Student Withdrawal, Retention and Their Sense of Belonging; Their Experience in Their Words

Year 2019, , 494 - 525, 25.12.2019

Lisa Russell Christine Jarvis

https://doi.org/10.30828/real/2019.3.3

Cited By: 12

Abstract

Student withdrawal has received increased attention in the context of an expanding and more diverse Higher Education (HE) student population. Students leave University for interconnected, multiple reasons. Some explanations are internal to the University and may include support mechanisms, assessment feedback and quality of teaching and others are external, comprising critical life moments such as bereavement, ill health, financial constraint and domestic responsibilities. It is the complex interaction of these factors that shape students’ ‘sense of belonging’ and identification and experience with a Higher Education learner identity. This article provides insight into the students’ experiences of non-continuation in one English University. Wenger’s social theory of learning is applied to explore students’ perceptions and gain a qualitative understanding regarding their experiences. Student withdrawal involves negotiation between the student and the University and relates to how the student experiences a ‘sense of belonging’ to University.

Keywords

Withdrawal, Higher Education, Retention, Sense of Belonging

References

• Ainscow, M. & Sandill, A. (2010). Developing inclusive education systems: the role of organisational cultures and leadership. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14 (4), 401-416. Beder, S. (1997). Addressing the issues of social and academic integration for first year students: a discussion paper, (Melbourne, UltiBASE, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3 (2), 77-101. Chambers, G. N., Hobson, A. J., & Tracey, L. (2010). ‘Teaching could be a fantastic job but …’: three stories of student teacher withdrawal from initial teacher preparation programmes in England. Teachers and Teaching, 16 (1), 111-129. Christie, H., Munro, M., & Fisher, T. (2004). Leaving university early: Exploring the differences between continuing and non-continuing students. Studies in Higher Education, 29 (5), 617–36. Delvin, M. (2013). Effective University Leadership and Management of Learning and Teaching in a Widening Participation Context: Findings from two national Australian studies. Tertiary Education and Management, 19 (3), 233-245. Dolhinow, R. (2017). Activism on the corporate campus: it just doesn’t have that you know what anymore. Australian Universities Review, 59 (2), 14–22. Gair, S., & Baglow, L. (2018). Social justice in a tertiary education context: Do we practice what we preach? Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 13 (3), 207–216. Gavin, R. B., (2012). An exploration of potential factors affecting student withdrawal from an undergraduate music education program. Journal of Research in Music Education, 60 (3), 310-323. Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for Music Education. Hamshire, C., Willgoss, T. G., Wibberley, C. (2013). ‘Should I stay or should I go? A study exploring why healthcare students consider leaving their programme’. Nurse Education Today, 33 (8), 889–895. Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of school membership among adolescents: scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, 30, 79-90. Hagerty, M. K., Lynch-Saur, J. Patusky, K. L., Bouwema, M. & Collier, P. (1992). Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 6 (3), 172-177. Hamshire, C. Willgoss, T. G., Wibberley, C. (2013). ‘Should I stay or should I go? A study exploring why healthcare students consider leaving their programme’. Nurse Education Today, 33(8), 889–895. Hausmann, L. R. M., Schofield, J. W., & Woods, R. L. (2007). Sense of belonging as a predictor of intentions to persist among African American and White first-year college students. Research in Higher Education, 48 (7), 803-839. Hurtado, S. & Carter, D. F. (1997). Effects of college transition and perceptions of the campus racial climate on Latino college students’ sense of belonging. Sociology of Education, 70 (5), 324-345. Johnson, D. R., Soldner, M. Brown Leonard, J. Alvarez, P. Kurotsuchi Inkelas, K. Rowan-Kenyon, H. & Longerbeam, S. (2007). Examining sense of belonging among first – year undergraduates from different racial/ethnic groups. Journal of College Student Development, 48 (5), 525-542. Joyce, P. & O’Boyle, C. (2013). Sustaining academic leadership in higher education. In: O’Farrell C & Farrell A (Eds), Emerging issues in higher education, 69-81. Kane, S. Chalcraft, D. & Volpe, G. (2014). Notions of belonging: first year, first semester higher education students enrolled on business or economics degree programmes. The International Journal of Management Education, 12, 193-201. Masika, R. & Jones, J. (2016). Building student belonging and engagement: insights into higher education students’ experiences of participating and learning together. