Academic Support: How do students think about it? A study in a South African TVET College (MSc. Thesis) (original) (raw)
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Research in Comparative and International Education, 2019
This paper explores the argument that to widen participation in higher education, educational institutions should bear a greater responsibility for students’ learning. Central to this debate is the notion of ‘academic support’. There are many perspectives on what works to scaffold student participation and learning but rarely are the perspectives of those receiving support taken into account. This paper reports the findings of an exploratory ethnographic study in which students in a vocational college in South Africa reflected on the nature of academic support and access to it. Student narratives that underpin their understandings of how the support system ‘worked’, and what responsibilities they and the college respectively bore for their studies, are compared to the official prescript on student support services in South Africa – the so-called ‘Student Support Services Manual’ which was developed by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). The data ind...
The huge increase in students enrolling in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector and the huge budgetary allocation underscore the South African Government's commitment and recognition of the sector as critical to curbing the skills shortage in the country. Mojapelo and Faku (2020) assert that the post-apartheid South African government introduced TVET Colleges to complement universities to provide much-needed practical skills for youth employment, economic growth, and university education. In explaining, Mirabel, Diale, and Sewagegn (2022) postulate that the TVET sector in South Africa was meant to eradicate the cycle of poverty through employment creation among young adults. The TVET sector curriculum provides practical programs that wide career options and continuous learning among the youths (Mirabel et al., 2020). The Student Support Services Annual Plan illustrates the huge number of students enrolled at TVET colleges in South Africa, which shows that in 2018, TVET Colleges constituted a third of students enrolled in tertiary institutions. (Department of Higher Education, 2020). Tertiary institutions are bequeathed with the fundamental role of equipping the youth with the relevant skills and aptitudes (Santos, Marques, Justino, & Mendes, 2020). South Africa's TVET sector accommodates students from different backgrounds, and the students experience unique challenges that interfere with their integration process. Deluborn, Marongwe, and Buka (2020) acknowledge diversity among the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges (TVETs) population by asserting that students
Exploring how student support services address economic, cultural and political injustices
Open Learning as a Means of Advancing Social Justice: Cases in Post-School Education and Training in South Africa
South Africa’s legacy of unequal access to learning opportunities and the need to create a conducive technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector for a diversified student population has exposed a need for comprehensive learner support. The introduction by the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2017 of the Open Learning Policy Framework, which has an explicit social justice ambition, has recognized the salience of student support systems (SSS) at TVET colleges. However, the extent to which the current TVET student support models are designed to encompass open learning practices and the extent to which they are indeed socially just is not yet known. This chapter examines how SSS (as a means of enacting open learning principles) endeavour to create a socially just environment for students to have access to (pre-entry), progress through (on-course), and success (at exit) in a TVET college. The chapter employs Nancy Fraser’s (2005) theory of social justice, ...
This article explores the provision and effectiveness of student support in higher education through a review of literature and a case study of the support available to students in one English post‐1992 university. Our investigation focuses on students’ awareness and experience of both university‐wide student support and guidance services and the more localised departmental support provided by tutors and study skills advisors. Data were collected through focus groups and a follow‐up questionnaire to students and semi‐structured interviews with academic staff. The findings indicate low awareness and little take‐up of institutional support services and high take‐up and generally positive experiences of departmental support. However, within this generally positive trend, there is some variation in individual experiences of accessing and using departmental support. Suggestions for improving support stress that consistent and equitable support for all students should be equally available and accessible across all the campuses of a university
Reappraising learning support in higher education
Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 2004
With the increasing number of disabled students entering the higher education sector, much research work has focused on the support services arena and the elimination of barriers that the disabled students have encountered. While producing useful advice on meeting the needs of disabled students, this line of research has done little to locate disability issues within the mainstream learning and teaching debate. By adopting a socio-educational model of 'learning difficulty', the study upon which this article draws examined through a survey the issue of 'learning support' for the whole student population of one university. The survey employed the Learning for All Questionnaire (LfAQ), a newly developed instrument that aimed to operationalise a holistic view of learning support. The analysis of the collected data provided directions for developing university policies and practices through a significant reformulation of the existing support provision. The article concludes by exploring the concept of 'institutional habitus' as a tool for understanding institutional practices, and effecting change to enhance learning and promote inclusion. The implications of current funding arrangements (the Disabled Students' Allowance) for a mainstream model of learning support are also discussed.
2012
This study is an investigation into the scope, role, and function of student development and support (SDS) within higher education in South Africa. The underpinnings and frameworks of SDS were explored during the research, as well as its integration into the institution and into organisational structures, the relationship between SDS and the policies of the Department of Higher Education and Training, and the influences from the national and international context of SDS. Policies emerging from the Department of Higher Education and Training heralded dramatic changes after the first democratically elected government in South Africa. The changes were amplified by the shifts in the international context of global explosion of knowledge production and neo-liberal influences on higher education in general and SDS in particular. The higher education system in South Africa has changed from an elite system to broad “massification”, which addresses issues of equity, access, participation and...
Student Support Services in Higher Education: A Student Perspective
International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2016
Various policies have been framed from time to time to uplift the quality of higher education. But policy makers usually miss the key element of higher education that is students. Giving support to students including social and emotional support along with academic support brings awareness in students and can help a lot in enhancing the quality of higher education. The present study has been conducted to evaluate the student support services provided by authorities for improvement in individual as well as in improving the functioning of the institution. Majority of the students were not satisfied with the support system provided to them in higher education institutions. Students demanded regular revision in the curriculum according to the changing needs of the society, preferred knowledge with skills, addition of books in library and good support system for disabled students.
Student Support in Higher Education
International Journal of Technology and Educational Marketing, 2013
Today every country is striving to enhance higher education qualitatively and quantitatively, because the economy of any country is directly influenced by the “intellectual capital” of that country. An important factor affecting the quality and quantity of higher education is the support that an institution provides to its students. The present study is an attempt to find the achievements of as well as challenges to the student support services in higher education institutions [HEIs] of developing countries with particular example of those in Pakistan. Employing the Delphi technique, the study explored the (a) achievements, (b) the problems and issues, and (c) means to address problems and issues in the student support services in HEIs of Pakistan. It was found that the HEIs in Pakistan were facing many challenges as the achievements were less than the requirement. Allocation of proper resources and restructuring the system of support are the most important means to address the chal...
Student Support in Higher Education: Understandings, Implications and Challenges
Higher Education Quarterly, 2009
This paper attempts to offer a critical examination of the notion of student support in higher education in the UK. It compares some of the key ways in which student support is understood across the sector and contrasts a humanistic view with understandings driven more by instrumental and therapeutic concerns. The possible risks and effects that could be associated with these differing understandings are also examined. Against this background, consideration is additionally afforded to international students studying at UK universities. Finally, the paper identifies a number of questions worthy of institutional consideration.
Student Support in Higher Education: Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead
Today every country is striving to enhance higher education qualitatively and quantitatively, because the economy of any country is directly influenced by the “intellectual capital” of that country. An important factor affecting the quality and quantity of higher education is the support that an institution provides to its students. The present study is an attempt to find the achievements of as well as challenges to the student support services in higher education institutions [HEIs] of developing countries with particular example of those in Pakistan. Employing the Delphi technique, the study explored the (a) achievements, (b) the problems and issues, and (c) means to address problems and issues in the student support services in HEIs of Pakistan? It was found that the HEIs in Pakistan were facing many challenges as the achievements were less than requirement. Allocation of proper resources and restructuring the system of support are the most important means to address the challenges.