HERE! Project Case Study 3

HERE!
Higher Education Retention and Engagement
project
Strand B:
Programme review of good practice
at Bournemouth University
Case Study 3
BA (Hons) Social Work
Natalie Bates and Christine Keenan

Content
SECTION 1: Context Page 2
Course data Page 3
SECTION 2: Programme/staff view Page 4
Examples of practice and evaluation Page 16
Summary Page 18
SECTION 3: Student view Page 18
Practical examples that enhance the student experience Page 24
Summary Page 25
SECTION 4: Document analysis Page 26
SECTION 5: Overall summary and key conclusions Page 27
SECTION 6: HERE! Programme Review Tool Page 29
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HERE Project Programme Reviews: Case Study 3
BA (Hons) Social Work at BU
SECTION 1
Context
BA (Hons) Social Work is a three year course located in the School of Health and Social
Care at Bournemouth University (BU). The programme was chosen for the HERE! project
programme review due to its high retention figures for the number of first year students who
progress to year two (100% of first year students – based on 2007/08 data). Four lecturers
were interviewed from the programme including the course leader and the first year tutor.
They were invited to participate due to their close involvement with first year learning and
teaching. All were interviewed by the BU project research assistant.
The programme is a generic degree which involves placements in each year of the course –
a 20 day placement in year 1; 80 days in year 2 and 100 days in year 3. International
placements in Malaysia are also an option for the students. The course has only recently
introduced a placement to the first year so that students can experience social work earlier in
the programme because, although the course has retained 100% of its first year students in
recent years, the lecturers noted that students often have doubts or experience issues when
they enter their placement in the second year. It is hoped that the new 20 day placement will
ease the transition to the second year placement and students’ associated expectations.
As the social work course leads to a professional qualification, many elements of the course
must meet requirements of the General Social Care Council (GSCC). For example, by the
end of the course, all students must have worked in placements with two distinctly different
service user groups. At the time of these interviews, the course had recently been through
revalidation so changes had been made to the structure of the course accreditation for
certain units in line with the GSCC.
Entry to the course is based on students achieving 260-280 UCAS points and students must
have had experience in a social care setting or personal experience in a carer capacity. All
students are interviewed for the course. There is a large demand for places on the course
with approximately 500 applicants for 55 places each year (dependent on the number of
provisional places offered). The course also recruits from a local access course. In 2011, a
Masters Social Work course will be introduced at BU.
The course team gave consent to survey all first year students on the 2009/10 social work
cohort. A total of 17 out of 46 students from the course completed the student survey for our
project (37% response rate) which included a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data.
HERE! Project – BU Case Study 3 – BA (Hons) Social Work
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Course data
Student administration data BA (Hons) Social Work
Cohort 2009/10
Total no. of first year students in cohort 46
UCAS tariff requested by course 2010 entry 260 points
2011 entry 280 points
Gender Male 5
Female 41
Age 18 8
19-20 9
21-24 3
25-30 7
31-40 12
41-50 7
Mode of study (FT/PT) FT 46
PT 0
UK/EU/International UK 44
International 2
Disability ALN 4
Non-ALN 42
No. of students taken through clearing 1
No of students repeating year 1 0
Professionally accredited? Yes
Sandwich course/placement yr No
Retention data for previous cohorts (no. of first year students progressing from year 1 to year
2 over past 4 years):
Registry data BA (Hons) Social Work
Left Cont’d to yr 2 Total no. 1st
years
06/07 2.2% 97.8% 46
07/08 0.0% 100% 46
08/09 4.9% 95.1% 61
09/10 N/A N/A N/A
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SECTION 2
Programme/staff view
This section provides a summary of the analysis of the staff interviews. Four lecturers were
interviewed in total from the course team. Section 2 begins by highlighting the key factors
that the staff feel contribute to their retention rate, followed by a more in-depth analysis of
their perceptions on course related factors, the relationship between students and staff,
feelings of belonging and students at risk of doubting or withdrawing. Subheadings have
been taken from the HERE! Programme Review tool (see section 6, p.29). At the end of
section 2, practical examples are listed from the staff interviews that could be used by other
university programmes to enhance the student experience.
The course team share similar views on the BA (Hons) Social Work high retention rates and
emphasise that a combination of the following factors have helped:
• A rigorous selection process – interviews and tasks before students are offered a
place
• Availability and commitment of staff – quantity of teaching hours/contact time; open
door policy; approachability of staff
• Personal tutor system
• First year tutor role – having an overview of all students; able to identify students who
are struggling or failing
• Lots of support in different formats – via personal tutors; the first year tutor; Student
Support Tutor; AskBU; Additional Learning Needs (ALN)
• Enabling the students to establish themselves as a group and develop peer support
• A well structured induction with opportunities for the group to bond
• Role modelling – professional values; mutual respect
• A cohesive, collaborative course team
• Innovative teaching and staff with up-to-date knowledge
• Having a formative assignment and feedback in the first few weeks to support
academic transition
Course related factors and adapting to the course
Academic transition
All of the course team agreed that induction week is an important part of the academic
transition which is centred on the students making connections with each other and with the
lecturers. As well as informing students about the expectations and demands of the course,
the week is filled with ice-breaker activities, team building exercises, a meet the team
session and includes a first tutorial with personal tutors. The staff invest time into making the
week as fun as possible and every effort is made to get the students talking to each other,
‘so it means they’ve talked to every single person hopefully by the end of the week’. One
lecturer emphasised the importance of students bonding with their peers during induction:
What you really want to do is establish relationships with people that you’re starting to work
with because…we learn most effectively in the context of a positive relationship…I mean it’s
certainly the case in social work where we bring our own experience and we reflect upon our
own experiences and our own feelings.
Incorporating group work during induction week helps to enhance such relationship building,
in particular the Stepping Stones 2HE poster presentation task. Prior to starting university, all
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students are asked to research a key social work theme or value, such as social exclusion,
which they will use in small groups to prepare a poster presentation that they will deliver to
the rest of the cohort:
[It] absolutely scares the life out of the students. They’re absolutely terrified about it but they
rate it so highly after they’ve done it and it’s just a brilliant buzz in the room. They’re so
chuffed with themselves for doing it and just that shared experience because they’ve done it
as a group as well. It’s brilliant.
The majority of students engage in the task and although instructions are given to the
students online, a paper copy is also sent to ensure all students can access the task. After a
full week of induction, students are given the Friday off to absorb information ‘because
they’re completely exhausted by that point’.
To address differences between learning at university and previous learning experiences,
the social work course team used to deliver a Personal and Academic Development Unit
which explored different academic skills such as writing, referencing and the use of library
and online resources. In response to student feedback that they would have preferred more
of this information at the start of the term, the team are planning to introduce a ‘Learning to
Learn’ week for the next cohort. The week will occur near the beginning of term one and will
look at the transition to university and studying for a professional qualification:
You’ve got [to] kind of internalise a lot of your learning as well because it’s not just about
memorising things, it’s all about self and self awareness and professionalism.
The lecturers consider this to be essential as the students need to adjust to becoming both a
student and a social worker. One lecturer claimed there is ‘something of an identity in social
work’ which the students also have to embrace.
The course team described themselves as cohesive, open with each other and able to
discuss any student’s issues with each other confidentially and in-depth. They believe that
their collaborative approach to teaching and learning enhances the student experience. One
lecturer, for example, described the benefits of joint teaching with a colleague:
It was something about the relationship. [It] is a fundamentally good one, a positive one, it’s
an emotionally intelligent one, so you’re modelling it.
As well as working effectively with each other, the course team have built strong external
relationships with employers, professionals in practice, and people who use services and
carers. They also work well with the local access course in terms of helping students to
understand the expectations of the social work degree and preparing them with knowledge
of social care issues. This helps to support the academic transition for those students
entering the social work degree via the access course.
