Towards a Stronger
Partnership:
Working with
Students with BTEC
Entry Qualifications
in HE
Monica Fernandes and Dr. Jessica
Hancock
Background
• Retention and achievement at Brunel
- OFFA funding for ASK staff
• Need for student voice not assumptions
• Add qualitative data to quantitative
• Student experiences
• Recommendations for ASK and Brunel
Brunel University London
Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
Methods and sample
• Semi-structured interviews - £10 voucher
• Recruitment: internal advert, email to Headstart
participants
• 18 participants: 2 A-level (male), 16 BTEC (5 male, 11
female) – 13 of total BME
• Subjects – Bioscience, Broadcasting, Sociology and
Psychology, IT, Sports Science, Computing, Business,
Games Design, Law, Physiotherapy, Occupational
Therapy
• Thematic analysis
Brunel University London
Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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Questions asked –
semi-structured
• How has the work here differed from your BTEC?
• What were you confident about?
• How well do you feel you are doing?
• What have you found challenging?
• What support for your academic work are you aware
of at Brunel? And have used? And would want?
• What advice would you give to other BTEC students
starting at Brunel?
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Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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Results:
What students found challenging
in their first year in university
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Exams
Brunel University London
Independent Coursework
work
Referencing
Revision
Lecturer's
Time
expectations management
Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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What students were confident about
in their first year in university
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Subject
Exams
Assignments
Time management
Lectures and
seminars
What advice would these students give prospective students?
• Manage time well (44%)
• Do thorough research on the degrees and modules you want
to study (31%)
• Know what support services are available to students (25%)
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Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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Support services
What was used:
• 81% students went to their lecturers/ personal tutors as 1st point of
contact
• 75% of students went to the ASK team
• In the interviews students mentioned other services such as Careers
Centre, Disability and Dyslexia Service (DDS), Student Services and
Brunel Student Union.
Opinions about future support:
• 56% of the students wanted subject specific advisor as support
• 31% of students didn’t mind whether the advisor was in their subject
or not
• 13% of students believed an advisor from a central service would work
best for them
Brunel University London
Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
7
Independent learning
•
Computing: they told us it won’t be like college at all because it’ll be
more independent. … you need to know everything yourself.
•
Psychology & Sociology: I think everyone thinks because it’s uni
like, you should be able to do it by yourself.
•
Law: you just have to do it yourself whether you understand or
whether you don’t because they can’t explain it …. I struggled.
•
Games design: he left us to learn on our own.
•
Business: you feel like you’re kind of, um, bugging them when you
email them!
•
IT: since I come here no-one really, not even lecturers remember
your name. Or they’re not really bothered if you come to their lecture
or not.
•
Business: all the independent learning that you wouldn’t do in BTEC
because you have that support from your teachers.
Brunel University London
Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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Independent learning –
positives
• Sports: just like ‘come talk to me anytime that you want. I
don’t want you to be afraid’ and stuff like that.
• I’m not one of them really needy people that go to their
lecturers constantly but they kept reminding us.
• It’s just more, like, colloquial? Like, you can just, it’s just
more chilled out, they way that you learn. It’s more
independent.
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Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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Conclusion
• Run more exam and revision sessions as a central
service for the students and within schools
• Make students more aware of services such as ASK
available to them
• Working closer with departments and academic staff
• Working closer with other services such as the Union,
DDS, etc.
Brunel University London
Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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Contact details
Monica Fernandes, Academic Skills Advisor, Brunel
University London
•
[email protected]
Dr. Jessica Hancock, Learning Support Tutor,
University of Portsmouth
•
[email protected]
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Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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References
Clark, W., (2011) “Transitions in Action? Exploring Vocational Learner Progression into and out of
Higher Education”, Educational Developments, 12 (2), pp. 9-12.
Fisher, R., (2010) “The Golden Age of BTEC: The Business Education Curriculum in 1980s Further
Education”, The Curriculum Journal, 14 (2), pp. 253-277.
Hatt, S. and Baxter, A., (2003) “From FE to HE: Studies in Transition: A Comparison of Students
Entering Higher Education with Academic and Vocational Qualifications”, Widening Participation and
Lifelong Learning, 5 (2) pp. 18-29.
Hayward, G., (2008) “Degrees of Success: Learner’s Transition from Vocational Education and Training
to Higher Education”, Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Available at: www.tlrp.org
(Accessed: 3 April 2014).
Knox, H., (2005) “Making the Transition from Further to Higher Education: The Impact of a Preparatory
Module on Retention, Progression and Performance”, Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol. 29
(2) pp. 103-110.
London Economics., (2013) “The Outcomes Associated with the BTEC route of degree level acquisition:
A Report for Pearson”, London Economics, Available at: http://londoneconomics.co.uk/ (Accessed: 2
April 2014).
Ofori, R., (2000) “Age and ‘Type’ of Domain Specific Entry Qualifications as Predictors of Student
Nurses’ Performance in Biological, Social and Behavioural Studies in Nursing Assessments”, Nurse
Education Today, 20 (4), pp. 298-310.
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Towards a Stronger Partnership: Working with Students with BTEC Entry Qualifications in HE
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