Conceptions of
student transition
in higher
education:
induction, development, becoming
Trevor Gale <
[email protected]
>
Gale, T. & Parker, S. (2012, iFirst). Navigating change: a typology of student transitions in Australian higher education. Studies in Higher Education.
Reviewing the evidence: a dialogue
between
programs
and
theory
Transition-related ALTC projects
•
Projects for review provided
by the
ALTC
: 14 completed
projects and 5 fellowships
plus 3 current projects and
2 current fellowships = 24.
•
ALTC brief: to review and
identify ‘
good practice
’ re
student transition in higher
education
Inter/national research literature
•
Literature on transition in
relation to
schools
and
particularly
youth
, not just
higher education
•
Some literature descriptive
and evaluative of transition
programs and practices
•
Other literature
theorising
In what ways do transition conceptions and programs /
practices ‘
regulate
’ higher education for students?
What we found
1. Transition is a contested concept: three broad conceptions.
2. Different conceptions result in
different programs and practices.
3. The transition programs and
practices we examined tended to be informed by one (T1)or two (T2)
conceptions more than the third (T3) conception.
4. There is value in all transition
conceptions and programs but there is most value in T3 programs and
practices for students from
marginalised backgrounds.
Informing our analysis
• “educational knowledge is a major regulator of the structure of experience” (Bernstein 2003: 85).
• “How are forms of experience,
identity and relation evoked, maintained and changed by the formal transmission of
educational knowledge and sensitivities” (Bernstein 2003: 85)?
Gale, T. & Parker, S. (2012, iFirst). Navigating change: a typology of student transitions in Australian higher education. Studies in Higher Education, p. 5. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2012.721351
Transition as induction
T
1
sequentially defined periods of adjustment along pathways of inculcation
Dominant metaphor:
boot camp
• Linear / sequential; from one institutional and/or disciplinary
context to another
• Infrequent periods of adjustment (‘crisis’) bounded by relatively stable periods
• Focus on students’ experiences
within HE, more than their prior
and/or concurrent experiences
• First year in HE is a critical time
• Normative expectations of what
“The curriculum and its delivery
should be designed to be
consistent and explicit in
assisting students’ transition
from
their previous educational
experience
to
the nature of
learning in higher education …
enabl[ing] successful student
transition
into
first year,
through
first year,
into
later years and
ultimately
out into
the world of
work, professional practice and
career attainment.” (Kift 2009).
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/students/my-journey/prepare/personal-journey.html
T
1
in higher education practice
‘Transition Pedagogy’ (Kift 2009)
consistent, explicit, timely: directed at helping students to fit in
•
Coordinated
‘whole-of-institution’ [consistent]
approach
•
Assessment aligned [consistent]
with subject and program aims
and objectives
•
Intentional pedagogies:
shaping
and making behaviours and
expectations explicit
•
Timely access to support, which
scaffolds
and
mediates
the FY
learning experience
Summary of Transition Pedagogy strategies and
processes in the Bachelor of Corporate Systems Management (BCSM) at QUT (Nelson 2008: 12)
Transition as development
T
2
qualitatively distinct stages of maturation along trajectories of transformation
Dominant metaphor:
life stage
• a stage in which individuals are
transformed (e.g. from childhood to adulthood); not strictly defined by length of time but time needed for transformation to occur
• a shift from one identity to
another; a ‘stilted’ progression
• First year: a time during which
students develop their identity as a university student
• development into something new;
become somebody (e.g. a scientist; a professional; etc.)
T
2
in higher education practice
Examples: mentoring, workplace learning, career planning
Workplace learning:
From student to professional
• Development of professional
identity
• Shaping identity for career beyond being a HE student
• Field placement (e.g. Social Work, Teacher Education, Medicine)
• “… this learning model assists the student to develop theories of adult learning, formational and experiential learning and
developing a professional identity.” CSU
Supplemental Instruction (PASS):
From novice to expert
• Development of student identity
• For students who want to “better” “improve” themselves (SI student)
• Extra curricula study sessions:
mentors (experts) instruct mentees (novices); 2nd year university
students (and above) teach 1st year
university students
• More comfortable as a student
• Strong emphasis on mentor
Transition as becoming
T
3
perpetual series of fragmented movements involving whole-of-life fluctuations
Dominant metaphor:
collage
• rhizomatic, zigzag, spiral
movements
• fluctuations in lived reality and
subjective experience
• fluid (ephemeral) identities,
multiple narratives and subjectivities
• Flexible timelines, study modes
and pathways
• Courses that engage with
students’ different histories and subjectivities
T
3
in higher education practice
Example 1: flexible systems
•
Modular based curricula
•
Greater
flexibility
and
choice
in how and what is studied
within a given degree
•
12 modules a year – normally
6 per semester but can choose
more or less as desired
•
Core, optional and elective
modules
•
Focus on what students will
learn, rather than what
material the lecturer will teach
(learning outcomes)
•
Credits from modules in one
degree
transferable
to another
•
Epistemological equity
: “creat[ing] spaces
where multiple knowledges can co-exist in the
Western academy” (Sefa Dei 2010: 98).
