content that I teach [COL_008].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Use a wide range of teaching strategies
I guess you could almost see it as an
‘epistemological equity’ in some ways because it’s
meeting students where they’re at, it’s student
centred, you know if a person’s unable to figure out
how to use the technology, no problem, let’s find
something else you know[COL_009].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Interactive teaching and learning
I think that it’s much more useful for students to
have a conversation evolving around concepts so
that they can explore and unpack things that they
don’t understand as you’re going along [COL_027].
I use an interactive lecture style..., so ‘What do you
think about this?’ and I’ll give them a scenario just
to see where they’re at. [COL_024].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Interactive teaching and learning
…the interactive lectures where they ask
questions…[and] they might have quizzes
throughout the lecture, that’s helpful... It gives you
the time to sort of draw aside and talk with the
people next to you or get out your calculator and
work out the quiz question or whatever. That’s
really good as well to get you involved in the lecture
rather than just sitting there, falling asleep
[STU_010].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Variety in assessment (mode)
…assessment at university…relies too much on the
formal written word, and on the traditional types of
assessments, like essays and reports, and yes, there
definitely is a place for those kinds of assessments.
But in this changing world, we need to bring in more
variety in modes of assessment, so not just a formal
essay, but a variety of ways, to meet the diversity of
our students as well [COL_012].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Variety in assessment (mode)
… [in] many of the assessments, they have been able
to do it online, as a report, as an essay,…as a
collection of interview information [COL_001].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Flexibility re assessment due dates
I need flexibility because with work arrangements
...sometimes that all changes and I just need a few
days’ flexibility here or there [STU_036].
...with three kids... at times... [teachers] have
assisted, whether it be [through] extensions, or
special consideration... If they weren’t available, I
don’t know what I would’ve done [STU_054].
3.2 Offer flexibility, variety and choice
Suggested strategies
Examine your unconscious assumptions about LSES
students and challenge yourself about the potential
impacts of any biases you might hold.
Reflect on your preferences in teaching strategies
and assessment practice – ask yourself how the
range of these might be widened to encompass
more interaction and a greater range of student
learning needs, without compromising standards.
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
Speak and write in plain language to
ensure students understand the
concepts being taught, the
expectations of them and what is
required to be a successful student.
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
…It can be daunting to kind of sit down and write
your first five thousand word assignment…so
definitely a clear structure…helps [STU_057].
Because they’re the ones marking my
assessment…it’s good to know what they want in
the assessments or exams [STU_074].
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
…if you lay the guidelines out…you say, ‘This is what
I would like, this is what you can do’, they know very
clearly what it is you want [COL_001].
…they’re told to write these essays and they want to
see what an essay looks like. It’s like trying to teach
them how to ride a bicycle without the bicycle… But
if you’re teaching something, and if you can show an
example of it, the students can see the expectation,
they can see the level of what is expected of them
[COL_012].
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
Accessible language and examples
I feel like they’re using big words and big sentences
when they can say the exact same thing in simple
language and half the amount of words…In other
words, ‘What does it actually mean?’ So I’ve had a
few teachers that I really couldn’t understand and
they were just so sort of theoretical that I found
myself tuning out which was really difficult and it
also can get maximally hard to relate to if they’re
speaking in really high academic language…
[STU_035].
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
Real life examples
I do like the ones who ...have a more practical
approach…they’re actually giving their life examples
or speaking about their experiences and…I find that
... beneficial [STU_037].
...the tutors...[are] quite personal, ...they’ll relate
their own experiences, which is really good because
you have something to go from rather than it being
really abstract... [STU_088].
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
Suggested strategies
Record a typical class and review your use of
language for the use of jargon, acronyms, complex
vocabulary, long sentences, the absence of clear
explanations and the like.
Ask a small group of volunteer students or a
colleague to listen to you teach and give you
feedback about your use of language and your
clarity.
3.3 Communicate clearly in plain English
Suggested strategies
Actively practice simplifying your oral and written
language and using explanations of greater depth.
Try to include a small number of short anecdotes or
stories in each class to engage students and help
them understand and remember concepts.
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Take a step-by-step approach to
teaching to ensure students build on
what they bring to higher education
and are taught the particular
discourses necessary to succeed.
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Well what I try to do is find ways in which I can
scaffold the information…I…try and structure it so
that every student has the capacity to look at the
task and if they understand it to begin with, then
they can move onto the next task...structuring the
task… allows them to say ‘Okay, well, I’m at this
point and I’m going to need some help to move into
the next one’, whereas the other students who are
doing better can just go, ‘ Yeah well I finished that
one, let’s move onto the next one’. So everybody is
sort of still moving [COL_013].
