The Withdrawal of Non-traditional Students: Developing an explanatory model

Laing, Christopher; Robinson, Alan G.

doi:10.1080/0309877032000065190

Cited by 45 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…This criticism emanates from two distinct sources. One is methodological and contends that models that rely heavily on social processes to explain attrition are not always relevant to 'nontraditional' students (Laing & Robinson, 2003;Ozga & Sukhnandan, 1998), who are seen as deriving much of their social support from outside the institution (Bean & Metzner, 1985). Additionally, the meaning of 'non-traditional' differs between countries.…”

Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Recent initiatives aimed at increasing participation and diversity, in Australia (e.g., the Bradley Review [Bradley, Noonan, Nugent, & Scales, 2008]) and elsewhere, are likely to result in greater numbers of 'at risk' students, presenting universities with the dual challenges of coping with resource and infrastructure constraints, whilst guiding these students to course completion (Birrell & Edwards, 2009). This will necessitate even greater scrutiny of attrition rates and their antecedents (Bradley et al, 2008;Krause & Coates, 2008;Laing & Robinson, 2003;Long, Ferrier, & Heagney, 2006;McInnis, James, & Hartley, 2000;Te Tari Mātauranga Māori, 2007;Tinto, 2006Tinto, -2007.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Persist or withdraw: the importance of external factors in students' departure intentions

Leveson

McNeil²,

Joiner

2013

Higher Education Research & Development

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The role of institutional factors in students' intentions to persist with or withdraw from their studies is well established in the literature. More recently, the influence of factors external to the institution has been highlighted as well. This study investigates the relationship between levels of engagement of first-year students undertaking a core business subject at a large university in Australia and their departure intentions. It was found that their propensity to persist was positively associated with their reported involvement and engagement with their studies but negatively associated with certain external factors -time spent on paid work, commuting and caring for others. One important implication of these results is that factors that sit largely outside the ambit of an institution's control may be placing significant, but perhaps unrecognised, constraints on the ability of that institution to improve retention rates.

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Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Persist or withdraw: the importance of external factors in students' departure intentions

Leveson

McNeil²,

Joiner

2013

Higher Education Research & Development

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“…Of course, this rather undermines the reporting mechanisms that exist in CFE for tutors to record reasons why students leave their course early. This system for reporting back calls for concise single issue reasons and it is interesting in this respect to reflect on Laing and Robinson's (2003) statements concerning the crudity of current models that are available to institutions to measure this phenomenon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life and learning in further education: constructing the circumstantial curriculum

Gibson

2004

Journal of Further and Higher Education

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This paper considers experience of further education (FE) from a student perspective. Students were involved in a longitudinal research project designed to develop a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of their progress on a vocational study programme. Using case studies as part of a multi-method research strategy, students' motivation and logic were examined to create a better understanding as to why they enrolled on the course, how they experienced the course and how they made decisions about subsequent progression. The links between experience of FE and students' broader lives were explored in relation to situated learning theory and learning careers. This enabled in-depth analysis of students' beliefs, their experiences and learning and their perceptions about the context for learning. The students' lives are full of complexities that are often either ignored or misunderstood by educational planners. This article discusses the outcomes of the research and includes a description of the 'circumstantial curriculum', a concept to denote the individual collection of factors that define each student in this setting.

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“…There is evidence of a perceived deficiency in the key study skills considered essential for HE success in those students entering with non-traditional qualifications (Abramson and Jones, 2001;Webb and Hill, 2003). This might be equally true of some traditional, academic A level entrants, but high levels of noncompletion are noted in those institutions admitting a greater proportion of nontraditional students (Liang and Robinson, 2003), many of whom will hold nontraditional entry qualifications.…”

Section: Non-traditional Academic Backgroundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strange new world: applying a Bourdieuian lens to understanding early student experiences in higher education

Watson

Nind

Humphris

et al. 2009

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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Word count: 7079 including reference list. 2Strange new world: Applying a Bourdieuian lens to understanding early student experiences in higher education.Occupational therapy pre-registration education stands at the intersection of the fields of health and social care and higher education. UK Government agendas in both fields have seen an increase in the number of students entering with non-traditional academic backgrounds, a group noted to experience particular challenges in negotiating the transition to, and persisting and succeeding within, higher education. Drawing on data from an ongoing longitudinal case study, a Bourdieuian lens is applied to exploring the early educational experiences of a group of these students during their first year of study and highlights a number of key issues, including the high-value status of linguistic capital and its relationship to understanding the rules governing practices within the learning environment, the processes via which students manage to adapt to or interestingly, to resist, the dominant culture of the field, and some of the barriers to finding a foothold and legitimate position within the new field.

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The Withdrawal of Non-traditional Students: Developing an explanatory model

Cited by 45 publications

References 9 publications

Persist or withdraw: the importance of external factors in students' departure intentions

Persist or withdraw: the importance of external factors in students' departure intentions

Life and learning in further education: constructing the circumstantial curriculum

Strange new world: applying a Bourdieuian lens to understanding early student experiences in higher education

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