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(2), 138-150. Maslow, A. H. (1954). Personality and motivation. New York: NY: Harper. Marieke, M. Severiens, S. E., & Born, M. Ph. (2010). Learning Environment, Interaction, Sense of Belonging and Study Success in Ethnically Diverse Student Groups. Research in Higher Education, 51, 528-545. McGivney, V. (1996). Staying or leaving the course. Adults Learning, 7 (6), 133-135. Meeuwisse, M., Severiens, S. E., Born, M. (2010). Learning Environment, Interaction, Sense of Belonging and Study Success in Ethnically Diverse Student Groups. Research Higher Education, 51, 528-545. Merrill, B. (2015). Determined to stay or determined to leave? A tale of learner identities, biographies and adult students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 40 (10), 1859-1871. Michalski, G. V. (2014). In Their Own Words: A Text Analytics Investigation of College Course Attrition. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 38 (9), 811-826. Ozga, J. & Sukhnandan, L. (1998). Undergraduate non-completion: developing an explanatory model. Higher Education Quarterly, 52 (3), 316-333. Reid, B., Archer, L. & Leathwood, C. (2003). Challenging cultures? Student Conceptions of ‘Belonging’ and ‘Isolation’ at a Post-1992 University. Studies in Higher Education, 28 (3), 261-277. Roberts, D. (2012). Modelling withdrawal and persistence for initial teacher training: revising Tinto’s Longitudinal Model of Departure. British Educational Research Journal, 38 (6), 953–975. Rose-Adams, J. (2013). Leaving university early: Exploring relationships between institution type and student withdrawal and implications for social mobility. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 15 (2), 96-111. Rowley, J. (2003). Retention, rhetoric or realistic agendas for the future of higher education. International Journal of Educational Management, 17 (6), 248-253. Ryan, J. (2006). Inclusive Leadership and Social Justice for Schools. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 5 (1), 3-17. Shapiro, J. P., & Gross, S, J. (2013). Ethical Educational Leadership in Turbulent Times: (re)solving Moral Dilemmas. New York, Routledge. Simpson, O. (2005). The costs and benefits of student retention for students, institutions and governments. Studies in Learning, Evaluation Innovation and Development, 2 (3), 34-43. Smith, B. L., MacGregor, J., Mathews, R. & Gabelnick, F. (2004). Learning Communities: Reforming Undergraduate Education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Strayhorn, T. L., (2012). College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A Key to Educational Success for All Students. London: Routledge. Tao, S. Dong, Q. Pratt, M. Hunsberger, B. & Pancer, S. (2000). Social support: relations to coping and adjustment during the transition to university in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15 (1), 123-144. Thomas, L. (2002). Student retention in higher education: the role of institutional habitus. Journal of Educational Policy, 17 (4), 423-442. Thomas, L. (2012). Building student engagement and belonging in higher education at a time of change. London: Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45 (1), 89-125. Tinto, V. (1987). Rethinking college: The causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college. Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd Ed.). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities. Taking research on student persistence seriously. The Review of Higher Education, 68 (6), 599-623. Tinto, V. (1998). Colleges as communities. Taking research on student persistence seriously. The Review of Higher Education, 21 (2), 167-177. Tinto, V. (2002). Establishing conditions for student success, paper presented at the 11th Annual Conference of the European Access Network, Monash University, Prato, Italy, June 20. Available online at http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ean/wpm$5del.pdf Trowler, V. (2010). Student engagement literature review. York: Higher Education Academy. Walker, S., McKenna, D., Abdirahman Abdillahi, A. & Molesworth, C. (2017). Examining predictors of retention with implications of TESTA@Greenwich. Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 3(1), 122-134. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: learning, Meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Wenger, E. (2009). “A social theory of learning” In Contemporary Theories of learning: Learning Theorists…In Their Own Words. In K. Illeris (Eds.), (pp.209-218). Abingdon and New York: Routledge. Wilcox, P., Winn, S. & Fyvie-Gauld, M. (2005). ‘It was nothing to do with the university, it was just the people’: the role of social support in the first-year experience of higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 30 (6), 707-722. Withey, L., Fox, C. L. & Hartley, J. (2014). ‘I cannot mess this up anymore': The experiences of undergraduates who withdraw and start again elsewhere. Psychology Teaching Review, 20 (1), 78-89. Wray, J., Aspland, J. & Barrett, D. (2014). Choosing to stay: looking at retention from a different perspective. Studies in Higher Education, 39 (9), 1700-1714. Young, P., Glogowska, M. & Lockyer, L. (2007). Conceptions of early leaving: a comparison of the views of teaching staff and students. Active Learning in Higher Education, 8 (3), 275–287. Yorke, M. & Longden, B. (2008). The first year experience of higher education in the UK. The Higher Education Academy Report.