Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds : Practical advice for institutional policy makers and leaders
- Devlin, Marcia, Kift, Sally, Nelson, Karen, Smith, Liz, McKay, Jade
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Kift, Sally , Nelson, Karen , Smith, Liz , McKay, Jade
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-32
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description:
This resource has been developed as part of a national research project, Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education
. This guide provides practical advice about the teaching characteristics and strategies that contribute to the success of students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) and about the ways in which student agency may be enabled. This raises the question of how to identify LSES students. While it is necessary to identify students from LSES backgrounds at a policy level, and perhaps for measuring performance and allocating funds, it is very difficult, and potentially undesirable, to target students from LSES backgrounds individually for teaching and learning or support purposes. Good practice in teaching and supporting LSES students benefits all students. This guide has been prepared with this in mind. This guide is not intended as a manual for teaching LSES students, nor is it prescriptive about how the advice it offers might be implemented. Instead, it offers general, practical advice that has emerged from relevant literature in the field, 26 interviews with academic and professional staff in six universities experienced in the effective teaching and support of LSES students, and 89 interviews with successful LSES students in three universities about what helped them succeed. The guide draws on the voices of staff and students and through sharing their views offers broad advice in five areas of teaching that may be of assistance to busy teaching staff. We recommend considering the advice and suggestions in this guide within the context of your discipline and workload.
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Kift, Sally , Nelson, Karen , Smith, Liz , McKay, Jade
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-32
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description:
This resource has been developed as part of a national research project, Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education
. This guide provides practical advice about the teaching characteristics and strategies that contribute to the success of students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) and about the ways in which student agency may be enabled. This raises the question of how to identify LSES students. While it is necessary to identify students from LSES backgrounds at a policy level, and perhaps for measuring performance and allocating funds, it is very difficult, and potentially undesirable, to target students from LSES backgrounds individually for teaching and learning or support purposes. Good practice in teaching and supporting LSES students benefits all students. This guide has been prepared with this in mind. This guide is not intended as a manual for teaching LSES students, nor is it prescriptive about how the advice it offers might be implemented. Instead, it offers general, practical advice that has emerged from relevant literature in the field, 26 interviews with academic and professional staff in six universities experienced in the effective teaching and support of LSES students, and 89 interviews with successful LSES students in three universities about what helped them succeed. The guide draws on the voices of staff and students and through sharing their views offers broad advice in five areas of teaching that may be of assistance to busy teaching staff. We recommend considering the advice and suggestions in this guide within the context of your discipline and workload.
Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds : Practical advice for teaching staff
- Devlin, Marcia, Kift, Sally, Nelson, Karen, Smith, Liz, McKay, Jade
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Kift, Sally , Nelson, Karen , Smith, Liz , McKay, Jade
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-32
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description:
This resource has been developed as part of a national research project, Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education
. This guide provides practical advice about the teaching characteristics and strategies that contribute to the success of students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) and about the ways in which student agency may be enabled. This guide is not intended as a manual for teaching students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, nor does it prescribe how the advice it offers might be implemented. Instead, it offers general, practical advice that has emerged from relevant literature in the field, 26 interviews with academic and professional staff in six universities experienced in the effective teaching and support of LSES students, and 89 interviews with successful LSES students in three universities about what helped them succeed. The guide draws on the voices of staff and students and, through sharing their views, offers broad advice in six areas of teaching that may assist busy teaching staff. We recommend considering the advice and suggestions in this guide within the context of your professional life, discipline and workload.
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Kift, Sally , Nelson, Karen , Smith, Liz , McKay, Jade
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-32
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description:
This resource has been developed as part of a national research project, Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education
. This guide provides practical advice about the teaching characteristics and strategies that contribute to the success of students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) and about the ways in which student agency may be enabled. This guide is not intended as a manual for teaching students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, nor does it prescribe how the advice it offers might be implemented. Instead, it offers general, practical advice that has emerged from relevant literature in the field, 26 interviews with academic and professional staff in six universities experienced in the effective teaching and support of LSES students, and 89 interviews with successful LSES students in three universities about what helped them succeed. The guide draws on the voices of staff and students and, through sharing their views, offers broad advice in six areas of teaching that may assist busy teaching staff. We recommend considering the advice and suggestions in this guide within the context of your professional life, discipline and workload.
Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds : Resources for Australian higher education
- Devlin, Marcia, Kift, Sally, Nelson, Karen, Smith, Liz, McKay, Jade
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Kift, Sally , Nelson, Karen , Smith, Liz , McKay, Jade
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-104
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description:
The project found that the sociocultural incongruity that exists between students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) backgrounds and the institutions in which they study can be bridged through the provision of an empathic institutional context that: - values and respects all students - encompasses an institution-wide approach that is comprehensive, integrated and coordinated through the curriculum - incorporates inclusive learning environments and strategies - empowers students by making the implicit, explicit, and - focuses on student learning outcomes and success. These characteristics were derived through the project’s literature analysis and are supported by the evidence from interviews with 26 experienced staff and 89 successful LSES students conducted as part of this project. Synthesis and analysis of the interview data revealed four key themes to which institutions and staff need to attend to ensure the effective teaching and support of LSES students. The study found that the empathic institutional context: 1. employs inclusive teaching characteristics and strategies 2. enables student agency 3. facilitates life and learning support, and 4. takes into account students’ financial challenges. The project has generated a new integrated national resource, comprising five interrelated sets of materials and exemplars, all of which have been made available to the sector via the project website
1. a conceptual framework relevant to the Australian context 2. advice for policy makers and teaching and learning leaders 3. practical guidelines for academic staff 4. materials to support professional development, and 5. a repository of effective policy, programs and practice.