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Teaching and learning the discourses
...you might set an essay...Now, a culturally rich
student audience will say, ‘Essay. Yes, I know essays.
...we learnt how to write an essay...I know how to
get hold of literature and review...and critique it...’.
[Other] students, however, may ...say, ‘You know,
I’ve really not written very many essays...’, and they
may ...be puzzling ...about what an essay actually
is...So they’re not stupid, but the point is that they
don’t have this cultural knowledge about how you
write an essay [COL_016].
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Teaching and learning the discourses
…what a student does… in a lecture…[is] they try to
copy everything down religiously, because they’re
not looking for the key points, and they have no
idea…what they’re expected to do, and seriously,
there are so many who have no concept of how to
read academically, that it holds them back, so they
stop doing it [COL_001].
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Peer learning
…you know that they learn from each other, half the
time better than from you [COL_029].
My tutorials are basically all about group work and
they are all about group work and interaction and
everybody in the group gets a say…and it is very,
very important we do that, because that binds them
together with the other students and it also gets
them to settle into the university in the first five or
six weeks, and that is critical [COL_006].
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Peer learning
...I found that if you get out and mingle with other
people - you make friends and then you can learn
from them as well, so you don’t have to be sort of
alone and solitary in your learning. [STU_044].
The thing that really does help me learn is having
study groups with other people in my course ...it
motivates me to study as well ... And if I don’t
understand something, they can help explain it or I
can help them as well, which helps me remember it
[STU_074].
…
3.4 Scaffold student learning
Suggested strategies
Talk to an ALL expert about the best ways to
approach teaching your LSES and other students the
discourses they need to learn to be successful.
Design and implement peer learning activities inside
and outside class and ask students to provide
feedback to you on their usefulness to their
understanding and learning.
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3.5 Be available and approachable
In addition to being available, be
approachable so that students may make
use of your expertise and guidance to
improve their learning and performance.
3.5 Be available and approachable
Being available
It doesn’t matter how many fancy electronic
resources you’ve got. If you haven’t got time for
them, you’ve got problems [COL_011].
I think it’s just time. I think I would spend the most
time with them. Isn’t that one of the most valuable
resources that you can really give, is time?
[COL_025].
3.5 Be available and approachable
Being available
It was always clear to us that if we needed support
we could just go talk to the co-ordinator or our
lecturers or anyone really…that’s a big benefit of
coming here that they’re very accessible [STU_092].
I think having a lecturer available for help and to
ask questions – like you can easily e-mail them …or
organise a time to meet up with them for help. I
think that’s really helpful [STU_074].
3.5 Be available and approachable
Being approachable
I guess it’s just having the door open and trying to
have as accessible an approach as possible. So
where you are encouraging students to talk to you if
something’s not right [COL_027].
I find some lecturers are really approachable if
you’ve got a question and some aren’t at all. So
you’ve just got to pick which ones are and…you can
sort of tell by their mannerism and how they answer
a question in the classroom whether they’re
approachable in their contact time [STU_095].
3.5 Be available and approachable
Staff workload
Experienced staff frequently commented on the
extra time they spent with LSES students assisting
them to come to terms with university
requirements and develop skills and confidence.
This is an institutional matter and can be addressed
through embedded approaches, workload models
and other means.
3. Key advice for teachers
1. Know and respect your students
2. Offer flexibility, variety and choice
3. Communicate your expectations
clearly and in plain language
4. Scaffold student learning
5. Be available and approachable to
assist student learning
6. Practice reflectively
3.6 Practice reflectively
…it’s about...helping adults to learn, ...that’s my
philosophy…the philosophy comes from an
andragogical background which is the science of
helping adults to learn. So that means always
looking at my practice…and saying, ‘Well, how can I
do this better?’ [COL_015].
Overview
1. Context and evidence base
2. Conceptual framework
3. Key advice for teachers
4. Other outcomes from the
research
4. Research outcomes
Guide for teachers
Guide for institutional leaders
Professional development materials
Conceptual framework
Database of effective practice
Annotated bibliography
Website (lowses.edu.au)
Numerous articles & presentations
Network across Australia and beyond
References
Devlin, M., Kift, S., Nelson, K. Smith, L. And McKay, J. (in
press). Effective teaching and support of students from low
socioeconomic status: Resources for Australian higher
education. Office for Learning and Teaching, Department of
Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary
Education.
Devlin, M. 2011. Bridging socio-cultural incongruity:
conceptualising the success of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds in Australian higher education.
Studies in Higher Education, Online:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.613991
www.lowses.edu.au