•
Southern theory
: “calls attention to the
centre-periphery relations in the realm of knowledge”
(Connell 2007: viii-ix).
•
Southern theory of higher education
: “the
creation of space in higher education not just
for new kinds of student bodies but also for
their embodied knowledges and ways of
knowing”
(Gale 2012).
•
Funds of knowledge
: “transforming students’
diversities into pedagogical assets” (Moll &
Gonzalez 1997: 89).
T
3
in practice
Example 2: diversified curriculum
T
3
in practice
Example 3: relevant ways of knowing
‘Connectionist pedagogies’ (Hockings et al.) emphasize:
•
creating collaborative and inclusive spaces
,
in which students are
encouraged to
share their beliefs, knowledge and experiences
•
developing student-centered strategies, which entail flexible and
tailored activities that enable students to
ground their learning in
something
relevant
to them as individuals
•
connecting with students’ lives, through subject matter that is
relevant
to students’ immediate lives and/or their imagined roles
and identities
as professionals
•
being culturally aware, which includes using
culturally
relevant
examples, anecdotes and stories
to aid learning, as well as a
non-academic frame of reference for teaching (i.e. teaching beyond the
academic culture).
Conclusion
: all transition conceptions and
practices have something to offer but …
•
T
1and
T
2place
onus on
students to change
while
institutions are encouraged
only to make their
expectations more explicit
•
T
1and
T
2as they operate in
practice are largely
system-driven
and
s
ystem-serving
•
T
3conceptions and practice
embrace diversity
,
with
significant benefits for all
When diverse students and their
diversity are embraced
within the
formal transmission of educational
knowledge, the educational benefits
for
all
university students include:
“
greater relative gains in critical and
active thinking … greater intellectual
engagement and academic motivation
… [and] greater relative gains in
intellectual and social self-concept
,”
with the most gains recorded by the
most advantaged students (Milem
2003: 142).
• Gale, T. & Parker, S. (2012, iFirst). Navigating change: a typology of student transitions in Australian higher education. Studies in Higher Education.
• Gale, T. (2012) Towards a southern theory of student equity in Australian higher education: Enlarging the rationale for expansion. International Journal of Sociology of Education, 1(3), pp. 235-258.
• Mills, C. & Gale, T. (2010) Schooling in Disadvantaged Communities: Playing the game from the back of the field. Springer. ISBN: 978-90-481-3343-7 (hbk) 9789048133444 (ebk)
• Gale, T., Hattam, R., Comber, B., Tranter, D., Bills, D., Sellar, S. & Parker, S. (2010) Interventions early in school as a means to improve higher education outcomes for disadvantaged (particularly low SES) students. Adelaide: National Centre Student Equity in Higher Education. 208 pp. (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-980798-30-2.
• Sellar, S. & Gale, T. (2011) Mobility, aspiration, voice: A new structure of feeling for student equity in higher education. Special Issue: “New capacities for student equity and widening participation in higher education”. Critical Studies in Education, 52(2), pp. 115-134.
• Sellar, S., Gale, T. & Parker, S. (2011) Appreciating aspirations in Australian higher education. Special Issue: “Globalisation and student equity in higher education”. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41(1), pp. 37-52.
• Gale, T. (2011) Student equity’s starring role in Australian higher education: Not yet centre field. Special Issue:
“Confronting perceptions of student equity in higher education”. Australian Educational Researcher, 38(1), pp. 5-23.
• Gale, T. (2011) Expansion and equity in Australian higher education: Three propositions for new relations. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(5), pp. 669-685.
• Gale, T. & Tranter, D. (2011) Social justice in Australian higher education policy: An historical and conceptual account of student participation. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), pp. 29-46.
• Mills, C. & Gale, T. (2011) Re-asserting the place of context in explaining student (under) achievement. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 32(2), pp. 239-256.
• Gale, T. & Tranter, D. (2012) ‘Social inclusion as a matter of policy: Australian higher education for the masses’ in T. Basit & S. Tomlinson (eds) Social Inclusion and Higher Education. Bristol, UK: Policy Press, pp. 149-169.
• Sellar, S. & Gale, T. (2012) ‘Aspiration and education: Toward new terms of engagement for marginalised students’in B. McMahon & J. Portelli (eds) Student Engagement in Urban Schools: Beyond Neoliberal Discourses.North Carolina, USA: Information Age Publishers, pp. 91-109.
