Enhancing student engagement in student experience surveys: a mixed methods study

Background

Measuring the student experience is becoming increasingly important in higher education in the UK. Student experience surveys are used as indicators of quality and form the basis of rankings of higher education institutions. They are also used by them as tools to assist their quality enhancement initiatives. However, these surveys frequently suffer from low response rates, which can reduce the reliability and usefulness of their data. The UK Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is a relatively new survey and suffers from a low response rate. As this survey is new, little is known about why students do not respond to it.

Purpose

This study aimed to explore the reasons why postgraduate students do not respond to the PTES.

Sample

Three hundred and fifty-five postgraduate taught students from four health faculties in one UK higher education institution completed an online survey. Of these, seven participated in one of two focus groups.

Design and methods

The online survey was completed both by students who completed the PTES in 2011 and those who did not. This provided us with cross-sectional data to compare both groups’ knowledge of PTES and their reasons for completing or not completing it. We used multivariate regression analysis to explore which variables were associated with response to PTES. We led two focus groups to explore the themes that emerged from the survey in more depth. This data was analysed by two researchers using thematic analysis.

Results

The cross-sectional data found that students who were not clear about the purpose of PTES were less likely to respond, independent of other potential predictor variables. Focus group data indicated that if postgraduate students felt a stronger connection to the university community they may be more likely to respond to PTES.

Conclusions

This study suggests that higher education institutions may wish to review their strategies for advertising student experience surveys to focus more on their purpose rather than their impact.     

Relational ways of being an educator: trauma-informed practice supporting disenfranchised young people

Despite complex reasons for disengagement and exclusion from conventional schooling, all children have a right to education that is of a high quality. Disenfranchised young people require alternatives for re-engaging in education. This necessitates a rethinking of what it means to be an educator in alternative education settings and how to relate to young people who have experienced exclusion and failure in conventional school settings. Relational ways of being an educator are vital to support the creation of lifelong learners, not merely school completers. Flexible learning programmes offer a model of re-engagement in which relational ways of being an educator are prioritised. This article explores key aspects of trauma-informed practice and relational pedagogy in a network of flexi schools in Australia. Relational pedagogy can redress the impact of trauma and social exclusion experienced by young people. In flexi schools educator identities are challenged and changed by a willingness to explore and understand the impact of trauma on young people's development and capacity to learn. A commitment to trauma-informed practice and relational pedagogy requires educator identities to be co-constructed and negotiated in relationship with young people and colleagues. These shifts in educators' sense of identity in the flexi schools context are explored.     

Introduction to the Special Issue: Using Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics for Liberal Arts Courses

Abstract

Mathematics for liberal arts courses are a staple of most mathematics departments and are often populated with students who have disengaged from mathematics. Inquiry-based learning is a student-centered pedagogical tool for re-engaging students in mathematics. In this paper, we introduce a Special Issue of PRIMUS on “Using Inquiry-Based Learning in Mathematics for Liberal Arts Courses.”     

Applying self-determination theory to understand the motivation for becoming a physical education teacher

This study explored the reasons people choose physical education teaching as a profession and investigated the relationship of these choices with motivation. Physical education pre-service teachers (n = 324) completed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and a measure of reasons for choosing physical education teaching. Confident interpersonal service reasons were linked with intrinsic motivation; whereas sport and physical activity reasons were related to extrinsic motivation. Enrolling because teaching seemed easy was linked with amotivation. Motivation was similar for different course entry methods, however, females were more intrinsically motivated than males and third year students were lower in motivation than other year levels.     

Social inequalities in slovenian higher education

In this article the authors study social inequalities in Slovenian higher education, using a census of students at the University of Maribor. Using the common odds ratio test, it was found that young people whose fathers had completed higher education or levels beyond are approximately 14 times more likely to enter the higher education system than those whose fathers had not completed primary education. Stratification is even more acute when mothers are observed: the ratio is 1:25. Both the situation and the trend are assessed as being unmeritocratic. These findings fit into the hypothesis of the radicalization of economic inequality in society and clarify the consolidation of a class structure and a relative absence of meritocracy. An attempt is made at longitudinal analysis of the issue: it seems that disparities in this area are increasing, after a diminution during communist times.     