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Kift, Sally , Nelson, Karen , Smith, Liz , McKay, Jade
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-104
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description:
The project found that the sociocultural incongruity that exists between students from low socioeconomic status (LSES) backgrounds and the institutions in which they study can be bridged through the provision of an empathic institutional context that: - values and respects all students - encompasses an institution-wide approach that is comprehensive, integrated and coordinated through the curriculum - incorporates inclusive learning environments and strategies - empowers students by making the implicit, explicit, and - focuses on student learning outcomes and success. These characteristics were derived through the project’s literature analysis and are supported by the evidence from interviews with 26 experienced staff and 89 successful LSES students conducted as part of this project. Synthesis and analysis of the interview data revealed four key themes to which institutions and staff need to attend to ensure the effective teaching and support of LSES students. The study found that the empathic institutional context: 1. employs inclusive teaching characteristics and strategies 2. enables student agency 3. facilitates life and learning support, and 4. takes into account students’ financial challenges. The project has generated a new integrated national resource, comprising five interrelated sets of materials and exemplars, all of which have been made available to the sector via the project website
1. a conceptual framework relevant to the Australian context 2. advice for policy makers and teaching and learning leaders 3. practical guidelines for academic staff 4. materials to support professional development, and 5. a repository of effective policy, programs and practice.
Leading sustainable improvement in university teaching and learning : Lessons from the sector
- Devlin, Marcia, Smeal, Georgia, Cummings, Rick, Mazzolini, Margaret
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Smeal, Georgia , Cummings, Rick , Mazzolini, Margaret
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-64
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Overall, the investigation found that universities that wish to improve the quality of teaching and learning should take an approach that aims to be: collaborative and developmental; embedded; sustainable; and focused on enabling innovation and enhancement. The seven interlinked insights characteristic of sustainable, positive change in teaching and learning in Australian universities are as follows. 1. Efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning are aligned with the strategic direction of the university The evidence indicates that efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning within an institution should be aligned with the strategic direction of the university. While this might seem self evident, the findings indicate that there are sometimes tensions between overall institutional priorities and efforts to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Careful strategic thinking can ensure efforts to enhance teaching and learning provide a means through which universities can enact aspects of their strategic plans. 2. Senior executives support teaching and learning enhancement, and resources for those improvements are allocated as part of the universityʼs planning and budget cycle The study found that embedding and sustaining good teaching and learning practice requires high-level support within an institution. In addition to providing stable representation and championing of teaching and learning, effective support was found to also incorporate institutional investment in the form of funding and resourcing positions and initiatives. It was found that sustainability relies on institutional funding that ensured ongoing impetus for, and successful work in, enhancing teaching and learning. 3. Staff workload allocations allow time for innovation, enhancement and improvement in teaching and learning The project findings indicate that the major factor inhibiting efforts to improve teaching and learning is high staff workloads and the consequent lack of time to engage with, and contribute to, teaching and learning enhancement efforts. This finding mirrors those of several other recent Australian studies of the changing academic profession, although this current project notes the applicability of workload matters to both academic and professional staff. If leaders in Australian universities wish to enhance teaching and learning, fresh thinking, policy and planning is needed around academic and professional staff roles and workload allocation. 4. Effective leadership proactively manages tensions between discipline research endeavours and efforts to improve teaching and learning This research found that a major cultural impediment to enhancing teaching and learning is the privileging of research over teaching and learning within an institution. The findings suggest that effective leadership and management of the tensions that arise between research endeavours and efforts to improve teaching and learning are critical if the latter are to be successful. The findings suggest that the reconciliation of research and teaching and learning can be achieved to some extent through a range of means, including the facilitation of research and scholarship around teaching and learning. Leading sustainable change in university teaching and learning: Lessons from the sector 6 5. Teaching and learning are supported by relevant research and scholarship conducted within the institution and in collaboration with other institutions and relevant bodies The study findings indicate the importance of research and scholarship in the area of teaching and learning. External interface, networking and exchange with stakeholders and bodies outside the institution are critical to ensuring enhancement efforts fit with the broader context in which they are occurring. Some of the benefits of engaging in such research and scholarship were: increased reflection on practice; a heightened awareness of the link between an individualʼs own teaching and their studentsʼ outcomes; increased innovation in teaching; improved morale; enhancing the quality of teaching and learning both within an institution and more broadly; and opportunities to both benchmark and improve teaching performance. The potential for research into teaching and learning to contribute to resolving the tensions between discipline research and teaching and learning was also noted. 6. A distributed teaching and learning support structure exists within the institution and is coordinated from the centre The findings of this research showed that a distributed institutional support structure for teaching and learning enhancement, coordinated from the centre, was perceived to be the most effective approach. Most commonly this involved cooperation between a central teaching and learning centre and one or more of: teaching and learning committees; the associate deans (teaching and learning) or equivalent; educational development and other staff located in the faculties; and a critical mass of people with a commitment to teaching and learning improvement and enhancement who have the capacity to lead. 7. Mechanisms to recognise excellence in teaching and learning and to enable teaching and learning career pathways are in place This study found that professional development, reward and recognition mechanisms and enabling career pathways for those committed to teaching and learning are important components in the successful leadership of teaching and learning enhancement. The project findings indicate the centrality of linking efforts to enhance teaching and learning with promotion opportunities. The research findings indicate that university promotion criteria that incorporate excellence in teaching and learning scholarship and practice allow appropriate recognition, enable the sustainability of excellent practice and help embed enhancement.