Coping with coursework
The lecturers indicated that some students struggle with work on the course, particularly
academic discourse and referencing expectations, but there is a wealth of support available
to the students which the personal tutors direct them to. Personal tutors encourage students
to see them if they are finding aspects of work difficult so that they can talk through any
issues and look at improving management of their independent learning. By ‘learning about
individual needs’, the lecturers can signpost students to appropriate study skills workshops
or ALN services. It was argued that identifying ALN could help retention as students can
recognise why they are struggling and find strategies for dealing with it. Help is also
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available from the Student Support Tutor for the School who offers support sessions to all
students either individually, as a group or as part of the course unit, and the course has
developed strong links with the Subject Librarian on the campus who assists the students.
To help students cope with their first written assignment, a formative assignment is set within
the first few weeks of term by the course team. The assessment does not count towards the
students’ final degree but allows them to have feedback on a piece of work before producing
an assessed written assignment. Students have a one-to-one tutorial with their personal
tutor to go through the feedback which provides an opportunity to pick up on any issues
around academic standards. All of the lecturers interviewed commented that this is a useful
task that gives students a confidence boost:
It’s a non-assessed piece of work that really gives them the confidence to actually submit
something.
Students who come in, particularly if they haven’t been in education for a while or the
students who are coming from school, find that really helpful and it allows them to see what
they can do and what their potential is, so we’re very positive about things. So I think that’s a
major thing.
A mixture of assessment methods are used on the course, including written assignments
and presentations, but exams are not considered appropriate. The course team are,
however, looking at incorporating an open exam as a future assessment method on the
course where students would know the question in advance and have access to books.
Assignment titles are not restrictive and when a deadline is approaching, the lecturers
facilitate an interactive session to give broad guidelines on the assessment details, reading
materials and how the taught element of the course should be linked to the Intended
Learning Objectives.
Another form of support aimed at helping students cope with the course is a mentoring
scheme for students who consider themselves to be from a minority. The scheme was
initiated as a result of a research project conducted by members of the course team and a
general awareness that ‘students who identify themselves as different do less well on the
course [and] are more likely to fail’. Each self-identified student is allocated an independent
mentor who has a social work background and a good understanding of discrimination, but is
external to the course:
Students feel safe to…just sort of talk about whatever they want to talk about without it feeling
it’s going to affect their mark or their…practice.
The initial project focused on black minority ethnic students but since then the mentoring has
been offered to any students who self-identify themselves as being in, what they consider to
be, a possibly discriminated against group. The last mentoring scheme, for example,
included a man who felt outnumbered by the number of female students on the course; a
student with English as an additional language; and a student with dyslexia.
Choice of course
Investing in a rigorous student selection process was considered crucial not only for
retention but ensuring students possess the qualities and values that are essential for the
social work profession. Open days provide a good opportunity for the lecturers to set
expectations of both the course and the profession through an hour long talk and individual
conversations with students. The course has a lot of students who do not enter university
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through the traditional route, for example, some have not come directly from sixth form or
have been out of education for a long time, and some are unsure if their qualifications meet
the course criteria. At open day the team can clarify course entry requirements and give
advice to those who need to gain further experience:
We field a lot of those questions on open days and tend to get people with really fantastic
experience and a lot to offer that actually we really encourage to apply, or might encourage to
do an access course and then apply.
We really try and give them a feel about what social work’s all about. We’ll talk to them
individually.
The lecturers give prospective students guidance on the best experience to gain for their CV,
how they can get voluntary work and what the best programme would be for them, for
example, some students may be better suited to a community development course, nursing
or may also be considering teaching. Although the social work course has recently received
a large increase in applications, not all are appropriate, and concern was expressed that
some people may only be interested in the course for the £3000 bursary attached to it and
that they could lose them when they enter practice. It is hoped that open days and the
course interview process can help to avoid such situations.
As well as completing a UCAS application form, it is a GSCC requirement that students must
have a face-to-face interview for the course. The interview panel is formed of an academic
from the course team, an agency representative and a service user or carer. The staff
dedicate a lot of time and effort to the interviewing process and the procedure has changed
recently due to concerns about the questions asked in the past. The original structure
involved six questions based on the applicant’s personal statement which didn’t help the
lecturers gain a perspective of a candidate’s values or how proactive they were as a learner.
More depth is now expected and students are asked three specific questions:
1) What experience do you have that is relevant to social work and what did you
learn from it?
2) What do you understand by discrimination?
3) The student is also asked to discuss a social work topic with the interview panel.
(Candidates are given a choice of topic areas prior to the interview, e.g. looked
after children or domestic abuse, from which they must choose one topic that
they will prepare and discuss at interview with the panel. The lecturers said this
task is not about being an expert but about what the students have found
interesting when researching the topic which helps the panel to gain
‘roundedness of the person’.
In addition to the interview, students must have gained experience in a social care setting, or
have personal experience of caring for someone, ‘so [that] applicants have already tested
out a little bit [of] the world of social work’ and ‘got a sense of whether in reality this is for
them’. In the future it is possible that students will be required by the GSCC to complete an
exam as part of the selection process. The lecturers believe that selecting the right students
for the course is key to retention:
The admissions criteria I think is quite significant for retention because we make our
applicants jump through lots of hoops so part of me thinks that actually you just wouldn’t go
through that unless you really wanted it and you knew this was for you.
In terms of retention, a lot of it is about getting the right applicants in the first place so we
don’t get a lot of students in the first year umming an ahhing about whether this is for them.
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The course team use the interview day as a further opportunity to raise awareness of the
demands of the course and expectations. This is done via three perspectives: the lecturers
give an hour long talk on interview day about the realities of the course, hours and
commitment; current students come in and answer any questions the candidates might
have; and local placement providers give a talk about social work practice. The participation
of current students in the interview process is considered particularly valuable as students
feel comfortable asking questions in the absence of the lecturers and gain answers from
those who are actually experiencing the course.
Making the subject interesting
Lecturers on the course ensure that sessions are hugely interactive with lots of workshop
style teaching where students ‘have to engage and do a bit of thinking’. The academic
aspect of the course is integrated with the practice element so that the different values
become involved. Teaching therefore makes links between theory and practice, giving the
students the opportunity to discuss scenarios and apply their learning to the real world. To
bring the subject alive, newspaper articles and media are often explored and visits to the
courts are organised to help the students understand social work law. The lecturers aim to
keep up-to-date with practice and consider role modelling vital to their teaching, stating ‘if
you’re not modelling what you’re teaching, then you’re teaching something else’. They also
make sessions accessible for different learning styles.
It was acknowledged that different lecturers have different teaching styles on the course.
Some focus on delivering information to students in a traditional lecture style whilst others
prefer to include group work in their teaching so that students can reflect upon questions and
apply given information to case studies. The lecturers are passionate about social work and
the community, and most reflect this enthusiasm in their teaching. It was regarded as
essential to select the right person to teach the students:
It’s not about standing up in front, you know, I’ll teach you. That’s not what it’s about. I don’t
think that works, certainly not for social work.
It’s not teaching in a great big lecture hall for a long time but getting them into groups. It’s
getting them to discuss their own experiences, to value their experiences and what they bring
to the learning…so listening to that and getting them to bounce ideas off one another.
Using interactive teaching and keeping up-to-date with practice are therefore priorities for the
team. To enhance the course experience, guest speakers are also invited to talk to the
students. Independent Reviewing Officers, for example, have discussed what it is like to be
in practice which received positive feedback from the students – ‘the students love it…the
students say it’s brilliant, so it’s fun’. As well as guest speakers from practice settings, input
from service users and carers is highly valued on the course. Service users and carers are
invited to talk to the students about various situations they have been in, such as what it’s
like having a mental health condition, what it’s like to have your children taken away and
what it’s like to have a good, or not so good, social worker. The lecturers find this is quite
hard and shocking for the students to hear and emphasises the reality that will face them as
qualified social workers.
