Revisited Trajectories: Higher Education Dropout And Retention After Six Years Of Research

Author(s):

Luciana Massi(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES C 07, Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-07

11:00-12:30

Room:

324. [Main]

Chair:

Dennis Beach

Contribution

In 2009, we conducted a case study at a teacher education course in chemistry about the student-institution relationship, which started from the finding of its lower dropout rates (around 15%) compared to national average (around 70%).

The study was based on Bourdieu and Lahire’s sociological perspective, mainly the disposition concept (LAHIRE, 2002) that is basically the agents’ mechanisms of action that reveal their values, tastes and beliefs. We also adopt the theoretical perspective of Vincent Tinto to investigate specifically the dropout aspect of this relationship. The "Student Integration Theory" was proposed in 1975, has undergone revisions, was criticized, but it is still widely accepted as the main theoretical model for studies of attrition and considered almost paradigmatic. In his theory, Tinto (1993) believes that the retention of students depends on compatibility between the university and the student, measured by academic integration (which may be by formal measured through performance at graduation and informal measured through the relationship with the faculty and staff) and social integration (formally by extracurricular activities and informally by the relationship with colleagues).

In our major research we analyze on one hand the trajectory of the institution and its institutional dispositions and, on the other hand, the school history and heritage (cultural, economic and social) and students' dispositions (MASSI, 2013). The case study is based on different data and analyzes that aim to capture the university experience as a whole, including interviews with 27 undergraduate students transformed into sociological portraits, trying to organize their academic trajectories according to their integration into the institution. The main institutional arrangements present in various stages of institutional development point to the importance of research, the union between the faculty members, the pursuit of autonomy and isolation and the community outreach projects as a form of institutional marketing (MASSI; VILLANI, 2014). The portraits show a predominance of paths that combines social and academic integration (17/27), favored by a ‘fit’ of the above dispositions updated in university (MASSI; VILLANI, 2015). It’s also important to emphasize that all the students from this teacher education in chemistry course were socioeconomically disadvantaged (MASSI; VILLANI, 2014) which reinforce the importance of their actions that prevent dropouts, like providing information about the institution, providing scholarships for students to work part-time at the university and providing various opportunities of extracurricular activities.

Six years after, in this study we revisit the data to analyze the effective dropout or retention of those 27 chemistry students through the comparison of the portrait of their social and academic integration in 2009 and their actual situation. Even thought Tinto’s model have already been extensively tested and does not intent to accurate forecast student’s future, in this investigation, by adopting this perspective on a qualitative analysis, it is possible to identify common aspects to the students stories and factors associated with retention and dropout. In future studies we will increase the understanding of this study results by producing new sociological portraits with these students and identifying their dispositions.

Method

The survey data was based on semi-structured interviews lasting an average of two hours. For a major research we interviewed a total of 27 students of the first, penultimate and final year of degree in a teacher training chemistry course that agreed to participate before our invitation to the whole class. Themes and sub-themes defined for the interview with the students were: family; school life; higher education; cultural practices. After the interviews transcription, we produced sociological portraits of students, focusing on their educational and academic history. To do this, we transformed the interview into a linear history of the student trajectory based on the theoretical framework of the research, already including part of the interpretation of the data. This methodology was proposed by Lahire and reviewed by Lopes (2012) considering its adoption in an "applied format", ie, "subjected to a specific research problem". Considering this specificity the author proposes the following stages of development of the portrait that we follow in this research: 1) preparation of a biographical interview guide appropriate to the research objectives but also questioned the actor about his positioning in diverse spheres of life, 2) completion of two or three interview sessions, preferably at intervals of days or weeks between them to promote the reflexivity of the actor (in this investigation we conducted only one extended interview); 3) interview transcript, 4) editing the interviews so that the result is a speech in first person; 5) construction of the portrait articulating theoretical and empirical material resources, ie, inserting a strand interpretive superficial; 6) produce a title that highlights the interpretive thread of the story, a route summary and a detailed body, this scheme allows three possible reading: by title (ultrafast), at short (fast) and the main body (longest) (LOPES, 2012). Six years after conducting these interviews we had access to the student’s academic record. The regular completion time of this graduation is five years. Through the academic record we’re able to identify their retention or dropout and their conclusion year – that also points to the completion time, another important aspect of student’s trajectory and performance.

Expected Outcomes

Considering the experiences of possible social and academic integration, we observed in the portraits four types of routes of undergraduates: paths without integration (4/27); paths of social integration (3/27); paths of academic integration (3/27); and paths of social and academic integration (17/27) – divided between moderate (7/17) and strong integration (10/17). From the total amount only three students actually dropout, confirming the low dropout rate of this institution (11,1%). This entire dropout was identified in the group of paths without integration (2) or paths of social integration (1). Three students are still matriculated at the institution: one without integration has only completed 33% of the course being a potential candidate to dropout; two others had moderate social and academic integration but have completed more than 90% of graduation and will probably conclude in 2015, after seven and ten years after entering university. On the other hand all the students with academic integration and strong social and academic integration have completed graduation in five years. There are only two exceptions that graduate in six years due to internships in foreign countries with different curriculums that lead to this extra year of adjustment. In general it’s remarkable that the extreme cases of retention in regular time and dropout are clearly related to paths with social and academic integration and without integration, respectively. Besides the low dropout rate, that points to the lack of institutional actions to orient students who tended to leave the graduation according to Tinto’s model (1993). These were related to lack of academic and social integration faced for the students during almost six years before canceling their registration, in one case the student transfer to a general teacher education graduation that she has already pointed as an important interest area in 2009.

References

MASSI, L. Relação aluno-instituição: o caso da licenciatura do Instituto de Química da UNESP/Araraquara. Tese (Doutorado em Ensino de Ciências) – Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Educação, Instituto de Física, Instituto de Química e Instituto de Biociências. São Paulo, 2013. MASSI, L.; VILLANI, A. Construction of the Dispositions of Institutional habitus in the Academic Field. International Research in Education, v. 2, p. 16-32, 2014. MASSI, L.; VILLANI, A. Contribuições dos estudos de perfil dos graduandos: o caso dos cursos de licenciatura e bacharelado em Química da UNESP/Araraquara. Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Educação em Ciências, v. 14, p. 151-170, 2014. MASSI, L.; VILLANI, A. Um caso de contratendência: baixa evasão na licenciatura em química explicada pelas disposições e integrações. Revista Educação e Pesquisa, no prelo, 2015. LAHIRE, B. From the habitus to an individual heritage of dispositions. Towards a sociology at the level of the individual. Poetics, v. 31, 329-355, 2003. LAHIRE, B. Retratos sociológicos: disposições e variações intraindividuais. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2004. 344. LOPES, J. T. O. Registros do actor plural: Bernard Lahire na sociologia portuguesa. Porto: Edições Afrontamento 2012. TINTO, V. Leaving College: rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. 296.

Author Information

Luciana Massi (presenting / submitting)

Sao Paulo State University

Araraquara - São Paulo

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