Occupational stereotyping by hearing impaired and hearing people: experiences of a comparative survey

ABSTRACT

The problems of preparing hearing impaired people for adult life and for productive work have not yet been properly solved in Hungary. The main reasons can be found in the old tradition of segregated education for people with disabilities. The political changes of 1990 and the economic reforms have not brought about any favourable changes. A nationwide, comparative survey dealing with vocational prejudices and attitudes concerning hearing persons and hearing impaired persons showed that the vocational knowledge and expectations of the latter group is not satisfactory, their information is uncertain and that they have prejudices against themselves ‐ that is, they suppose that high‐prestige professions are not available to them. Deaf persons are even more prejudiced than hard of hearing persons.     

Teachers as readers: a study of the reading habits of future teachers / El docente como lector: estudio de los hábitos lectores de futuros docentes

Abstract

Previous studies about reading achievement and habits of young people in Spain have systematically ignored the reading profile of Spanish teachers as an explanatory variable. However, teachers’ reading habits might help us to better understand their attitude towards reading and, therefore, their approach to the education of new readers in their classrooms. In this work, the reading habits of future teachers in three public universities have been explored by means of a survey. The results show that these subjects are not closely involved with reading, do not read regularly, do not read a wide variety of reading texts and do not place great value on books, although they do tend to overrate their reading practices. Furthermore, they scarcely visit libraries and mainly read for instrumental reasons, not to enjoy reading for its own sake. The way in which the reading profile of the teachers could affect their students’ education regarding reading is considered and promoting better attitudes and habits towards reading is proposed as a pre-service teacher education goal.     

Values Education and the Right to Privacy

Abstract

Values education is occasionally attacked as violative of the privacy rights of students and others. Stipulating a definition of the right to privacy, the author develops some general reasons for protecting the right to privacy. General criteria for judging the extent to which values education curricula violate privacy are established and applied to two approaches to values education. One conclusion is that not all approaches to values education should be seen as violative of privacy rights.     

Making Sense in Education: Pretense (Including No Child Left Behind) and Realities in Rhetoric and Policy About Schools and Schooling

One wrong assumption about reality is sufficient to ensure the failure of education policy. For a variety of reasons, too many people have ignored realities in policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act. Individuals who are serious about reforming or improving education, general or special, must confront realities in at least the following areas: measurement, statistical distributions, measurement error, labels, special services, teacher responsibilities, and teacher training. Enacting or supporting education policy that is known to be seriously flawed is unacceptable and tantamount to the criminal conduct of someone who markets goods with known safety defects or harmful effects or of someone who ignores critical realities in the conduct of business.     

Knowledge and attitudes of secondary school teachers regarding sexual health education in England

Objective To assess the sexual health knowledge of teachers who contribute to secondary school sexual health education in order to determine whether teachers are adequately prepared to implement present government education and public health policies.

Design Results were obtained from a questionnaire as part of a two‐phase intervention study.

Setting Nineteen mixed‐sex, state secondary schools in central England.

Participants One hundred and fifty‐five teachers (94 female, 61 male) participated.

Main outcome measures The questionnaires were distributed to teachers to assess their knowledge of sexual health, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. In addition, teachers' attitudes on the subject of sex and relationships education were evaluated.

Results The results suggest that teachers have insufficient sexual health knowledge to effectively teach sexually transmitted infections or emergency contraception, although their general sexual health knowledge was good. Therefore, at present teachers do not have adequate specialist knowledge in sexual health to contribute to current recommendations for sex and relationships education in secondary schools. There were no statistically significant differences in the results regarding location of school, area of residence, gender or age of the participant.

Conclusions Many teachers are being expected to contribute to secondary school sexual health education programmes at a time when they do not have sufficient knowledge to provide young people with adequate sexual health education and when they do not feel prepared to teach, and in many cases would prefer not to teach, these programmes.     