Plans for improvement
Amidst current institutional change, the course team’s main aim is to keep the social work
degree functioning well:
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I think what we have works. I think for me it’s going to be about trying to retain that because
we’re getting bigger and bigger cohorts each year, obviously more and more workload, we’ve
got a smaller staff team, so all of those issues that everybody’s sort of experiencing are going
to have an effect, and are having an effect, on our ability to offer all those things we offer, and
a lot of those things are not measured either so I know, you know, in terms of appraisals and
all of those sorts of things, a lot of those roles that we do don’t count. So for me in terms of
future goals it’s going to be holding onto this stuff and retaining it.
Whilst the lecturers recognised that it was important for them be innovative and engage in
research, they did not feel that this should be done at the expense of their students. The
team are concerned that such pressure will impact on the quality of the course and if
employers do not rate the course, current students will not gain jobs and prospective
students will apply elsewhere. Attempts to free up lecturers’ time to write and engage in
enterprise activities over a whole term were frowned upon by some members of the team
who do not want the student experience to suffer.
The team continually try to improve practice and major changes have recently been made to
the social work course as part of revalidation. The number of credits gained for the children
and families unit has increased from 10 credits to 40 credits; the number of assessments
have been reduced due to concern that students were being over-assessed; word counts
have decreased (in some cases from 5000 words to 3000); and students are now given two
lecture-free weeks before an assignment is due to prepare. Some staff are also engaged in
a project that is exploring the possibility of involving service users and carers in practice
learning where they would each work with a student throughout their placement.
Major changes were predicted for the course in the future in relation to standards required by
the GSCC for student recruitment and retention. The course team must recruit students who
are good for people who use social services and ensure that they look at students holistically
as opposed to focusing on academic ability. Although the social work course already uses a
rigorous selection process, the lecturers will continue to make interviews more stringent and
aim to terminate placements much quicker if a student’s attitude or behaviour in practice is
not up to standard or a concern.
Relationship with staff – staff/student relations
The course team are committed to the student experience and offer lots of support to make
the students’ journeys a success. The lecturers balance a nurturing role with firmness as
students must develop as professionals as well as independent learners:
I think we…probably take a bit of a sort of spoon feeding approach right at the beginning of
the year and gradually…withdraw from that.
We also care about whether people are appropriate to do social work. So there’s a hardness
that goes with that and there are certain people who, you know, we fail, particularly on
placement.
Lecturers are responsive to students’ issues and have an open door policy so that students
‘feel able to come and talk much sooner than actually leaving or dropping out’. The first year
tutor in particular gains an overview of all students in the cohort which helps the course team
to identify those who may be struggling or requiring more support:
I’m the year tutor for the first years so have that overview. So I will track progress and pick up
on students that are failing or struggling or not attending and follow that up but a lot of it I
think is probably just contact, open door policy, students can come up to the office, they can
e-mail, they can phone, and will get a response from somebody fairly quickly.
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As well as having the support of the first year tutor, students also benefit from a personal
tutor system. Each lecturer is a personal tutor for the course and has approximately eight
students in a tutor group, with a group in the first, second and third year. It is policy for the
personal tutors to see their students at least once a term, either as a group or individually,
and students are encouraged to visit their personal tutor to discuss any difficulties. Tutorial
opportunities, however, tend to be attended by students who are proactive in their learning.
The course team have a flexible approach to teaching and adapt to their students’ needs
where possible, for example, having lectures from 10am to accommodate students with
children or who travel a long way to university. Most lecturers prioritise their availability to
students over institutional pressure to reduce contact hours:
Where there’s a sort of a push for us to actually draw back on the quantity of teaching hours
and the availability of us, I think we’ve fought against that to keep the retention rate as good
as it is because I think there’s a real feel that we’re actually wanted to be pushed down the
research route, down other routes, you know, of getting bids in etc., and actually withdraw
from that sort of impact on the students.
Even if personal tutors are unavailable to meet face-to-face with a student, e-mail
communication is strongly encouraged and responded to quickly by staff. The administration
team also form supportive relationships with the students and are available to help with
queries.
Course documents, such as the course handbook, are given to students on a data stick and
can also be accessed on myBU. Online resources have proven useful for students living at
home or at a distance from the university, with one lecturer commenting:
They do seem to appreciate it and they just seemed to accept it’s all online. It’s become their
world, and it’s useful for when they need it without having to go to the library.
The Practice Learning units are the only exception where hard copies, as well as electronic
versions, are given to students. For these particular units it is easier for students to flick
through a hard copy as they constantly need to refer to information in their unit guides.
Students are given the course handbook, School handbook and timetable before they arrive.
The lecturers believe that their good relationship with the students stems from mutual
respect and is about hearing what the students are saying, listening and responding,
modelling social work values, and valuing diversity. The lecturers place importance on
modelling anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice and like to be ‘real and honest
with the students’. Students are likewise expected to show respect, including e-mailing
lecturers if they are unable to attend a session. Good communication was considered by one
lecturer to be part of the transition to becoming a professional social worker. The lecturers
respond well to student feedback from unit evaluations and student reps. The course team
also aim to give students balanced feedback on assignments which gives praise as well as
highlights areas for improvement or directs them to study support. If students want to
discuss their written feedback they can e-mail their tutor to make an appointment.
The course team make effort to get to know the students individually which is helped by the
small cohort size. Even if a lecturer doesn’t know the whole cohort by name, each student
will be known as an individual by their personal tutor:
I think partly it’s because it’s a small cohort because we’re looking usually at between 50 and
60 students in a cohort so we know them all, you know, if I’m teaching I will get to know over
a term pretty much all the names of those.
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I think we value their experience and their contribution to the course as well. We don’t sort of
say because you’ve not got much experience it’s not as valuable…but we do know them
individually, so there is a real sense of identity on the programme and I think that’s important.
This sense of individual identity has helped students to gain a strong sense of belonging to
the course and, as a result, some lecturers feel that the students have created more of an
affiliation with the course than the university as a whole. Whilst the majority of the course
team enjoy getting to know the students and welcome the close, professional relationship
that develops with them, others prefer a distance to remain between academics and
students:
We do encourage quite an open door policy…we are role models and we should mirror the
codes of practice, the GSCC codes of practice…We have to respect them [students] and
value them. It goes back to the humanistic values.
Those interviewed feel strongly that positive relationships are really important for learning
and believe it is possible to ‘communicate with people on a personal level or on a less formal
level without losing respect’.
Support from friends/peers
The lecturers emphasised the importance of developing peer support on the course and
facilitate plenty of opportunities for students to make friends. During induction week students
take part in ice-breaker activities and are generally encouraged to speak to as many different
people as possible. Group work in particular is used to enhance the students’ sense of
belonging which helps to ease any initial feelings students have of being ‘anxious’, ‘way out
of their league’, or a ‘fraud’ if they are the first person to go to university in their family:
Within a day of freshers’ week [those feelings] had gone because they felt part of that group
and were hearing other people feeling exactly the same so it had a big impact on that but
that’s developed through the first year as well. I don’t think very many have stayed in those
groups, those friendship groups.
This quote also highlights how opportunities for friendship development are crucial
throughout the first year, not only during induction. Group work is the main way in which the
course team get students to mix after induction. Students are allocated into different groups
for different units which enables them to work with different people from the cohort, not only
their tutor group. Incorporating lots of group work on the course leads to a ‘huge amount of
peer support’ which the lecturers confirm as ‘fundamental’ for the course.
Because of the nature of social work, and you’re learning a lot about yourself, I think they
have to become a very trusting, developing group as a whole. You are sharing personal
experiences.
