For many students, the first year of university is tough!
The learning curve can be steep regardless of whether you are straight out of
high school or you are returning to study. The Science Faculty at Monash University
recognises that each individual faces different challenges and provides a
variety of support services to address those needs.
In 2011, the Science Faculty received Higher
Education Participation and Partnerships Program funding from the Government
to support low socioeconomic status (SES) students in their studies at
university. We saw this as an opportunity to supplement our existing learning
centres (all providing free tutoring) and create new ones so that we could provide
this service to all 1st year students in each of our five schools.
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Photos of our Geosciences learning centre
in action
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Importantly we also
wanted the tutors in the learning centres to provide pastoral care offering further
support beyond assistance just with academic content (figure 1). Pastoral care
is especially important for low SES students because these students are often
the first in their family to attend university. These students may lack social
and cultural capital in the university environment, which can negatively
impact their success in their studies.
Figure 1. Academic
support and pastoral care provided through our science learning centres
I want to share a story that illustrates how our free
tutoring service can help distressed first-year students in their transition to
university.
Many students don’t proactively seek support from our tutors,
but one student that stands out to me had been waiting for an opportunity like
this after failing some of her first units. This student was very hard-working,
but despite her best efforts she found studying at university much more
difficult than her preparatory TAFE courses and she started to doubt her
abilities. Being a refugee, this student often expressed how lucky she felt to
be able to attend university in Australia. She also showed an enormous passion
for learning and because of this it was inspiring to see how much she wanted to
make a difference in the world. She felt that her education was the key to
achieving her dreams.
After an initial conversation she decided to attend one and
eventually all three of the learning centres for her science units. After a lot
of hard work from her and the tutors who assisted her, she passed all of her
units that semester. That was a huge confidence boost for her to know that she
had the capacity to achieve her goals. Perhaps an even greater success was the
fact that while she was reluctant to speak to her lecturers in her first year fearing
she would be wasting their time, her attitude changed during her second year. She
realised people wanted to help her to succeed and her confidence enabled her to
talk to her lecturers regularly and seek help when needed.
This is one of many success stories of the learning centres
but this one (perhaps because it was one of the first) continues to inspire me
to work in education. From the feedback we receive each semester we know the
tutoring service is helping hundreds of first-year students in small ways and
in large.
If you are interested in learning more about the logistical
side (costs, format, hours of operation etc.) of how our learning centres work
please contact me.
Further reading:
Yan, C. (2013). Integrated learning
centres: enhanced life and learning support for all students. FYHE
Conference Proceedings 2013.
Devlin, M., Kift, S., Nelson, K., Smith, L.,& McKay, J.
(2012) Effective
teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds:
Resources for Australian higher education. Retrieved from www.lowses.edu.au
Carmen Yan is the
HEPPP Project Officer and Student Experience Coordinator in the Faculty of
Science. She is the coordinator of the Faculty of Science Learning Centres and
works closely with academic staff from each of the science schools to support
first-year students and in particular those who from a low SES background. Carmen
can be found on Google+ and
invites you to add her to your ‘circles’.