Moral self-determination: The nature,existence, and formation of moral motivation

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses three basic questions about moral motivation. Concerning the nature of moral motivation, it argues that it involves responsiveness to both reasons of morality and the value of persons and everything else of value. Moral motivation is thus identified as reason-responsive appropriate valuing. Regarding whether it is possible for people to be morally motivated, the paper relies on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to show how moral motivation is a likely product of education that is need-supportive in modeling appropriate valuing and engaging students in the kinds of reasoning that are essential to moral motivation. Virtuous motivation that inclines people to engage in morally motivated acts is equated with being morally self-determining or achieving the right kind of integrated motivation. SDT shows how people come to be morally motivated, and the paper concludes that an identified aspiration to be virtuous may play a significant role.     

Transgender young people’s narratives of intimacy and sexual health: implications for sexuality education

Abstract

Sexuality education as pedagogy is often fraught by the perceived requirement to balance the informational needs of young people with an investment in notions of childhood ‘innocence’. Nowhere is this perhaps more evident than in sexuality education that seeks to be inclusive of transgender young people, often resulting in the failure of such education to address the needs of such students. In an attempt at addressing the relative dearth of information about what transgender young people would like to see covered in sexuality education, in this paper we explore transgender young people’s accounts of intimacy and sexual health and consider what this means for school-based sexuality education. To do this, we analyse discussions of intimacy from the perspectives of transgender young people as narrated in a sample of YouTube videos. We conclude by advocating for an approach to sexuality education that largely eschews the gendering of body parts and gametes, and which instead focuses on function, so as to not only address the needs of transgender young people (who may find normative discussions of genitals distressing), but to also provide cisgender young people with a more inclusive understanding of their own and other people’s bodies and desires.     

Education and school‐to‐work transitions in post‐communist Poland∗

Abstract

Unemployment in Poland rose throughout 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 but the proportion of school‐leavers among the unemployed peaked in 1990. Unlike in most western market economies, the best‐ educated young people in Poland did not prove the least vulnerable to unemployment. This paper uses evidence from studies of young people in Gdansk, Katowice and Suwalki to argue that one reason why young people from professional and vocational secondary schools have not borne a heavier share of Poland's unemployment since 1990 has been the flexibility and responsiveness of these schools to Poland's new labour market conditions. Since the reforms many of these schools have contracted drastically. Some have closed. But others have thrived The latter have often benefited from favourable local labour market conditions, but their success has usually been at least equally due to their own resourcefulness in introducing new courses which teach skills that are in demand, and securing various kinds of sponsorship from employers. Three reasons are offered to explain the responsiveness of education in Poland to the changing labour market conditions: general support for ‘the reforms’, the schools’ experience of making informal deals with employers under communism, and the post‐communist authorities’ willingness to force unsuccessful schools to close and to see teachers made redundant.

     

Teaching practices that re-engage early school leavers in further education: an Australian study

Re-engaging young adults who have ‘dropped out’ of school is an important and challenging task for educators. The purpose of this study was to explore the teaching practices that encourage young people to re-engage in further learning. Through interviews with teachers and students, the study identified five major interrelated teaching strategies that were effective in re-engaging young adults in education. These strategies were: strong concern for student welfare; positive teacher–student relationships; relevant course content; a mastery-based approach to learning; and an overarching goal of building students’ confidence in their ability, and more generally, in themselves. Together, these strategies address the behavioural, emotional and cognitive components of student engagement.     

Moral Education in South Africa

Abstract

Moral education in South Africa has always been a matter of priority to parents and educationalists alike. Although it is not taught as a separate subject in the schooling process, much attention is paid to it throughout the school curriculum. Particularly in religious education and in social studies time is devoted to matters of moral conduct. The basis for moral education has almost right through been a Christian approach to life. This is the case in schools for black and for white pupils. A great number of devoted teachers go to great lengths to prepare young people for life in such a way that they may become steadfast citizens of the country. The role of parents, youth organizations, churches and ‐‐ in the case of black youths ‐‐ tribal customs, should, however, not be underestimated in the moral training of young people.     