The students are encouraged to help and learn from each other as opposed to becoming
very individual and competitive. The lecturers feel that the cohesion of the group is a really
integral part of the learning process as ‘people feel safe enough to trust each other to
contribute’. To support group work in practical terms, a room was built especially for the
course which allows flexible seating for discussions and interaction instead of rows of lecture
theatre seating. This change has had a big impact on teaching.
The course attracts a diverse range of students which is valued by peers and the course
team. The majority of students are female and there are also a small number of international
students on the course who tend to seek support from each other, particularly if they have a
shared language. Most students on the course are over 25 and have established lives
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outside of the course, including friends, family and partners, and the university experience is
very different for them with regard to socialising. Younger students living in halls tend to
become more engaged in the social aspect of university life than others. However, this does
not prevent friendships from forming:
You definitely get all these sort of little sub-groups that often are according to…age or culture
but then because they’re kind of put into lots of different groups their…friendship circle
widens.
Interestingly, the lecturers sometimes see roles forming among the students, with the mature
students adopting a maternal role in their relationship with younger peers, and younger
students looking to the mature students for guidance. The course team encourage the
students to mix together, however, it is the younger students, if any, who tend to feel more
isolated. One lecturer explained that younger students sometimes underestimate the amount
of experience they have gained prior to university and believe they lack experience in
comparison to mature students on the course. The course team want students to learn from
each other’s different experiences or skills:
The younger students, they’re academically more able in terms of formulating assignments
etc. but then they have less experience, so it sort of complements each other, so we really try
to draw that…learning out together and as a group, that everyone has something to offer,
so…I think we draw on both experiential learning and academic learning.
Students are, therefore, encouraged to value the diversity of the group and enhance their
learning in the process.
Another way in which the course team promotes the development of peer support is by
providing opportunities for different year groups to interact with each other. As well as
inviting current students to talk to prospective students on interview day, second years are
invited to talk to students at the end of their first year to tell them what to expect in year 2
and about their experience of different placements. Third year students also meet second
years to talk about their experience of the final year of the course. The lecturers said that the
students liked the support they gained from each other through this method and found it
really helpful. By encouraging such contact between year groups the course team hoped
that students would get to know each other and feel comfortable asking questions if they
saw each other around campus or in the library:
We’re enabling the introductions but then the informal mentoring just sort of happens.
A mentoring scheme is also used on the course where volunteers from the second and third
year are allocated to first year students as mentors. The scheme was really well evaluated
by the students but not used to a great extent – the students just liked knowing someone
was there to talk to if needed.
Fitting in/belonging
There was mixed opinion about whether students engage in Student Union activities or feel
that they belong to the university as a whole, particularly as the social work course is not
based at the main university campus (Talbot Campus). Some lecturers believed that the
students engage in RAG week and the parties on offer through the students’ union, and
participate in the university sports teams. Students on the course who live in halls and have
contact with other students across the university were considered more likely to engage in
other aspects of university life and visit Talbot Campus than mature students in the cohort.
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Some lecturers, for example, felt that the students’ union was focused on alcohol, clubs and
pubs and did not cater for older people:
A lot of the older students will comment, certainly in freshers week, that…they’re all assumed
to be 18, and they’re not. So they may develop their own social life and sort of go out in town
quite a lot with each other but very few of them will get involved in the union type arranged
stuff because they just don’t feel that it’s targeted at them.
The younger tend to engage more with the university itself, so living in accommodation,
hanging out together. The mature students have got families and jobs and they just don’t
have time to engage with the broader aspect of the university. But I do think they feel they
belong to Bournemouth University. I do get that sense that they are quite proud to be at
Bournemouth.
However, other lecturers believed that all students on the course had limited involvement in
the social side of university life due to the structure of the course and campus location. In
this respect, even younger students in halls were thought to be affected by the demands of
the course and expected commitment:
I think some of the students who live in halls have quite a tough time because ours is a very
demanding course. So they’ve got their friends who are going out and partying til all hours
and then they’re having to work because it’s a huge demand on their time because we don’t
have exams, it’s all assignment based at the moment, so their assignment schedule is really
full. I’m not sure how they feel part of the university. Some do, some don’t.
I actually think the way the course is prevents our students from engaging in aspects of the
university quite a lot…we’re at Lansdowne and the main identity of the students of the
university I think is at Talbot, so they don’t’ feel part of a campus. Very few engage in sports
activities and things and part of that is because of the amount of days they have to be in here.
The lecturers have not heard students mention that they feel divided from the university due
to their campus location and, although staff feel that Lansdowne Campus is the ‘poor
relation’ of Talbot Campus, it was recognised that improvements made to the campus in
recent years have given a better impression to new students. With regard to facilities, one
lecturer stated that the course lacked a common room where all social work students could
mix and have their own identity.
The course team acknowledged that they do not do a lot to engage students in the university
as a whole and one lecturer admitted having ‘no sense of corporate identity at all’. The
lecturers do, however, give students the Friday off during freshers week to absorb
information and engage in the freshers fair should they wish. Students were said to increase
their sense of belonging at BU more so by volunteering to be reps for the course or the
School. Whilst the students may not have a close connection to the university, they do have
a ‘huge identity on the course’. The students on the social work course arrange their own
socials which most students feel welcome to participate in:
They’re always interacting with each other and they organise all sorts of things as a group. I
mean our current first years, we’ve got 15 of them that are all going to Spain for a long
weekend next week or the week after that they’ve arranged and I know they go to…a dance
thing across the road…A load of them do that on a Tuesday lunchtime or something.
The close group bond has also helped to provide an effective learning environment for the
students and contributed to the development of their identity as a social worker:
We do a lot of sort of trust building and also about confidentiality, about respect and diversity
and cultural issues so I think that’s embedded very early on and I think because of that I think
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they do build a sort of quite a strong group when they’re together. They’ve really clearly got
an identity of being social workers.
To support such feelings of belonging on the course and identity formation, the lecturers put
effort into developing peer support from induction.
Life outside of studies
If students experience problems with accommodation or finance, the lecturers are happy to
signpost them to AskBU which they regard as a ‘one stop place’ for such issues. Students
are also directed to the students’ union services if appropriate.
Students more likely to doubt
Students most at risk of having doubts on the course were mainly identified as those who
have issues that are external to the course, for example, a problem at home, or those who
realise that social work is not for them. As the course requires a lot of commitment from
students, if students are unable to manage their problems with the support on offer and with
extensions on work, the lecturers said they are at risk of withdrawing. A key time for students
to doubt on the social work course is at the beginning of the second year when they begin
their 80 day placement. Some are shocked by the reality of what social work really entails
and may feel isolated or out of their depth without the support of their peers around them.
One lecturer commented that two students from one cohort withdrew as a result of the 100
day placement used in the old course structure. The new twenty day placement in the first
year intends to give students a taste of social work before entering the second year and
highlights how the course team constantly aim to improve the course experience for
students.
The first year tutor plays a pivotal role in supporting students who experience doubts. Having
an overview of all students in the cohort enables the first year tutor to track the progress of
students and flag up those who may be struggling, failing, not attending or not pulling their
weight in group tasks. Both the first year tutor and personal tutors ‘would bend over
backwards to help somebody stay’ and would talk to someone who is having doubts as part
of the personal tutor process. Staff signpost students to various support services, including
counselling for outside issues that are affecting their commitment to the course, and the
team are flexible in terms of taking action to help students manage situations, for example,
giving extensions or considering mitigating circumstances at Exam Boards.
To identify students at risk of withdrawing, attendance is monitored and registers are taken
at each session. The lecturers stated that although they cannot fail anyone for non-
attendance, it does help them to identify non-attendees so that they can talk to them, find
out why it is happening and implement appropriate support structures where necessary.
