Dispositions to Stay and to Succeed in Higher Education

Exploring Relationships for Success.

Jamie Thompson. Northumbria University

Dispositions to Stay and to Succeed(HEFCE / Paul Hamlyn)

• Partnership with Bedfordshire and Manchester

• Retention / Success : the seven ELLI dimensions of learning power

• Ambiguous results re. retention• Small significant relationship between first

year marks and two dimensions: Critical Curiosity and Meaning Making

Seven Dimensions of Learning Power (ELLI)

• Changing and learning• Meaning making• Critical curiosity• Creativity

• Learning relationships• Strategic awareness• Resilience

Being stuck & staticData accumulationPassivityBeing rule bound

Isolation & dependence

Being roboticFragility anddependence

Learning Relationships

• Qualitative theme pursued• Relationships between students• Relationships between students and staff• Perceived importance re. academic success

and student satisfaction

• Not new – but LOUD!

Self Authorship(Baxter Magolda)

• Authority free – taking responsibility and control for your life.

• Sometimes not achieved – routinely not achieved until late twenties.

• Can this process be made more successful, can it be accelerated in HE?

Model of Confidence and Competence

Self Authorship

contingentActionAction contingentCollaborationCollaboration RelationshipsRelationships

What is success in HE?

• As professionals what do we want for our students?

• As a sector what would we want to claim for the HE experience?

• What are successful outcomes in students’ terms?

Learning Relationships in HE

• How good are we at supporting and delivering learning relationships in HE?

• How do we currently do it well?

• How could we do it better?

(Learning Relationships checklist)

References• Baxter Magolda, M. B. (1999). Creating contexts for learning and self-authorship:

constructive-developmental pedagogy (1st ed.). Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press.

• Deakin Crick, R., Broadfoot, P., Claxton, G. (2004), Developing an Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory: the ELLI Project, Assessment in Education, 11 (3), pp. 247-270.

• Thompson J. et al (2011) ‘ ... they will look after their cognitive needs for themselves’: Understanding the importance of relationships in Higher Education. ELSIN Conference Proceedings, Antwerp, Belgium.

• Williamson K., Coughlin A., Small T. and Thompson J. (2012) My Learning Power: Using ELLI in Higher Education. Northumbria University.

• Thompson J. (2012) A Manifesto for Change in Higher Education in the UK. Northumbria University.

• Harding J. and Thompson J. (2012) Dispositions to Stay and to Succeed: Final report of the ‘What Works’ research project. Northumbria University

• Gower L. and Thompson J. (2102) A Good Practice Guide to Learning Relationships in Higher Education. Northumbria University