An examination of the values and perceptions of parents and teachers in relation to parental involvement in school policy formation

Abstract

In the last decade access initiatives have been designed to facilitate greater access and participation for people from marginalised groups who have traditionally been excluded from higher education. In common with international trends, young people with disabilities in Ireland have been included in this process. However, people with disabilities remain under‐represented in higher education. This study explored the quality of access to higher education for young people with disabilities through existing access routes. Both the young people and the professionals (career guidance teachers) agreed that access routes lack transparency. There was a dearth of professional knowledge about the options available to young people with disabilities leaving school. This lack of professional knowledge combined with the opaqueness of access routes forced the young people to rely on parental support and/or disability agencies for information and guidance. It can be concluded that goodwill and compassion are no substitute for an informed system that ensures equitable access for young people with disabilities to higher education.     

‘Snitches get stitches’: School-specific barriers to victim disclosure and peer reporting of sexual harm committed by young people in school contexts

BackgroundSchool based, peer-to-peer sexual harm is under-researched despite its prevalence and adverse effects on young people across the globe. Understanding barriers to victim disclosure and peer reporting might help towards the prevention and protection of young people.ObjectiveThis study explores dual perspectives of young people and educational staff about school-specific environmental barriers to 1) young people’s disclosure of sexual harm experienced, and 2) young people’s reporting of sexual harm on behalf of others.Participants and setting: Participants include 59 young people aged 13–21 and 58 educational staff, drawn from seven schools across four local authorities in England whom formed part of a wider study on harmful sexual behavior and safety in schools.MethodsFocus groups were carried out with young people and education staff. The sessions were thematically analysed and focused on barriers to disclosure within the school context.ResultsPeer groups set powerful ‘rules’ that influence the ability and willingness of young people to report sexual harm. Some school responses for addressing sexual harm are sub-optimal and sexual harm is not adequately prioritised. Some schools appear to struggle to manage more subtle forms of sexual harm compared with more recognized forms of violence and abuse. A significant proportion of sexual harm is so prevalent that it is ‘normalised’, and therefore under-reported. This resigned acceptance to sexual harm consequently shapes young people’s disclosures.ConclusionsSchool systems of responding to sexual harm require strengthening to increase feelings of safety and empowerment of young people.     

Reflections on residential school and our future: "daylight in our minds"

This testimonio takes up what it means to be an educator of Aboriginal ancestry working within existing school structures for the betterment of Aboriginal children. While the testimonialista does not presume to speak for her people, she contends that her story of growing up and becoming a teacher is not unlike that of other First Nations people in Canada. She examines her life within the continuing colonizing structures of Canada and shows how the struggles for justice and recognition of Aboriginal wisdom within education are making a difference.     

Knowledge of secondary school pupils regarding sexual health education

Objective: To assess the sexual health knowledge of secondary school pupils in order to ascertain whether the current government public health and education policies are having any impact on pupils' sexual health.

Design: Results obtained from a questionnaire as part of a two‐phase intervention study.

Setting: Nineteen mixed‐sex, state secondary schools in central England.

Participants: Year 8 pupils (350 male, 345 female), year 9 pupils (300 male, 325 female) and year 10 pupils (310 male, 329 female).

Intervention: A questionnaire survey to assess the knowledge of pupils' sexual health education.

Main outcome measures: Questionnaires distributed to pupils as baseline to assess their knowledge of sexual health, contraception and sexually transmitted infections.

Results: Sexual health knowledge improves with age. A significant difference across all age groups was found, although knowledge regarding sexually transmitted infections and emergency contraception is poor for all age groups.

Conclusions: Current sexual health education provision is not providing young people with adequate knowledge regarding sexual health and contraception.     

Personal Development and the Self in Work Experience

Abstract

This article explores the experience of a group of young people who experienced difficulty attending school. Young people's reasons for not attending school and the support provided for them by their teachers are examined. Finally, an analysis based on a shift in identity from school refuser to effective learner is offered as an explanation for the students' success in coping with school. The authors draw on Paul Klee's metaphor of art as a development that can go forwards, backward, up and down as similar to the processes of working with such young people. They argue that to expect linear progress is both unrealistic and sets unfair expectations on students and their teachers.