Whilst the course team respect that the students are ‘adult learners’, they feel strongly about
the students’ commitment to attending sessions. Attendance monitoring is not stipulated by
the GSCC and this is considered a weakness by some of the lecturers interviewed who
compared it to the nursing profession where student nurses must attend at least 80% of their
taught sessions. The importance of missing vital knowledge was highlighted:
It’s a bit like, you know, would you want a nurse giving you an injection if they missed that
part of their training?! It’s a bit like a social worker in a child protection unit [who has] been to
no lectures…your understanding is going to be limited.
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We had one student who didn’t attend any of the child protection lectures and I’m thinking
how can you become a social worker in a generic setting and not have attended child
protection?
However, despite the lack of attendance requirements from the GSCC, the social work team
have ensured that attendance and participation is part of the Intended Learning Objectives
for some units. In particular students have to attend communication workshops which are
assessed.
Whilst the social work course achieves high progression figures, it is interesting to note that
retaining all students is not the main priority due to the lecturers’ professional obligations.
Students must meet professional standards as well as academic standards and the course
team should not encourage students to stay who they feel are not fit for practice:
We wouldn’t encourage someone to stay that doesn’t want to stay and partly that’s because
we see ourselves as gate keepers to the profession as well… so it isn’t actually our aim to get
everyone that starts in the first year to qualification because [for] some of them it’s just not
right…[for] some people that leave it’s the right decision. Social work isn’t for them, or it’s not
for them now…so we’d actually support them in that decision and look at ways that whatever
they’ve done here isn’t wasted…because for some people it just isn’t right and…they don’t
know that until…they go out on placement.
Because it is also a professional qualification we won’t hope to keep people who we don’t see
as appropriate… sometimes we pick up real issues in terms of their placement ability, their
contact with service users.
Ultimately service users will be affected by the social workers who qualify from the course,
therefore the course team have a professional responsibility to ensure that students do not
continue down the social work route if, for whatever reason, they do not consider them to be
suitable.
Determination and internal factors
The course team claimed that they do not tend to get students who have doubts arising from
a lack of motivation. The students who enrol on the course want to become social workers
and have a very strong level of motivation to achieve that goal.
Future goals
Practice placements are the main way in which the course prepares students for their future
goal of becoming a social worker. In the first year, students engage in a twenty day
placement which is preceded by a unit that explores personal and professional development.
At the end of the first year, lecturers talk to the students about the 2nd
year placement
objectives and the staff ensure that students are kept well informed of the future of social
work, in particular changes to government policy that may affect the services that the
students will become a part of as social workers. Although most input on CVs and
preparation for interviews takes place in the final year of the course, the team do organise a
careers day during the first year where local employers are invited in to talk to the students,
such as senior managers, about the future of social work, what it’s going to be like for the
students and where they want to go next.
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Examples of practice and evaluation
Academic transition
• Induction activity – quiz about the course staff. A quiz with a prize where the students
have get to know the staff, for example, which member of staff rides a motorbike or
teaches the law unit.
• Induction activity – student ice breaker. A game where students answer a list of facts
about themselves and have to find others in the group who share the same detail, for
example, finding someone who has the same size feet as them and listing their
name.
• Induction activity – conversation exercise. Simply asking students to tell someone
about the most recent book they have read and to keep going around the room until
they have spoken to everyone in the group.
• Stepping Stones 2HE – poster presentation. Students are asked to gather
information on a particular topic prior to starting university. During induction week
students are asked to work in groups to prepare a poster on the topic that they will
present to the rest of the cohort.
• Incorporating a day off for students at the end of an intensive induction week so that
students can absorb information and avoid feeling overwhelmed. It also allows
students to engage in the Freshers Fair should they wish to get involved.
• Personal and Academic Development unit – a module which addresses the
development of academic skills for students such as referencing and academic
writing. Spread throughout the first year of the course.
• Learning to Learn week – an alternative approach to introducing academic skills to
students in one week at the start of the first year as opposed to looking at different
academic skills throughout the year.
• Formative assignment and feedback in the first few weeks of the term. The grade
does not count towards the student’s final degree but provides a safe opportunity to
produce a first piece of work at university level. Personal tutors go through feedback
with the students during a tutorial.
• Mentoring scheme for students who feel they are from a minority group, including
race, gender, disability and sexuality. The mentor provides an additional contact for
students to confide in who is external to the university and outside of the assessment
process.
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Choice of course
• Current students are involved on interview day to answer students’ questions and tell
them how it really is.
• Students are interviewed for the course so that the panel can gain a sense of
candidates’ personal values and how proactive they are as a learner. Candidates
must also have gained experience in a social care setting or have personal
experience of caring for someone.
Making taught sessions interesting
• Applying knowledge to real life social work cases in engaging ways – examining
newspaper reports and other media sources; inviting service users and carers in to
talk about their experience of working with social workers.
• Arranging visits to the courts to enhance learning about social work law.
Plans for improvement
• Staff plan to terminate placements quicker in future if they feel a student’s behaviour,
attitude or ability is not meeting the standards required by the course, GSCC and
service users.
• All students have an allocated personal tutor.
• Creating a first year tutor role – a member of staff who has an overview of all
students in the cohort and can help to detect students who may be struggling or at
risk of having doubts.
• Flexibility – starting most lectures at 10am to accommodate students with children or
who travel a long distance to university.
• Responding to student feedback from unit evaluations.
• Student mentors given to first year students (not PAL). The mentors are volunteers
from the second and third year.
• Group work encouraged during induction and throughout the course.
• Interaction between different year groups on the course – second years are invited to
talk to students at the end of the first year about what to expect when they start year
2. Final year students also meet second year students to answer questions about
year 3.
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• Providing a space for students on the course to socialise e.g. a common room.
• Becoming course rep or School rep may increase a student’s sense of belonging.
Life outside of studies
• If students experience problems outside of the course, for example, accommodation
or financial difficulties, students are directed to AskBU, the student’s union and
various other services in the university.
• Registers are used to monitor attendance at each session to help the lecturers
identify students who are not attending and implement support if necessary.
Future goals
• Organising a careers day and inviting local employers to talk to the students.
Summary
For the BA (Hons) Social Work course, the support, commitment and availability of staff is
considered key to student retention. With support in the form of personal tutors and a first
year tutor, students have a number of options for accessing support for both their academic
and pastoral needs. Much emphasis is placed on the development of peer support, and
interaction between different year groups is encouraged where possible. The strong group
bond that develops on the course increases the students’ sense of belonging and helps to
enhance the learning experience, as students feel comfortable sharing their views and
experiences with one another.
A rigorous selection process that allows the right students to be recruited to the course is
also believed to contribute to the number of students who progress to year 2. By interviewing
students to gain an understanding of their values and motivation as learners, it is hoped that
the course team can invest in students most suitable for becoming social workers. It was
interesting to note that retaining all students is not the main aim of the social work
programme – students have to meet professional standards as well academic standards and
should not be encouraged to stay if the lecturers feel are not fit for practice.
SECTION 3
Student View
This section presents the views obtained from first year students enrolled on BA (Hons)
Social Work for 09/10. A link to the online survey was given to students via an e-mail from
the first year tutor and 17 first year students completed the survey for the project (37%
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response rate). The two student reps for the course also encouraged their peers to
participate.