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Smeal, Georgia , Cummings, Rick , Mazzolini, Margaret
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article , Technical report
- Relation: Vol. , no. (2012), p. 1-64
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Overall, the investigation found that universities that wish to improve the quality of teaching and learning should take an approach that aims to be: collaborative and developmental; embedded; sustainable; and focused on enabling innovation and enhancement. The seven interlinked insights characteristic of sustainable, positive change in teaching and learning in Australian universities are as follows. 1. Efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning are aligned with the strategic direction of the university The evidence indicates that efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning within an institution should be aligned with the strategic direction of the university. While this might seem self evident, the findings indicate that there are sometimes tensions between overall institutional priorities and efforts to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Careful strategic thinking can ensure efforts to enhance teaching and learning provide a means through which universities can enact aspects of their strategic plans. 2. Senior executives support teaching and learning enhancement, and resources for those improvements are allocated as part of the universityʼs planning and budget cycle The study found that embedding and sustaining good teaching and learning practice requires high-level support within an institution. In addition to providing stable representation and championing of teaching and learning, effective support was found to also incorporate institutional investment in the form of funding and resourcing positions and initiatives. It was found that sustainability relies on institutional funding that ensured ongoing impetus for, and successful work in, enhancing teaching and learning. 3. Staff workload allocations allow time for innovation, enhancement and improvement in teaching and learning The project findings indicate that the major factor inhibiting efforts to improve teaching and learning is high staff workloads and the consequent lack of time to engage with, and contribute to, teaching and learning enhancement efforts. This finding mirrors those of several other recent Australian studies of the changing academic profession, although this current project notes the applicability of workload matters to both academic and professional staff. If leaders in Australian universities wish to enhance teaching and learning, fresh thinking, policy and planning is needed around academic and professional staff roles and workload allocation. 4. Effective leadership proactively manages tensions between discipline research endeavours and efforts to improve teaching and learning This research found that a major cultural impediment to enhancing teaching and learning is the privileging of research over teaching and learning within an institution. The findings suggest that effective leadership and management of the tensions that arise between research endeavours and efforts to improve teaching and learning are critical if the latter are to be successful. The findings suggest that the reconciliation of research and teaching and learning can be achieved to some extent through a range of means, including the facilitation of research and scholarship around teaching and learning. Leading sustainable change in university teaching and learning: Lessons from the sector 6 5. Teaching and learning are supported by relevant research and scholarship conducted within the institution and in collaboration with other institutions and relevant bodies The study findings indicate the importance of research and scholarship in the area of teaching and learning. External interface, networking and exchange with stakeholders and bodies outside the institution are critical to ensuring enhancement efforts fit with the broader context in which they are occurring. Some of the benefits of engaging in such research and scholarship were: increased reflection on practice; a heightened awareness of the link between an individualʼs own teaching and their studentsʼ outcomes; increased innovation in teaching; improved morale; enhancing the quality of teaching and learning both within an institution and more broadly; and opportunities to both benchmark and improve teaching performance. The potential for research into teaching and learning to contribute to resolving the tensions between discipline research and teaching and learning was also noted. 6. A distributed teaching and learning support structure exists within the institution and is coordinated from the centre The findings of this research showed that a distributed institutional support structure for teaching and learning enhancement, coordinated from the centre, was perceived to be the most effective approach. Most commonly this involved cooperation between a central teaching and learning centre and one or more of: teaching and learning committees; the associate deans (teaching and learning) or equivalent; educational development and other staff located in the faculties; and a critical mass of people with a commitment to teaching and learning improvement and enhancement who have the capacity to lead. 7. Mechanisms to recognise excellence in teaching and learning and to enable teaching and learning career pathways are in place This study found that professional development, reward and recognition mechanisms and enabling career pathways for those committed to teaching and learning are important components in the successful leadership of teaching and learning enhancement. The project findings indicate the centrality of linking efforts to enhance teaching and learning with promotion opportunities. The research findings indicate that university promotion criteria that incorporate excellence in teaching and learning scholarship and practice allow appropriate recognition, enable the sustainability of excellent practice and help embed enhancement.
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