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Session Information
22 SES 17 A, International Perspectives on Student Retention in Higher Education Part 2
Symposium continued from 22 SES 16 A
Contribution
The decision to withdraw from a university programme is made following a process in which the student has attempted to find a way to cope with the demands and expectations of the study programme (Tinto, 1993). This is a process of negotiation in which students try to make sense of their experience in light of what they had imagined and assumed being a student would involve (Holmegaard et al., 2014, Johansson et al., 2016). The present paper builds on a bricolage of empirical studies carried out over a period of time, exploring the transitions to university experienced by Danish students in science, mathematics and engineering (SME). Based on these studies, the paper will discuss student expectations and assumptions about studying and how these were met and coped with. A particular focus will be on the repertoire that students bring with them from upper-secondary school and the imagined futures and identities that are available to them. In terms of retention, the student decision to stay or leave reflects a combination of several elements including course content, programme interests and study skills as well as the extent to which they construct a viable identity as students and future members of the discipline. Furthermore, the challenges facing the students are related to the expectations the teachers have concerning who the students are and what a student should be. However, when comparing these expectations with the curricula of the study programmes students have to negotiate ambiguous programme expectations in relation to the balance of autonomy, obedience and patience. Hence, the transition into university is a process of ambiguity and insecurity that the students are expected to cope with on their own.
References
HOLMEGAARD, H. T., MADSEN, L. M. & ULRIKSEN, L. 2014. A journey of negotiation and belonging: understanding students’ transitions to science and engineering in higher education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 9, 755-786. JOHANSSON, A., ANDERSSON, S., SALMINEN-KARLSSON, M. & ELMGREN, M. 2016. “Shut up and calculate”: the available discursive positions in quantum physics courses. Cultural Studies of Science Education. TINTO, V. 1993. Leaving College. Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition., Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press.
Programme by Network 2019
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
The programme is updated regularly (each day in the morning)
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