Students were asked to rate different aspects of their course using a Likert scale and a
number of qualitative questions were included on students’ feelings about their first year
experience. Following a summary of the survey results, practical examples that enhanced
the student experience are listed. Care needs to be taken when interpreting the results due
to the small sample size. Responses to the quantitative survey questions are as follows:
1. How interesting the students found their course
94.1% found the course interesting
5.9% found it moderately interesting
2. How valued the students feel by staff
64.7% of students felt valued
35.3% felt moderately valued by staff
3. Belonging – feeling part of the university
64.7% of students felt part of the university
35.3% did not feel part of the university
4. Friendliness of the students on their course
81.25% said the students were very friendly on their course
12.5% stated that students were moderately friendly
6.25% felt students on the course were not friendly
88.2% had made good friends on their course
11.8% had not made any good friends
5. Doubts in the first year
84.2% had never considered withdrawing in their first year
17.6% had considered leaving but decided to stay
0% had considered leaving and had not yet made up their mind whether to stay or go
6. Confidence in coping with their coursework
64.7% of students felt confident that they could cope with their coursework
35.3% felt moderately confident
0% did not feel confident at all
In comparison to when the students first started the course:
62.5% felt more confident now that they could cope with their coursework
31.3% felt about the same
6.3% felt less confident than they did at the start of the course
7. Differences between learning at university and previous learning
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76.5% of students understand how learning at university is different from their previous
learning
23.5% do not understand the differences
8. Future goals
100% of students said that the course is helping them to achieve their future goals
The analysis which follows is based on the students’ responses to the qualitative questions
in the survey and the points below are overall aspects of the course that the students liked
best:
• The curriculum subjects for the programme
• Group learning
• Lecturers’ teaching styles – staff who are passionate about their subject
• Support from personal tutors
• The practical element
• Not having exams
• Availability of extra resources
• The opportunity to talk to service users and carers
Academic transition
The majority of the students (76.5%) implied that they understand how learning at university
is different from their previous learning. They claimed that more independent learning and
research is required at university, subjects are looked at in more depth and a lot of reading
and research is required away from lectures. The students also found differences in planning
and structuring their writing for essays:
The whole atmosphere is different…there is a lot more responsibility on us and there are a lot
more expectations when it comes to the presentation of assignments.
Completing the first assignment in particular helped them to understand the differences
between learning at university and their previous learning which reflects the lecturers’ view
that the formative assignment set in the first few weeks of term is a valuable exercise for the
students. Those students who declared that they did not understand the differences did still
highlight that a lot of reading and reflecting is involved at university and that ‘you get out of
[the learning experience] what you put into it’.
All of the students reported that they feel confident in coping with their coursework, although
some felt less confident at the start of the course. Some found it overwhelming at the
beginning but got themselves back on track once they had settled into the course or learnt
how to manage their time. Support from tutors and help available on myBU was also highly
rated:
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This course has excellent tutors that will go extra miles to help us.
My course really encourages me to keep on trying to go through each level and give me lots
of support when I need it.
The students liked the fact that there are no exams on the course and felt more confident
about their ability when they passed assignments, achieved good marks and received
positive feedback from the lecturers. The following factors helped one student gain
confidence in coping with their coursework:
Completing several assignments and having positive feedback and encouragement about
how I am doing.
One student, however, suggested that the timing of coursework could be improved. The
student explained that six assignments were completed in the first term and less throughout
the rest of the year. They would prefer to have assignments spread over the whole year to
make settling into the course easier, ‘as starting university is a big thing in itself’.
All of the students find the subject interesting (94.1% very interesting and 5.9% moderately
interesting). They enjoy studying a variety of units, find the course curriculum thought
provoking and like the practical and theoretical mix. The students like the relevance of the
subjects to social work and relating content to real life cases. They especially valued the
opportunity to talk to people who use services and carers as part of the course:
The introduction of different perspectives on diversity, hearing direct observations from
service user and carers helps to make the theory real.
It is interesting meeting people from different backgrounds and in different services that all
apply to social work.
The respondents appreciate the diversity of the students in the group and the opportunities
this provides to learn from each other – ‘I learn about myself and others’.
In accordance with the staff perspective, students like to learn from teaching that is engaging
and they enjoy learning in different ways. Lectures that are interactive and visual make
teaching interesting for the students, as well as staff who are passionate about their subject:
The lecturers’ clear passion and commitment to the subject they are teaching is reflected in
their lectures.
I like the lectures – easy to learn from staff who are passionate about their subject.
This view supports the staff opinion that most lecturers on the course are passionate about
social work and express enthusiasm in their teaching. As well as commenting on teaching
style, the students also conveyed the usefulness of group discussions in lectures. The
following elements made the subject interesting for one student:
Group discussions, allowing sharing of different viewpoints and theories and the helpfulness
of understanding how that person has come to think the way they do, which will help in
understanding other people in our profession.
The availability of numerous extra resources, such as additional notes from lecturers and
database or agency information, also contributed to the learning experience for the students.
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All of the students feel valued by staff on the course who listen to any problems the students
may have, who are willing to help if possible, and who are approachable and understanding.
They like tutors who treat them with respect and recognise them as individuals:
We are treated as adults and also as colleagues. Students are not treated as a lesser but as
an equal.
It’s nice when lecturers know you personally by name.
They genuinely track and help us with our modules and progression.
In terms of communication, the students are kept up-to-date with information from staff and
acknowledged that they are always able to make contact with a member of staff if needed,
either by e-mail or in person. The availability of staff makes the students feel valued and the
support provided by the majority of personal tutors and lecturers was classed as excellent.
The students felt there were plenty of opportunities to make friends during induction,
including working in groups and ice-breaker activities to help them get to know each other:
Everybody is in the same boat and you already have a common interest. Group work in the
induction week helps and tutor groups also help.
Some students, however, found that friendship making was limited at the start due to the
structured nature of induction – ‘it all seemed quite forced’; ‘too artificial’. They would have
preferred to have been left to their own devices to talk to people during that week or one
student suggested ‘an arranged lunch’ as an alternative, informal way of getting to know
each other. Another suggestion was organising more course socials and even a day out
where the students and course tutors could bond, for example, a team building exercise.
Despite the students’ reservations about the ice-breaker tasks, however, they recognised
that they have developed into a close, supportive group which implies that the exercises
used by the course team have had the desired effect.
Opportunities to make friends after induction included activities in lectures, group work,
getting together over coffee/lunch, and social events. Group discussions also gave students
the ‘opportunity to gravitate towards those with similar views’:
I think there have been opportunities when we are placed in groups to work on presentations.
I think this is a good idea as if we were asked to choose we wouldn’t get to know other
people.
One student believed that the only opportunities for making friends after induction were
those arranged by the students themselves and not provided by the course. As noted by the
lecturers, the students have a strong group identity and arrange many social events
together, as opposed to participating in activities organised by the university.
As part of the social work programme review for the project, an additional question was
added to the online student survey. The lecturers interviewed for the programme review
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were interested in finding out whether the students felt like they belonged to the university as
a result of being based at a different campus. There was mixed opinion from the course
team about the engagement of students in university activities and a possible campus divide.
Six of the students surveyed (35.3%) did not feel part of the university and being located at
Lansdowne campus (not the main university campus), was the main factor causing them to
feel separated:
It is frustrating that having a split university between two campuses makes the smaller site
(Lansdowne) feel less important and part of the whole university - especially with all that is on
offer at Talbot Campus and the new and extensive facilities they have to offer.
I think that’s probably my own fault, just I don’t feel as though I am aware of things that go on
within the university, plus most of the stuff that does go on is on Talbot campus.
Due to being in Lansdowne I don’t feel within the uni spirit as we are not in the campus.
Other aspects contributing to feelings of not belonging included contact time (‘we have not
spent too much time at university’), not living locally, and being a mature student. One
student who did feel part of the university reflected ‘if I were not in halls this may not be the
case’. Another student who lacked a sense of belonging shared the following reasons:
Being a mature student, not living locally and not being on the main campus makes being
part of the university really difficult.
This provides an alternative perspective to one of the lecturer’s views that younger students
tend to feel more isolated on the course. For the younger students, a lack of previous
experience appears to generate feelings of isolation whereas the mature students feel more
isolated from the social university experience.
