The student voice as contributor to quality education through institutional design

Strydom, Franҫois; Loots, Sonja

doi:10.20853/34-5-4263

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…A review of the literature indicates that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the few papers on academic advising in South Africa focused on two broad themes: (i) identifying students classified as "at-risk" (or high risk) of failing or dropping out and linking them to an academic/student advisor (e.g., Mayet 2016, 4;Moodley and Singh 2015, 95); and (ii) enabling student engagement in educational settings through academic advising, by incorporating the student voice in student success and advising work (e.g., Strydom and Loots 2020). None of these papers include the voices of practising advisors, nor do they adopt a social realist lens to analyse the emergence of advising in South Africa.…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing a baseline: A social realist perspective on academic advising at a South African university prior to COVID-19

de Klerk

2023

SAJHE

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Academic advising remains an emerging practice and profession within the South African higher education sector. Although there has been an increase in literature about advising in South Africa recently, there remains a dearth of literature about the experiences of academic advisors working in this context. This article aims to make such a contribution, by focusing in particular on the experiences and insights from 15 South African advisors (from one university) about academic advising prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data that informs this study was collected through semi-structured interviews. The focus in this article is on advisor responses to three of the interview questions, which proved sufficient because of the richness of the data. The study draws on elements of social realist Margaret Archer's (1995) morphogenetic framework to explicate why this perspective on advising within a South African higher education context is necessary. Archer's (1995, 2005) work on structure, culture, and agency is then used as analytic lenses with which to analyse the advisors' experiences and insights of advising prior to the pandemic. A phenomenographic approach (Marton 1981; Tight 2016) is adopted to explore the varying conceptions (Cibangu and Hepworth 2016) of advising offered by the academic advisors. Nine focal areas emerge from these insights, which are analysed and discussed using Archer's (1995Archer's ( , 2005 structure, culture, and agency. It becomes apparent that academic advising was complex even before the pandemic. The advisors express an urgency to help others, raise concerns about entrenched inequities and resource constraints, highlight the pitfalls of inadequate help-seeking among students, and emphasise the need for better institutional integration of academic advising at the advisors' university, among other things. It becomes clear that there are numerous structural and cultural tensions that constrain advisor and student agency, possibly to the detriment of student success. The article leaves the reader with insights into the experiences of academic advisors prior to the pandemic, thus providing a baseline against which to measure advising during and beyond the pandemic, at a time when advising in South African higher education is still being developed and defined.

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Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Establishing a baseline: A social realist perspective on academic advising at a South African university prior to COVID-19

de Klerk

2023

SAJHE

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“…Nonetheless, academic advising remains a proven high-impact practice (Moodley and Singh 2015, 95;Strydom and Loots 2020) with the potential to have a significant influence on students' sense of belonging and chances of success at their HEI. Nutt (2003, 1) explains that academic advisors "... offer students the personal connection to the institution that [...] is vital to student retention and student success."…”

Section: Academic Advisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Academic advising and ethic of care: Enabling belonging to enhance higher education students’ prospects of success

Klerk

2022

SAJHE

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The South African (SA) higher education sector continues to battle high attrition rates. Helping students gain a sense of belonging while at university and creating an environment where students feel cared for can enhance their prospects of success. Academic advising is a high-impact practice with the potential to enhance student belonging and success. This article proposes intentionally linking Tronto’s Ethic of Care (EoC) and academic advising for SA higher education contexts. The author argues that the dimensions of Tronto’s EoC (attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness) are relevant to the work of SA advisors. These dimensions are used as a framework for analysing interview data collected from 15 academic advisors from one university. The findings suggest that elements of Tronto’s EoC are present in the advisors’ work, though not explicitly. The author argues that integrating EoC and advising more intentionally in SA higher education contexts, could enable a greater sense of belonging for students. Keywords: academic advising, belonging, care, caring, ethic of care, higher education, South Africa, student advising, student success

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“…Academic advising is a high-impact practice (Moodley & Singh, 2015, p. 95;Strydom & Loots, 2020) that can enhance student success and the overall student learning experience (Surr, 2019, p. 9). Much has been written about academic advising for global North and non-South African contexts over many decades (e.g.…”

Section: Academic Advisingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demystifying the Work of South African Academic Advisors: An Exploration of Students’ Structural and Material Constraints

Klerk

Dison

2022

JSAA

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The structural and material factors affecting the lived realities and prospects of tertiary success for South African students are complex and manifold. Inexorably, these lived realities impact the work of academic advisors who guide and support students throughout their higher education journeys. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the growing body of literature about academic advising in and for South African higher education contexts, and in particular the daily work of academic advisors in the country. This is achieved by first drawing on literature to elucidate the various structural and material constraints affecting the lives of many South African students, before reconciling what emerges from the literature with quantitative data collected by an academic advisor working at a South African university about his engagements with students over a three-year period. This phenomenological study is underpinned by social realist principles as proposed by Margaret Archer and draws in particular on the notion of structure to advance its argument. Additionally, the work of Boughey and McKenna on the decontextualized learner is incorporated to demonstrate why students in this country cannot be decontextualized from their lived realities. The article concludes by highlighting how the complex structural and material constraints that influence students’ higher education experiences manifest in the day-to-day work of academic advisors. The authors propose that these insights be used to enhance responsiveness to student needs, while informing how the sector makes meaning of advising for the South African higher education context

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The student voice as contributor to quality education through institutional design

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Establishing a baseline: A social realist perspective on academic advising at a South African university prior to COVID-19

Establishing a baseline: A social realist perspective on academic advising at a South African university prior to COVID-19

Academic advising and ethic of care: Enabling belonging to enhance higher education students’ prospects of success

Demystifying the Work of South African Academic Advisors: An Exploration of Students’ Structural and Material Constraints

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