Student Retention 2002-2007
Dr Paula Wilcox
University of Brighton
Introducing the Context 2002
Why is student retention an issue?
 National targets: widening participation,
bear down non-completion (Department

for Education and Skills, 2002: 14)
University concerns: quality student
experience; financial costs withdrawal
 School of Applied Social Science

Student Numbers in SASS
SASS: numbers of undergraduate students
700
635
600
524
500
404
400
300
260
273
1999/00
2000/1
302
200
100
0
2001/2
2002/3
2003/4
2004/5
What Does the Literature Tell Us?





Withdrawal complex; lack of preparedness;
incompatibility (Ozga and Sukhnandan, 1998)
Student experience:
Learning, teaching and assessment strategies
(McInnis, 2001; Tinto, 2002; Yorke and Thomas,
2003)
Quality of relationships between academic staff and
students (McGivney, 1996; National Audit Office,
2002; Thomas, 2002)
Process of establishing friendship networks
(Rickinson and Rutherford, 1996; Thomas, 2002).
School Applied Social Science
Approach
‘Academic and social integration’
 Mechanism/s rarely explored in depth
 Ideal of HE student as able to think and act for
themselves, self-motivated, high degree of autonomy
 Previous research tended to be quantitative
 Qualitative approach to explore social facets
 Multi-faceted research approach
 Withdrawal not conceptualised as ‘failure’ but
nevertheless entails costs (emotional/financial)
Research Projects
Phase 1
 Retention Project
–
–
Qualitative Research into Students who Leave and who Stay
2002-date
Student Support & Guidance Tutor 2002-date
Phase 2
 Student Messenger 2004-date
 Personal Tutor Project 2005-6
 Learning Groups 2006-date
Students who Leave or who Stay
2002-2006
Aims: To improve retention level 1 students; research
factors affecting withdrawal in this student group





Study of first year Applied Social Science students
Elicit narrative within time frames / contexts
Qualitative interviews with ‘stayers’ and ‘leavers’
‘Stayers’ interviewed three times to capture the
process of transition
Constant comparative analysis
Student Support and Guidance Tutor
(SSGT)



SSGT provides a first point of contact for
level 1 students
SSGT follows-up level 1 students whose
attendance is poor or who fail to submit
assessed work
SSGT sends messages to students via text
Students and SSGT





SSGT is introduced to level 1 students on the
first day of the autumn term
Responds to student questions via
email/phone/text messaging
Provides a confidential drop-in service
Refers students to Student Services or
Academic Staff if necessary
Complements Personal Tutoring
Issues Raised with SSGT
by Students






Financial problems; student loans
Course worries: catching up with academic
work
Withdrawal, intermission, internal course
transfers
Accommodation problems
Study skills, e.g. essay writing, note-taking,
reading
Conflicts between course and employment
Overview Research Findings






Choice of course/L&T important but equally social
relationships/support
Initially chose to focus on social support as far more
research on L&T
Role of social support
Reconceptualising student motivation
Towards an integrated model of student noncompletion
Later stage – student messenger - personal tutoring
– learning groups
Social Support




Emphasis needed on successful integration into
social as well as academic contexts
Importance of friends made through living
arrangements
Relationships with personal tutors important but
provide instrumental, informational and appraisive
support
Family support in appropriate forms and at right
times can be helpful
Importance of Friends at University
… because at home you have got the support of your
family and stuff and your friends aren’t so important I
guess. But like here your friends are like your
friends and your family and everything really. …
But yes I guess making good friends is really
important, rather than making like loads and
loads of friends it’s making ones that you really
care about is really important here.
(Beth, 20, stayed, her emphases)
Concluding Remarks Phase 1



Enhancing the student experience (and hence
retention) needs greater attention to social aspects
of integration and learning
Withdrawal is about relationship between social,
material and academic factors
Further work needed in SASS:
–
–
–
–
Student messenger project
Personal tutor role
Social aspects of L&T- small learning groups
Theorising ‘student motivation’
Phase Two: SASS Retention




Student Messenger 2004
Personal Tutors 2005
Learning Groups 2006
Theorising student motivation as ‘social
motivation’ (ongoing)
Student Messenger 2004

Relevance of mobile phones/text messaging


Social impact



expectations of students: immediacy
‘perpetual contact’ of an ‘always on’ society
Virtues of text versus voice




the technology of choice for the current generation of undergraduates
with studies showing 90% use in the UK for people aged 14-35 (ONS)
asynchronous communication
emotional buffer
chance to collect thoughts
Student messenger given to personal tutors, admin staff and
SSGT
Students’ Response to Texting
A sense of belonging
“It was nice. I don’t know, cos university is such a big place, you
sometimes feel a bit de-individualised so it is quite nice to know
that someone is thinking about you or if you have got any
worries when your drop in times are.” (Julia)
“I think they (the text messages) are beneficial for a number of
reasons, one as I said earlier is about giving you the feeling of
belonging, we are in this altogether, that sort of thing” (Peter)
Accessibility
“cos everyone has got a phone, so everyone will know, everyone
has got the same information” (Fiona)
Personal Tutoring Project










