Centre for Lifelong Learning
University of Durham, Stockton Campus
University Boulevard, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland TS17 6BH, UK
c.a.wesson@durham.ac.uk
Mature and non-traditional entry students are comprising greater numbers of degree-level students. Many of these students are gaining entry into higher education via Access courses, where they go on to achieve at a comparable level with traditional entry students (Richardson, 1994a; Osborne et al., 1997). The term confidence is used widely in respect of non-traditional entry students, usually in terms of their low confidence in relation to achievement and the need for Access courses to build confidence in such students. Dispositional factors, such as low self-confidence, are powerful deterrents to participation in post-compulsory education; their impact may well be underestimated (McGivney, 1996). There is evidence that low self-confidence is a considerable barrier to choosing Science Access courses in particular (Holmes, 1996).
This paper summarises research exercises carried out with the intention of investigating:
· barriers to learning Science
· the level of confidence of non-traditional entry students
· assessing whether confidence increased during their study on a Science Access course in a University environment
· possible reasons for low confidence in mature learners
University of Durham, Stockton Campus (UDSC) is a new college of the University of Durham, located 20 miles from the main campus of Durham in the market town of Stockton-on-Tees. The college opened its doors to its first intake of undergraduate students in 1991, concentrating on degrees in Environmental Sciences, Human Sciences and European Studies. Stockton-on-Tees remains an area of high unemployment - approximately 9% in the borough of Stockton and slightly higher, at about 11% in the adjacent boroughs of Middlesbrough and Redcar. The area also experiences high levels of economic deprivation with a low uptake of higher education.
The Department of Continuing Education re-located to the new college in 1992, since when it has developed an innovative programme to encourage and support students who previously have no experience of study in Science. From the outset it was recognised that there was a need to concentrate efforts in the direction of widening access to the Science degree programmes for local and specifically, local and mature students. The courses on offer inevitably concentrate on building confidence and expectations of progression.
Barriers to learning Science.
The Participants
An initial questionnaire was designed and circulated to the 3 consecutive year cohorts of Science Access students at UDSC, from the initiation of the programme in 1993. A total initial population of 45 students, who had completed the course, were sent questionnaires, the rate of return is currently 57%, which meets one of the stated success criteria of the project. Three questionnaires did not reach their destinations and were returned. All students who have returned the questionnaire have indicated that they wish to remain within the study. These students can now be circulated at approximately 12 month intervals over a proposed minimum period of 5 years from the date of enrolment on the Access course.
Data Collection
The initial questionnaire was sent to students in the October following the completion of their studies at Access level. The first few questions are straightforward information seeking, to establish where the students are (on another courses, in employment etc.), their aim in taking the course, their entry qualification. Further open ended questions ask students to state what they were doing prior to the Access course and to reflect on their motivation and areas of difficulty which had to be overcome in their return to study. The final section of the questionnaire probes students opinions.
Results
The data indicate that the students perceive that the lack of self-confidence and a low self image are among the greatest difficulties to be overcome during their initial Access year. Further qualitative studies of the students have confirmed that situational barriers, such as finance, child/eldercare are not perceived to be as great as the some of the personal barriers they have had to overcome. Of particular note is the impact on continued study that previous humiliating learning experiences, in Science and Maths at school, has had. (Inman et al., 1998; Inman, 1998 ).
Confidence Levels in Non-traditional Entry Students
The Participants
The participants were two cohorts of students attending the Science Access course, the first cohort of 25 students attended from September 1995 to June 1996 and the second cohort of 35 students attended from September 1996 to June 1997. There were 32 female students and 28 male students. The age range was 18 - 50 years.
Data collection
The participants were asked to complete a front-sheet for each assignment handed in during the course of the programme. The front-sheet recorded the factual data about the assignment, i.e. name, title, date, tutor, and it allowed students to record comments about the assignment and to estimate a mark for the assignment. The second part of the sheet had room for comments by the tutor and the actual mark awarded by the tutor. A total of 414 data sheets were collected.
Results
The numerical data was analysed using SPSS. The numerical value difference between the student's estimated mark and the tutor's awarded mark was calculated and it was assumed that this value correlated negatively with confidence. It is, of course, possible to explain these findings in terms of modesty of students. The written comments provided by students correlate and substantiate these findings: that students are not underestimating because of 'false modesty' but as a genuine expression of low self-esteem (Table 1).
