1. BTEC students’ experiences of the
college-university transition: challenges
and potential for supporting success in
Higher Education
Dan Herbert, Rob Fleming and Rebecca Morris
2. The Transforming Transitions project
Funded by HEFCE as part of their Catalyst Fund.
Focuses on the educational trajectories of BTEC
students entering HE.
Subject areas: Business, Computer Science and
Sport Science
Involves four universities (Birmingham,
Loughborough, Exeter and QMUL) and four
partner FE colleges.
Aim is to develop and evaluate a suite of
evidence-informed interventions to support
students.
3. Our presentation today
Will focus predominantly on Phase 1 of the
project
Involved conducting interviews with FE and
HE students and staff across the partner
institutions
Findings from this part of the study have
informed: the planning of interventions; the
theory of change frameworks; and the
evaluations
4. Research context: the evidence on
BTEC students in HE
BTEC students are academically less successful
than students who enter with traditional A Level
qualifications (Banerjee et al., 2017; Holroyd, 2017).
They are also more likely to drop-out before
completing their first year of study.
In 2017, 26% of university applicants had studied at
least one BTEC (Gicheva and Petrie, 2017)
BTEC students are more likely to be from
socioeconomically disadvantaged and/or ethnic
minority backgrounds, and live in areas with lower
HE participation rates.
5. Using Theory of Change as a framework
for evaluation
Theory of Change is essentially a
comprehensive description and illustration
of how and why a desired change is
expected to happen in a particular context.
It is focused in particular on mapping out or
“filling in” what has been described as the
“missing middle” between what a program
or change initiative does (its activities or
interventions) and how these lead to
desired goals being achieved.
http://www.theoryofchange.org
6. Our implementation
Outcomes: reduce differential outcomes for
students
Interventions:
– Developed after evidence gathering
– Design based on evidence and logic
models
– Now in place
– Evaluation of first implementation starting
7. Phase 1: Students’ experiences
One-to-one interviews and focus groups
Spoke to 64 first year HE students and
second year FE students
Majority were BTEC students but we also
spoke to some A Level/IB students to provide
some comparison
19 HE/FE lecturers and tutors were also
interviewed
8. Interviews covered the following
topics and themes:
Entry experiences
Curriculum
Ways of learning
Assessment practices
Experiences of literacy, numeracy and
transferable skills
Relationship and social experiences
Advice to incoming first year students (for HE
students)
9. Key findings
Academic under preparedness. Some aspects of academic
literacy and, for BTEC students, was sometimes linked to
aspects of subject knowledge too (e.g. economics,
chemistry).
Those not studied mathematics post-16 reported struggling
with maths elements of their first year course.
Awareness of both the academic and pastoral support
mechanisms available to them. Despite knowledge and
information about these, many opted not to access this
support.
10. Key findings
Variation in assessment preferences and feelings of
preparedness depending on prior qualification. BTEC
students reported preferences for essays and coursework-
based approaches; they felt less prepared for exams than
their A Level peers. Feedback was a recurring issue.
Some felt that their prior qualifications prepared them well to
be independent learners. Others reported challenges in
relation to this and commented that they would have valued
support during the transition phase
11. Logic Models
Improve
regularity,
monitoring and
quality of
personal/
academic tutoring
Students feel
better
supported and
able to identify
academic
and/or
wellbeing needs
Happier, more
confident students
gain better degree
awards
Reduced
differentials in
student retention
rates and degree
outcomes
Student
performance
improves
within
modules
Students
engage with
academic
and/or
wellbeing
support
12. Developing the interventions
As a response to the initial literature review
and the Phase 1 interview findings, the
interventions in the following areas were
devised:
– Maths support
– Academic tutor support
– Online preparation module
– Academic literacy and assessment support
– Generic feedback
13. University interventions
MyMaths in year one targeted through assessment of
students struggling on the course. Impact so far suggests
that this software can be beneficial but it is very difficult to
encourage the right people to use it.
Evolving into using ALEKS from McGraw Hill next year. The
plan will be to plant this into the programme early on in the
first term so that it becomes a part of the course rather than
additional help. Weaker students can then be targeted at a
later date .
14. How does the intervention address barriers
to student success?
Previously maths has been a significant issue that has
limited success especially for BTEC students who might
not have done any maths for over two years.
The intervention recognises the issue and provides a
resource that improves the opportunities for success
it does however rely on students recognising that an
issue exists.
15. Do collaborations hinder or help the learning
process for BTEC students?
BTEC Business students do struggle with the
maths module. This intervention attempts to
address the issue and provide a possible solution.
The expectation is that this will help but the extent
of that is unknown at present and we are trying to
develop an improved strategy next year. (ALEKS)
17. Thanks for listening!
Any comments and questions very welcome.
Please do get in touch if you’d like to know
more: r.morris.2@bham.ac.uk
Or
d.herbert@bham.ac.uk
Or
r.fleming@bham.ac.uk
