Bridging socio-cultural incongruity: conceptualising the success of students from low socio-economic status backgrounds in Australian higher education
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Studies in Higher Education Vol. 38, no. 6 (2013), p. 939-949
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- Description: This article examines the conceptual frames that might be used to consider the success and achievement of students from low socio-economic status in Australian higher education. Based on an examination of key literature from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and North America, it is argued that Australia should avoid adopting either a deficit conception of students from low socio-economic backgrounds or a deficit conception of the institutions into which they will move. Further, rather than it being the primary responsibility of the student or of the institution to change to ensure the success of these students, it is argued that the adjustments necessary to ensure achievement for students from low socio-economic backgrounds in Australian higher education would be most usefully conceptualised as a ‘joint venture’ toward bridging socio-cultural incongruity.
Directions for Australian higher education institutional policy and practice in supporting students from low socioeconomic backgrounds
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , O'Shea, Helen
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management Vol. 33, no. 5 (2011), p. 529-556
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- Description: The Australian Government's response to the 2008 Bradley Review of higher education has set clear targets for increased university participation of people from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Using a ‘success-focused’ methodological approach, this research documents the factors that a sample of 53 later-year, low socioeconomic status background students at one Australian university report have assisted them to manage and overcome the challenges of remaining at, progressing through and succeeding at university. Thematic analyses of the data identified the most helpful factors as including the students' own study behaviour around, and attitude toward, study; teacher characteristics; institutional support of particular kinds; and student-to-student connections. Directions for institutional policy and practice are outlined.
Focusing on university student engagement at the institutional level
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Brockett, Susan , Nichols, Scott
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management Vol. , no. (2009), p.
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- Description: In Australia, there has been a tendency to rely on quantitative indicators of university teaching quality. This has occurred partly because the indicators are perceived as objective and reliable and partly because they are relatively simple to gather and collate. A national project currently underway is based on the assumptions that teaching quality is multidimensional and that the identification and use of relevant indicators of teaching quality are dependent on the institutional environment. With a focus on student engagement, this paper outlines the research-based approach to developing indicators of teaching quality being taken by one Australian university participating in the national project.
Participation and equity : a review of the participation in higher education of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous people.
- Authors: James, Richard , Bexley, E. , Anderson, A. , Devlin, Marcia , Garnett, R. , Marginson, S. , Maxwell, L.
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Book
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A structured writing programme for staff : Facilitating knowledge, skills, confidence and publishing outcomes
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia , Radloff, Alex
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Further and Higher Education Vol. 38, no. 2 (2014), p. 230-248
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- Description: The growing interest in the higher education sector in publishing pedagogical research has led to a focus on professional development for staff who wish to engage in this endeavour. This paper describes and evaluates a specific programme designed to help university staff to prepare and submit a high-quality paper to a peer-reviewed journal. Features of the programme that contributed to outcomes include the systematic, structured support provided by the programme and facilitator and the opportunity to work with a peer support group, as well as the use of technology to allow participation across campuses. The positive outcomes of the programme in terms of publications and professional and personal benefits for participants are outlined. The programme resulted in peer-reviewed and other publications, as well as increasing the participants' knowledge and confidence related to academic writing and publishing. © 2012 UCU.
Non-traditional student achievement: Theory, policy and practice in Australian higher education
- Authors: Devlin, Marcia
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Keynote address presented at 13th Pacific Rim First Year in Higher Education Conference
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- Description: In addition to the intrinsic commitment that higher education institutions, and the individuals and teams within them, have to the achievement and success of non-traditional students, the links between government widening participation policy, performance measurement and funding to universities will now provide an additional incentive. The future growth of the number and proportion of non-traditional students in Australian universities will focus attention keenly on student achievement. This paper argues that particular theories may be helpful in understanding the experiences and perspectives of non-traditional students and, therefore, in informing policy and practice within institutions and beyond to facilitate student achievement. In particular, notions of role theory, cultural capital, the hidden curriculum at university and socio-cultural theory in action are examined and utilised to inform suggestions for proactive responses in both the ‘public and private lives of higher education’ (Trow, 1975)