Student Support in the Social Sciences
Higher education literature recognises the importance of the first year experience for student retention, and the need to understand how unsettling the transition from school to university can be. All universities support their students in the first year, however the support initiatives used differ between institutions.
This research aims to map the forms of support available nationally within the Social Sciences. We are interested in how the specific disciplines support learning and teaching amongst first year, full-time undergraduate student.
We hope that you can spare less than ten minutes to help us with this research by filling out this questionnaire. Please feel free to send any supporting, written documents that you feel might be useful for our research (but please indicate which university and discipline they relate to).
This questionnaire is intended for people responsible for first year students in the Social Sciences. If this is not you, please could forward this request to the appropriate people within your department/school/faculty.
Contextual Information
Q1
Which university do you work at?
Q2
Which discipline do you work within?
Sociology
Politics
Criminology
Anthropology
Social Policy
Cultural Studies
Other (please specify)
Q3
Do your students follow joint degree programmes with disciplines outside the department?
Yes
No
Q4
If yes, who is responsible for first year support?
Us
We share equally
The other department
Other (please specify)
Q5
Approximately how many students do you have?
Q6
Approximately how many staff teach first years?
Q7
Do you have named staff responsible for first years? If so, how many?
Pre-Course Support
Q8
What contact does your course team have with students prior to their arrival at university (please tick all that apply)
Send welcome letters
Initial meeting information (time, place, etc)
Send reading lists
Pre-session summer schools
Send module descriptions and course routes
Timetables
Other (please specify)
University-Wide Support
Q9
What university-wide formal structures does your course team promote to students? Please tick all that apply.
Introduction to student union
Multifaith chaplaincy
Education guidance (admissions, course choice, assessment
Careers and employment
Disabled student support
Student intranet
Counselling service
Introduction to central facilities (library, IT centre)
International student support
Learning support (study support)
Financial support
Don't know
Childcare
Other (please specify)
Discipline Specific Support
Q10
What discipline specific support does your course team provide? Please tick all that apply.
Introductory lectures (explaining course outline, timetabling, assessment)
Expectations sessions (highlighting differences between FE and HE)
Printed handbooks
Taster sessions before module choices are made
Discipline websites / resources
Second thoughts weeks / add-drop windows (for those who have made the wrong choice)
Tours of facilities
Don't know
Other (please specify)
Interpersonal Support
Q11
What support does your course team provide to foster interpersonal relationships? Please tick all that apply.
Personal Tutor
Peer mentoring and buddy schemes
Academic Tutor
Social events
Flexible delivery of support (via email or telephone)
Group-focussed activities (such as IBL)
Staff-Student mentoring schemes
Opportunities to meet students in years above
Learning sets / student support groups
Don't know
Other (please specify)
Learning and Teaching Support
Q12
What provision does your course team have to support learning and teaching within your discipline? Please tick all that apply.
Transition modules aiming to bridge the gap between FE and HE
Early assessment with feedback
Stand alone skills programmes (printed or web-based)
Revision sessions
Embedded skills programmes
Tracking to monitor progress
Additional study support drop in session (note taking, presentations)
Individual oral feedback sessions (following assessment)
Personal Development Planning
Group oral feedback sessions (following assessment)
Assessment schedules and guidelines (summary of hand in dates; formatting details)
Guidance on next semester's module choice
Specific subject help (for example, SPSS)
Don't know
Other (please specify)
Staff Support
Q13
What provisions are in place to support staff in supporting students? Please tick all that apply.
Staff discussion groups (email or virtual learning environment)
Self evaluation to improve practice
Staff workshops
Time in work plan devoted to student support
Share and discuss events (places to share good practice)
Don't know
Other (please specify)
Q14
Please use this space to provide any additional information you feel would be relevant to our research.
Q15
If you have any supplementary documentation that you think would be useful for us, please could you email it to k.smith@shu.ac.uk. Please input your email address, so that we can match the documentation with the questionnaire. Rest assured in the reporting of this research, you will retain your confidentiality
Thank you for your time.
Having mapped first year support in the Social Sciences, the second stage of our research is to produce anonymous vignettes to illustrate the different models of student support. In order to do this we would like to sample a number of different institutions to explore in more detail the support offered. If you would be happy to take part in an interview, please could you complete the contact details below:
Name
Institution
Telephone number
Email