2005 Brighton HEFCE funding introduction professional
teaching standards
SASS 24 UG PTs interviewed (50%)
Focus groups x 6 (37 L2 and L3 students)
Some tutors have adapted but no room complacency
Additional personal tutorial for L1 mid-semester
Additional talks from colleagues in Student Services
L2 students to meet with personal tutor as group Induction
Week
L3 students as above next year
Staff need greater support in personal tutoring role
One member of staff overall responsibility personal tutoring
Learning groups







Introduced across each L1 module
Groups of 5 students; 3 per PD group
Same learning group in each module
Exchange contact details
Meet 3 times a week once for each module
Structured tasks each week
Any problems contact Personal Tutor
Learning Groups: preliminary
questionnaire:

My experiences of learning groups as a way
to learn and study have been mostly
–
–
–

61% positive
23% negative
14% no opinion
My experiences of learning groups as a way
to make friends have been mostly
–
–
–
79% positive
10% negative
11% no opinion
Learning group: positive experience;
(female 17)




Can you tell me more about your experience of your
course? Did you meet your learning group?
I met my learning group that was cool. I went to
my introductory course thing – that was good.
I know you haven’t experienced any teaching but
can you tell me about the quiz in induction week?
Yeah, it was good. To be honest our learning
group met up when we just had a drink in the
café and just tried to do the questions and it was
good to get a chance to get to know the learning
group better. So it was cool
Learning group: mixed experience
(male 18-20)




How would you describe your experience with
learning groups?
There should have been more lectures and less
time in learning groups. We pay and do not get
enough time.
How easy was it to make friends with people on
your course? Was there anything that helped you
make friends with people on your course (eg.
Induction Week activities, learning groups etc)?
It was easy to make friends especially with the
people of the learning group. There were nice
people.
Theorising student motivation




Academic motivation reinforced or obstructed by
other motivations in everyday lives
Shaped by social contexts, including
relationships with others and material factors
Motivation for independent study problematic
suggests more focus on ‘interdependent’ study
Need to reconceptualise student motivation as
social and relational
Jane
‘I didn’t expect that you were just kind of left to it on your own, you
do things when you want to do them and if you don’t want to do
it then it’s just your problem. … if I haven’t got anyone saying
you have got to it now, then I won’t do it’.
‘I’ve got loads of free time, I could do some reading but I just don’t.
Wednesday is a day off, so I just go shopping or something’.
independent study: ‘You go away and do it yourself and go to the
library and find information’.
Interviewer: How do you think that you learn best?
‘Actually having an involvement in it rather than sitting and just
writing things down, like when you discuss things’.
Student non-completion




Withdrawal factors originate before and after
entering university need draw on models of transition
conceptualise pre- and post-entry as a single
process
Extend to include process and outcome of
withdrawal
Integrated model must take into account interrelationships between academic factors and the
wider social context
Role of parents in students’ decision-making, before
and after entering HE an important aspect of the
social context for many younger students
Concluding remarks






Withdrawal outcome of interplay between academic and
material and social aspects
More pro-active engagement with applicants prior to entry
After entry more pro-active contact with poor attenders (SMS
text messaging)
Accommodation on campus for all first year students, inc. late
applicants
Extend range of people students can approach with ease; eg
SSGT
Research involvement of parents after students have entered
higher education
People Involved in Retention SASS
2002-2007









Marylynn Fyvie Gauld, SSGT & Research Officer (2002-3)
Dave Harley, (Student Messenger 2004-date)
Sarah Pemberton, SSGT and Research Officer (2003-6)
Stephanie Fleischer, SSGT and Research Officer (2006–date)
Dr Dawn Stephen, (Personal Tutor, Learning groups 2005-date)
Mike Hall, (Personal Tutor, Learning groups 2005-date)
Paul O’Connell, (Personal Tutor, Research Officer 2005-date)
Dr Paula Wilcox, (Student Retention 2002-date)
Dr Sandra Winn, (Student Retention, Learning groups 20022006)
References




Wilcox, P., Winn, S. and Fyvie Gauld, M. 2005 ‘“It was nothing
to do with the university, it was just the people”: the role of
social support in the first year experience of higher education’
Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 30(6): 707-722.
Winn, S., Harley, D., Wilcox, P. and Pemberton, S. 2007
‘Reconceptualising student motivation: accounting for the social
context beyond the classroom’ Learning and Teaching in the
Social Sciences LATISS, 3.2.
Harley, D., Pemberton, S., Winn, S. and Wilcox, P. 2007 ‘The
role of SMS text messaging in supporting transition to
university’ Innovations in Education and Teaching International
Under consideration Wilcox, P., Winn, S., Pemberton, S. and
Harley,D. ‘Towards an integrated model of undergraduate noncompletion’, Journal of Further and Higher Education