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