Negotiating entry into
communities of practice:
EDP students’ perceptions of
their FYE
Susan van Schalkwyk
FYE Conference, Hawaii
July 2007
Our Red Square!
Today’s focus
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Setting the backdrop
The First-year Academy
“Under-prepared” students
Extended Degree Programmes
The study
The perceptions, stories, results
Negotiating boundaries?
Your thoughts and questions
1.
Setting the backdrop
 The South African scenario
 Stellenbosch University
 First-year student profile
1.1 The South African scenario
 A historical perspective
The rainbow nation
 The ‘Big Three’
 The Size and Shape of Higher Education in SA
 The NCS and the RNCS

 Inflation of Grade 12 results
 Impact of these results on Higher Education

First-year retention rates
 Expectations for 2009
1.2 Stellenbosch University
 Research-based university
 22 569 students (2006)
Undergraduate: 15 149
 Postgraduate: 7 420

 770 academic staff
 Ten faculties (colleges/schools)/ four campuses
 University town

Almost 50% of first-years in residence
 A multilingual imperative
1.3a First-year student profile
 Approximately 62% of first-year students are
Afrikaans-speaking; 33% English; 5% other
official SA languages
 Approximately 80% white students (at
postgraduate level 58% white students)
 8.2% of entering students obtained less than
60% in their Grade 12 examinations
1.3b First-year student profile
1.3c First-year student profile
2.1 The First-year Academy
 a comprehensive University initiative
 that focuses on improving the success rate of
first-year students (and improving learning!),
 by implementing or facilitating a variety of
research actions, programmes and projects,
 through the alignment of faculty, student
affairs and academic support staff activities,
 within an integrated structure.
2.2 The First-year Academy (FYA)
The FYA
Early
Assessment
Dealing with
Top students
Tracking and
monitoring
Research
Faculty
structures
Professional
development
Curriculum
renewal
Res Ed
Extended
Programmes
Dealing with
Top students
3. ‘Under-prepared’ students
 Understanding under-preparedness – much
more than just the outcome of school
 The role of academic development in SA –
promoting equity of access and of outcomes
 Impact of targeted government funding
 The need for acquiring academic literacy
 Establishing socially meaningful literacy
activities
 Creating spaces for epistemological
access
4. The Extended Degree Programme
 Point of departure:
 that educationally disadvantaged students,
however talented, are under-prepared for
traditional higher education,
 that these students need more, and/or
different post-school provision if they are to
realise their potential (Scott 2001).
 3yr programme spread over 4yrs
 1st year extended over 2 years
 Semi-integrated approach (Warren 2002)
5. The Study
 Tracks 54 EDP students through the first year
 Part of a larger PhD project that has been
investigating the acquisition of academic
literacy among under-prepared students at a
multilingual university
 Rationale for the study: unique context at SU
 Objective:


to contribute to the current body of research against the
background of ever-changing realities
Provide additional insights in developing teaching
strategies and curricula for future first-year cohorts
5.1 The Study – research design
 Interpretive qualitative study (quantitative data used for
triangulation)
 Pilot study conducted in 2005 (preliminary semistructured interviews with first-year lecturers; 5 focus
groups with students)
 Case study – 2006 intake
 Data sources:



pre-enrolment data (Gr 12 results, access tests, academic
literacy test results; Alpha Baseline Questionnaire);
Semi-structured interviews with 8 students and 6 first-year
lecturers; class observations;
document analysis (reflective paragraphs written
during first weeks; year-end written assignments)
5.2 The Study – EDP students
 Students who have achieved minimum entry
requirements in Faculty of Arts & Soc Sc
 Compulsory registration
 First year:
Two mainstream modules
 Texts in the Humanities (focus on academic
literacy acquisition)
 Computer Skills
 Language module (in a second language)

We can’t second guess where our
students are coming from or what
their experiences are
Land, et. al. 2005.
6.1 The students - entry data
 45 (83%) of the students obtained less than
57% in Grade 12
 28 black students / 26 white students
 28 Afrikaans-speaking / 18 English-speaking
 19 (35%) of the black students receive some
form of financial support (ex-university or via
government bursary/loan scheme)
 44 of the students were school-leavers the
previous year
6.2 The students - perceptions
 Alpha Baseline Questionnaire (n = 33)






67% felt that Gr 12 examinations had been only
averagely challenging (or hardly challenging at all)
90% either occasionally or frequently felt overwhelmed
by all they had to do
90% felt that they would successfully complete their
studies
90% rated themselves as average or above average
with regards to academic ability
89% felt their written communication was average or
above average
85% felt they could get 60%+ for their subjects
6.3a The students – their stories
Interview transcriptions - Expectations
 he could have elaborated more … he could
have given more prescriptions
 I want to see where I can improve
 we speak in each class … you can’t get the
class without saying the words … which is good
 I don’t like it when a lecturer stands in front and
just reads out of a book. Stands, reads from a
book and now and then includes a PowerPoint
slide. I can do that on my own. I want to …
have what is written there, coloured in
6.3b The students – their stories
Interview transcriptions – Challenges
 it’s a little bit difficult…especially when it comes
to academics… I’m still struggling a little bit to
get used to the modern things like computers
 I have to change totally the way I was doing
things in school … I have to change to a
university
 at school they focus on the individuals
 we don’t know about each other, if we did, we
might understand one another’s work better
6.3c The students – their stories
Interview transcriptions – academic writing
 I am not academic enough … its that
academic language … I don’t write
academically
 after submitting your first draft you soon
realize that you have to make a major change
in your writing style
 we mustn’t put our opinions (sic) … you
mustn’t say, you mustn’t judge
6.4 The students – their results
 3 students dropped out (4 dropped out straight after
registration and were not taken into account in the 54
that comprised the study)
 Only one student ended 2006 with a weighted average
of above 60%
 42 obtained sufficient credits to proceed to the next
year – 40 registered again in 2007 (retention rate =
74%; average for entire BA first-year cohort = 85%)
 Weighted average for the group = 39.8% (average for
entire BA first-year cohort = 48.7%)
7.1 Negotiating entry?
When students enter university they gain the ability to
participate in prestigious and powerful knowledge
communities which gives them intellectual and social
power.
(Northedge, 2003: 22)
But …
Few seem to recognise the problem (student’s
perceived ‘inability’) for what it is – an unsteady
transition between cultures … trying to fathom what
constitutes acceptable behaviour in a new cultural
context where the ‘deep’ rules are rarely made explicit.
(Ballard & Clanchy, 1988:13)
7.2 Negotiating entry?
Understanding the enterprise well enough to be able to
contribute to it … being able to engage with the
community and be trusted as a partner … to have
access to [a shared] repertoire and be able to use it
appropriately
Wenger 2000
Deep learning … takes effort and time and requires an
agentic motivation to learn, grounded in the view that
such learning has a purpose. But this learning
disposition, … , turns on a confident sense of self, … , a
secure identity as a capable learner.
Walker 2006
7.3 Negotiating entry?
The transformational nature (potential) of
academic literacy lies in students realising …
That it is possible to challenge the prevailing
discourse and to contribute to the
reconstruction of academic discourse so as to
contribute to the emancipation of all students,
irrespective of language or culture
Johl 2002
[translated from Afrikaans]
Your thoughts and questions
If South Africa is to create a more
equal society, the crucial issue is not
of granting formal access to the
institution, but rather of granting
epistemological access to the
processes of knowledge construction
which sustain it.
Boughey, 2002
Susan van Schalkwyk
Senior Advisor
Coordinator First-year Academy
[email protected]