Table 1. Examples of Comment Comparisons Between Student and Tutor
Subject Student Comment Student Tutor Comment Awarded Mark
Estimate
Maths I completely went to 45% Have more 94%
pieces and think it confidence. You've
was the worst piece done very well.
of work I've
submitted to date
Chemistry Have found this the 60% Your understanding 84%
hardest assessment of the principals
to date...Do not behind
feel I have grasped thermodynamics is
a full understanding fine...you
of this subject. acquitted yourself
well.
Biology Help!! 35% The experimental 63%
work was fine. The
essay was fine - if
only you'd done the
whole essay, your
mark would have
been much higher.
By using this numerical value for confidence, it was possible to analyse differences in confidence in the group, not only in terms of time spent on the course, but also in terms of gender, subject and progression route. As some students did not make an estimate of their grade, an analysis was done to see whether this group of students were awarded different levels of marks from those who did make an estimate. It was found that there was no statistically significant difference between those students who did make an estimate, 77.6, and those who did not, 74.8.
Analysis of the relationship between confidence and gender showed a marked difference and so this was controlled for when analysing further aspects. The work on gender forms the basis for another study.
It was felt that there may be a correlation between low confidence and drop-out rate for the course. Of the 60 students engaged in the course over the two years studied, 15 withdrew from the course before the end. This gives a drop-out rate of 25%, lower than the national average of 40% for 1996 (MacDonald et al., 1996). Table 2 shows that there was no significant difference in the confidence of students who completed the course when compared with students who dropped out in the course of the year. What the data indicate is that the students who dropout have a lower expectation of success which is borne out by lower awarded marks, so their view could be considered realistic.
Table 2. Estimated and Awarded Marks by Continuation on the Course, controlling for Gender
Estimated Awarded Confidence
Mark Mark Value
(N=) (N=) (Awarded -
Estimated)
(N=)
Students who 58.9 79.3 21.0
finished course (265) (349) (264)
Students who 47.3 68.4 22.1
dropped out (51) (60) (49)
Sig. (p=) .000 .000 .519
The Access course ran over three terms in one year. The data was analysed by date and assigned to one of the three terms. Term 1 ran from September to December, Term 2 from January to Easter and Term 3 from Easter to June. The results in Table 3 confirm previous findings of low confidence levels in relation to achievement for non-traditional entry students. The large difference between the students' estimation of their mark and their awarded mark indicating a low level of confidence. In the first term there is a very significant difference between student estimated mark and awarded mark. This numerical difference was substantiated by the written comments on the sheets, where the dialogue between students and tutors also indicated a gap between student perception and tutor comment, see Table 1 for examples.
Table 3. Estimated and Awarded Marks by Term, controlling for Gender
Term Student Estimated Tutor Confidence
Mark Awarded Value
(N=) Mark (Awarded -
(N=) Estimated)
(N=)
1 54.0 77.5 24.1
(164) (197) (164)
2 60.4 77.5 16.8
(102) (138) (99)
3 60.5 78.4 20.2
(50) (74) (50)
Sig. (p=) .000 .436 .002
Table 3 shows that confidence does increase significantly from Term 1 to Term 2 and that an increased level of confidence is maintained into Term 3.
Possible Reasons for Low Self-Confidence in Non-traditional Entry Students
Participants
An informal study was carried out into a population of women at UDSC, including 7 students on a pre-Access science course called Wednesdays for Women, 12 women from the Science Access course and 9 women from the Continuing Education staff.
Data Collection
The three sample populations were circulated with an open-ended questionnaire in which respondents were asked a series of questions in order to explore their perceptions of science and scientists, their school experiences and how the percieved the relevance of science in their everyday lives.
Results
The responses from the Wednesdays for Women group show that the students' memories of science illustrate a high level of experience of being either physically or mentally excluded from science.
'...seemed to consist of a series of unconnected experiments. With
hindsight it may have been helpful to be given an overall picture of
what it's all about.'
Wednesdays for Women student
Conclusion
This study attempts to elicit some measure of confidence and thereby to establish whether confidence, and its development, really is a barrier to progression within Higher Education for mature students, in the way in which students perceive it to be.
Taking the dictionary definition of confidence :
Confidence n. 1. trust in a person or thing. 2. belief in one's own abilities; self-assurance. 3. trust or a trustful relationship: take me into your confidence. 4. something confided; secret.
it then becomes apparent that for the mature student the key issue is the striving to develop a feeling of assurance or certainty, especially in one's self and one's capabilities.