Those students who did feel part of the university believed that good communication has
helped. The students are kept up-to-date about what is happening at the university via myBU
and e-mails from the students’ union keep students informed of events. One respondent
remarked that such communication ‘makes us feel involved and aware of what is happening
at uni’. It was also clear from the survey that course socials make the students feel like they
belong and this connection appears to be stronger than the students’ connection to the
university:
I only feel part of the social work group.
This evidence also reflects the staff perception that the students have a stronger identity and
sense of belonging on the course than with the university.
Of the seventeen students who completed the survey, three students (17.6%) had
considered leaving but decided to stay. The main reasons causing these students to have
doubts were external to the course, for example, one student was considering a different
career as a child psychologist and another stated that they had considered leaving due to:
The amount of work and study combined with a very busy home life and the pressure it was
having on my life.
Aspects about the course that made the students stay were mainly focused on determination
and personal motivation. The students wanted to finish the course and gain a degree, with
one student expressing that their decision was influenced by ‘my belief in myself’. ‘Course
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mates’ and the subjects being studied also helped them overcome doubts. Outside of the
course, their family was the main factor that encouraged them to stay, as well as friends and
taking control of external commitments, such as getting more help to run the family home or
reducing their involvement in other commitments.
Future goals
100% of the students said that the course is helping them to achieve their future goals. This
reflects staff comments that those students who want to become social workers are highly
motivated and are certain that they want to follow that career path before accepting a place
at university. The course is helping their future by giving them access to a degree and
professional qualification, and empowering them with knowledge to achieve their goals:
I am starting to believe that I can become a social worker.
To understand myself better, to have an achievement and to become a social worker in a
field yet to be chosen.
By doing this course and understanding it, it will provide me with knowledge to become a
professional social worker. Social work is a rewarding and stable career and my future goal is
to have a rewarding stable job.
The students felt that the course was also helping their future goals by guiding them,
providing hands on learning, and assisting the development of invaluable social skills.
Practical examples that enhance the student experience
Academic transition
• Completing the first assignment for the course helped the students to understand the
differences between learning at university and previous learning. This may relate to
the formative piece of work set by the course team in the first few weeks of the term
which does not count towards the students’ final degree but provides a safe
opportunity for the students to submit a piece of work and receive constructive
feedback.
• Spreading assignments out over the year so that starting university and settling in is
made easier.
• Receiving constructive assignment feedback from lecturers.
• Relating course content to real life, including the opportunity to talk to service users
and carers about their experiences.
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• Interactive sessions with opportunities for group discussion.
• Students feel valued by staff who listen to them and respect them as individuals –
e.g. learning the names of students.
• Keeping students up-to-date with information via e-mail, myBU, course documents or
in person.
• Arranging more course socials for the students – e.g. an arranged lunch during
induction week to get to know other people.
• Organising a day out with students from the course and tutors e.g. a team building
exercise.
• Good communication from the university and student’s union of events helps
students to feel involved and aware of what’s happening.
• Some students feel separated from the university experience because they are
based on a different campus to where the student’s union is based. Could the
university make more links between its campuses?
• Some students who experienced doubts stayed at university due to the influence and
support of their friends. Opportunities for friendship development can therefore be
essential to retaining students.
Summary
Having engaging lecturers has enhanced the course experience for the students. The
students enjoy learning with lecturers who are passionate about their subject and who relate
theory to real life case studies. They have particularly valued hearing about the experiences
and views of people who use services and carers.
Students on the course appreciate the support available to them from personal tutors and
the effort made by staff to recognise them as individuals. Positive feedback on assignments
from lecturers has helped the students to gain confidence in their coursework and increase
their belief in themselves to achieve their goals.
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Whilst a minority of students disliked the ice breaker activities used, most students
acknowledged that they had made good friends on the course, particularly through
opportunities for group work. Although some students did not feel part of the university spirit
due to the campus location, the students appeared to develop a strong connection to their
cohort.
SECTION 4
Document analysis
For each programme reviewed as part of the HERE! project, a selection of course
documents were also analysed where possible to gain further understanding of how course
teams enhance the student experience. Particular attention was paid to language style and
clarity; the format of documents (online, CD Rom, hard copies); when documents are
distributed; and information content e.g. details of academic services, library support, IT
support.
Course marketing The course team participate in open days and have maintained a
one hour talk to prospective students/parents as opposed to half
an hour. Course expectations are made clear to students during
on both open days and as part of the interview process.
Pre-course
information
Students have access to Stepping Stones 2HE once they have
accepted their place on the social work programme. Students are
asked to prepare for a poster task that they will work on in groups
during freshers week.
Induction Looked at sample Social Work Freshers schedule used in 2008:
Monday – welcome to programme; ‘hopes and fears’, ‘being in a
student group’, orientation hunt and meet the team.
Tuesday – AskBU, admin matters, poster presentation planning,
library and IT, and question time.
Wednesday – enrolment, introduction to personal tutors, mentoring
scheme available, group tutorials and poster presentation
planning.
Thursday – poster presentations, formative assignment, choosing
course reps and evaluation of the week.
Friday – free day to engage in Freshers Fair
26

Course handbook Explains practice learning requirements throughout the course and
requirements for meeting the professional regulations of General
Social Care Council (GSCC). Same course handbook used for two
courses under the framework (social and community studies
framework) – BA (Hons) Social Work and BA (Hons) Community
Development. Explains personal tutor system and lists all staff
contacts for the team. Contains programme information, aims and
outcomes. Programme structure presented as table/diagram.
Assessment regulations included. ‘Whistle blowing’ policies and
procedures for students who encounter problems whilst on
practice. Section on student learning experience, academic
support and also student responsibilities e.g. having mobile
switched off in lectures, arriving on time for lectures. Section on
support offered by AskBU, also ALN support. Student rep system
explained. The handbook is given to students on a data stick.
First assignment
details/assignment
schedule
Not seen example assignment or assessment schedule. A
formative assignment is given to students in the first few weeks of
the term to support their academic transition. Written assignments
and presentations are used to assess students on the course – no
exams.
Other:
Practice Learning
Handbook for Level
C
Unit/Level C guide
Contains information about the readiness for practice and practice
learning units. Hard copy given to students and also online via
myBU. Includes dates for terms 2 and 3, such as lectures, skills
workshops, dates for shadowing/practice. References made to
GSCC requirements and National Occupational Standards for
Social Work that the students must meet. Bursaries from GSCC
for travel to placements explained. Refers to AskBU if need further
financial support/advice. Explains assessment process, group
presentation expected and practice log. Explains roles and
responsibilities of the students, community facilitator, personal
tutor and unit tutor throughout the practice placement. Appendices
include a statement of expectations about student social workers
from service users and carers, National Occupational Standards,
forms to be completed before and during placement.
Again, methods of support emphasised – personal tutors, mentors,
AskBU. Description of all 6 first year units including aims,
assessment and recommended reading/resources.
SECTION 5:
Overall summary and key conclusions
27

It is clear from this programme review that a number of factors are associated with the high
retention rates of the BA (Hons) Social Work course at BU and the positive first year student
experience. Good support mechanisms are in place, including personal tutors and the first
year tutor role, and students are directed to other services across the university, such as
AskBU, academic services and the School’s Student Support Tutor, where appropriate. The
development of peer support and interaction across different year groups of the course is
strongly encouraged and open days and student interviews are invested in by the team to
recruit the most suitable students to the course.
Similarities between the student and staff views occurred in relation to contact with lecturers.