Within this study, to some degree, we may be measuring better calibration by the students with the expectations of the tutors on the course. But ultimately that is what we, as tutors of Access students, are required to do: to act as the facilitator, or "bridge" between the students own view of themselves and their perceived view of a "University Student".
The study has led us to question how realistic the students are in their self-perception and in their matching to their perceived image of a university student. The results of both the quantitative reported data and further qualitative study (Inman, 1998) indicate that there is a wide gap between the students' perception of their abilities and the view held by course tutors. Despite this, those who leave the Access course do so with a realistic view. Their expectations are lower and their awarded marks are lower than those who stay on. The course under study works largely on the process of students leaving by self-selection, with some counselling from tutors. In the move towards massification of Higher Education, it is recognised that, with an open entry Access Course such as this, not all students will complete the course or go on to further study (Karkalas and Mackenzie, 1995). It would appear from this study that self-confidence is not an important factor in determining whether a student completes the course. This finding corresponds to the work by MacDonald et al. in 1996, who did not cite confidence among the array of reasons for non-completion of Access courses.
Therefore people with low levels of confidence are staying on to progress through degrees and achieving at higher education, although there is an established correlation between understanding and confidence (Harlen et al., 1997). The study has highlighted the success of using a pro-active support mechanism for mature students in order to help students overcome their low self-confidence and achieve at an appropriate level (MacDonald et al., 1996).
It may yet be that students progressing linearly through education maintain the disparity of self-image (West ,1995) quantified by this data. The mechanism presented here forms a tool by which this can be explored. The study is being extended to explore any differences in confidence between traditional and non-traditional entry-students. It may be that those students for whom science education was a success first-time round, will exhibit a different pattern of confidence from mature students or we may find that low self-confidence in science in higher education is more widespread than assumed.
The findings from this study indicate that
· confidence is a barrier to getting started in science
· low confidence may be related to previous experiences of science education
· once started in science the second time around, confidence is not a barrier to keeping going
It needs to be remembered that many of our students are parents whose children are presently studying science themselves at school. To what extent does the confidence of the parents affect the children? If children are switched on to science can they in turn switch on their parents?
Fuller details of the information in this paper have been presented at three conferences:
Forum for the Advancement of Continuing Education, 19th Jun 1997
Gender and Science and Technology Conference, 5-8th Jan 1998
Forum for the Advancement of Continuing Education, 8-10th Jul 1998.
If you would like a full copy of any of these papers, please contact Catherine Wesson (C.A.Wesson@durham.ac.uk).
References
Collins English Dictionary, Harper Collins, 1992.
Harlen, W. and Holroyd, C. (1997) "Primary teachers' understanding of concepts of Science: impact on confidence and teaching." International Journal of Science Education 19, 93 - 105.
Holmes, S. (1996) "Why Access students do not select science." Journal of Access Studies 12, 85 - 97
Inman, J., Shelley, V. and McGoldrick, T. (1998) "Bunsens and Boffins: Exploding the image: A review of a Women into Science project at the University of Durham." Gender and Science and Technology (GASAT) European Conference ; Open University
Inman J. (1998) "Was the Journey Really Worthwhile?: a case study analysis of the
motivation, destination and progression of former Access students." Paper in progress
Inman J. (1997) "Does an Access Course Really Open Doors?" Paper presented to the Annual Conference for the Forum for the Advancement of Continuing Education (FACE); 7-9 July, Sunderland.
Karkalas, A. and Mackenzie, A. (1995) '"Travelling hopefully: Access and post-Access experience of adults who do not proceed to higher education." Journal of Access Studies 10,1 20-39.
MacDonald, C., Karkalas, A. and Mackenzie, A. (1996) "Potholes in the Access road: dropout from a university-based Access course." Journal of Access Studies 12, 66-84
McGivney (1996) Participation and Non Participation: a review of the literature in Edwards R., Siemenski, S. and Zeldin, D. (eds) Adult Learners, Education and Training: London Routledge.
Osborne, M., Leopold, J. and Ferrie, A. (1997) "Does Access work? The relative performance of Access students at a Scottish university." Higher Education 33, 155-176.
Richardson, J.T.E. (1994) "Mature students in higher education: academic performance and intellectual ability." Higher Education 28, 373-386.
West, L. (1995). "Beyond Fragments: Adults, Motivation and Higher Education." Studies in the Education of Adults, 27, 2, 133-156.
Copyright © 1998 by Jane Inman and Catherine Wesson, all rights reserved.