Information is clearly communicated to the group via the course team or course
documentation, and an open door policy is appreciated by the students who feel able to
approach the lecturers with any difficulties. The students like the effort made by staff to get
to know them as individuals and report that they engage in learning more when they have
lecturers who are passionate about what they are teaching. The lecturers likewise
highlighted the importance of getting the right people to teach the students – those who
adopt an enthusiastic, interactive teaching style. Group work during induction week was
considered important by both students and staff as a good opportunity for making friends
and developing a group bond. Such relationship building was the main aim of the first week.
Where the student and staff perspectives tended to differ was in terms of feelings of
belonging to the university. There was mixed opinion from the lecturers as to whether the
campus location had an impact on the students’ sense of belonging. Whilst most students
felt part of the university, it was evident that the students’ connection with the course was
stronger than their connection to the institution. Whilst some lecturers believed younger
students were at risk of feeling isolated due to a lack of experience in comparison to older
people on the course, mature students revealed feelings of isolation in relation to the social
aspect of the university experience.
In the future, the course team’s main aim is to continue delivering a good service to students
amidst institutional change. The student experience remains at the top of the agenda for the
team and some staff express concerns about the tensions between engaging in research
and enterprise activities at the expense of their students. This commitment to put students at
the forefront has resulted in a positive evaluation of the course from its students who are
enjoying the experience offered to them.
28

The HERE Project: Strand 2
Research into programmes with better than peer rates of retention
Guide for staff participants
Research Purpose
The HERE project is a 3 year research project funded by
HEFCE/ PHF as part of the “What Works? Student Retention
& Success” programme of work. We are interested in
student retention, but unlike most studies we are primarily
investigating why students stay rather than why they leave.
The work has two strands: students with doubts who stay
and those actions programmes can take to better support
retention.
Our aim is to find out what works in your programme to
support retention and help first year students to stay at
university. We are primarily looking for good practice and,
whilst we will seek to be rigorous, we are looking for
examples of good practice, not flaws and weaknesses.
Research Design
The focus of our research is to find out what works best in
your programme to support retention. We have applied the
principles of the Appreciative Inquiry approach in order to
do this. Appreciative Inquiry “…focuses on identifying and
developing what works in an organisation rather than trying
to fix what doesn’t” (Dovestone and Keenaghan, 2006, p5).
We will ask you about what you do best in your programme
to support students to stay. We would then like to ask you
about specific areas that we have found (from our strand
one research) that appear to support retention.
Our strand one research collected feedback from just under
1,000 first year students between March & May 2009.
Approximately 1/3 had, at some point, doubted and
considered withdrawing from university. Importantly, the
reasons for doubting were not the same as the reasons that
doubters cited for remaining. For example, the most
common reason for doubting related to the course (poor
initial choice, dissatisfaction with some aspects of the
experience etc.), but the main reason that doubters cited
for subsequently remaining were associated with support
from friends and family (particularly friends made on the
course).
We have therefore structured the questions to reflect the
need to reduce activities likely to lead to doubting and also
to enhance those activities that support students who have
doubts.
29

What would we like to find out?
We would like to know what you do in your programme to
support students with retention.
We would like to find out what you actually do (rather than
what you would like to do or think would work given more
time/resources etc). Where possible we would like to
explore actual activities, examples and practices.
We would be particularly interested in exploring any
research or evaluation that you have carried out into your
own practice (formal and/or informal).
Anonymity
The information that we collect from you will be reported
anonymously. A programme, for example, may be referred
to as ‘a large programme within the School of Social
Sciences at Nottingham Trent University’. Individuals will
not be identifiable from the information reported. No
incentives will be offered to staff for participation in the
interview. Participants may withdraw from the project at
any time and ask for their data to be destroyed.
Data will be stored according to the Data Protection Act
1998. An audio recording of the interview will be made only
with permission. This will be stored safely and not made
available to those outside the project. Data will be kept for
six years after the end of the project in line with current
ethical guidelines. After this time, the data will be
destroyed.
Intended use of the research data
The data will be used to report on progress for the “What
Works? Student Retention & Success” programme of work.
A final report will be produced that makes recommendations
(based on evaluation and evidence from all projects within
the programme) about how best to support student
retention across the sector.
The data will also be used to produce academic articles and
conference presentations.
DOVESTON, Mary and KEENAGHAN, Marian, 2006.
Improving classroom dynamics to support students’ learning
and social inclusion: a collaborative approach. Support for
Learning, 21(1), pp.5-11.
30

Interview Structure
The structure below illustrates the areas that we would like to ask you about. We may prompt you for further
details, and are happy for you to give us additional information that you feel is relevant.
Questions
Background information about the programme
Can you give us some background information about your programme, common issues, types of students, its particular
challenges to retention etc.
What works?
What is it that your programme does now when it is at its best in terms of retaining students?
What is it about your programme that makes this possible?
31

33
Reducing leaving Increasing staying
COURSE RELATED
The most common reasons that students who answered our
questionnaire gave for having doubts about being at university
were course related, for example, wrong choice of course,
describing difficulties in making the academic transition to HE
and problems with the workload. Students who had had doubts
about being at university (doubters) were much less likely to
agree with the statement ‘I’m confident that I can cope with
my studies’ than non doubters.
Could you tell us what you do in your course that you think
helps students in these areas?
(Academic transition, coping with work, choice of course,
problems with the course).
SUPPORT FROM FRIENDS & PEERS
The most common reason that students gave for why they had
decided to stay (after having doubts) was because of ‘friends
and family’. Friends were mentioned most often, and students
often described friends they had made at university such as
‘seminar buddies’.
Can you tell us about the kinds of things that you do that help
students get to know each other?
RELATIONSHIP/COMMUNICATION WITH STAFF
Students that we spoke to in our qualitative research that had
not had doubts about being at university all described that they
had ‘someone they could talk to’ (be it a lecturer, personal
tutor, or so on) about their work if they needed to. Student
doubters were also much less likely to agree that they felt
valued by teaching staff.
Could you tell us about communication between staff and
students on your programme (such as written, online, informal
etc)?
LIFE OUTSIDE OF STUDY
The second and third most common reasons that students
gave for having doubts about their course were ‘student
lifestyle’ (which included problems with accommodation, with
other students such as flat mates, feeling unhappy with their
social life) and ‘financial problems’.
Could you tell us about how you have communicated to
students where to go if they had a problem with their finances,
accommodation, or problems with other students?
ADAPTING TO UNIVERSITY
In our focus groups, all students who had never had doubts
could describe a time when they felt they belonged to the
university, and this was often linked to recognizing faces, or
places. More of these students (non doubters) described taking
part of the social life of the university (student union, student
ambassador) than student doubters.
Can you tell us what you do to help students feel part of the
university?
ADAPTING TO THE COURSE
Students described adapting to the course, getting to know the
staff, starting to enjoy the subject and course as reasons for
staying after having doubts.
Can you talk about what you do to facilitate adapting to the
course?
STUDENTS MORE LIKELY TO DOUBT DETERMINATION AND INTERNAL FACTORS

Closing questions
Can you summarise why you think your retention rate is as good as it is and what it is you do best?
What have you plans to improve on?
It would be extremely beneficial if we were able to survey some of your students, may we do so?
As this is a pilot study for further research, could you also tell us if there any questions that we haven’t asked that
you think would be useful?
We are happy to share our findings with you. Is this something you are interested in? We could, for example,
facilitate a workshop about the project, forward presentations, academic articles etc.
Thank you very much for taking part in this research.
Contacts
NTU
Ed Foster ed.foster@ntu.ac.uk
Sarah Lawther sarah.lawther@ntu.ac.uk
Bournemouth
Chris Keenan ckeenan@bournemouth.ac.uk
Natalie Bates nbates@bournemouth.ac.uk
Bradford
34

Rebecca Currant R.Currant@Bradford.ac.uk
Ruth Lefever r.lefever@bradford.ac.uk
35

HERE! Project Case Study 3

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