Enabling pedagogy : Recommendations for supporting student learning in enabling programs

1. Enabling pedagogy:Recommendations for supporting student learning in enabling programs Jennifer Stokes PhD Candidate, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia. FABENZ 2018 Wellington, New Zealand

2. Widening University participation in Australia • Role of the 2008 Review of Higher Education in identifying participation targets(Bradley et al 2008). • Australian university policy is designed to support underrepresented demographic groups to participate at a representative rate (Gale & Parker 2013). • Many Australian universities have developed enabling programs, to ‘provide opportunities to undertake higher education for those who lack the usual or traditional prerequisites for university entry… actively preparing them for success in their future undergraduate studies’ (Murray & Klinger, 2010, p. 118). • Enabling programs can play an important role in making university culture accessible, as ‘the university environment can be a very daunting experience for students who have experienced challenges in their education’ (Bennett et al. 2015, p. 56). • These programs provide a space wherein individuals can develop a sense of belongingand establish student identities, alongside the knowledge and practices required for academic success.

3. Research questions • What do students in enabling programs identify as necessary for their successful transition to university education?   • How do these student identified needs align with needs identified by academic staff?   • Are these specific needs being met through current curriculum?If not, how can these needs be better addressed?  

4. Project Methodology & Method • Mixed-methods research • Critical Pedagogy allows for the critique and deconstruction of systems of power, privilege and marginalisation. Explores the role of education as ‘a political act’ that empowers students (Freire 1994 in Stokes & Ulpen 2015). • Ethics approval through two institutions • Surveys at 2015 Orientation for an enabling program • Nine in-depth interviews of 1-2 hours duration with undergraduates, 4 with graduates,five with enabling program academics. • Using thematic analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)(Rogers 2004), interviews were coded and issues of affect,belonging, and identity emergedto inform enabling pedagogy. • Pseudonyms are used throughout.

5. The Findings

6. Enabling pedagogy • Transition pedagogy • Inclusive practices • Critical pedagogy (Stokes 2014; Bennett et al. 2018)

7. Academic perceptions • The impact of misrecognition (Fraser 2010; Burke et al. 2016; Burke, Crozier & Misiaszek 2017) • The challenges and rewards of enabling teaching • The role of enabling programs in systems change

8. Snapshot of students at commencement • The enabling program cohort is characterised by diversity(Hodges et al. 2013). • Low SES often acts as a proxy indicator for multiple disadvantage. • Strong representation from equity groups indicates specific educational needs and demonstrates that these programs are serving their purpose in attracting under-represented demographic groups to university education.

9. “Moving from a rural area, leaving a job and having to find another. Find a house.” (Toby) Insight #1: Equity Groups and Multiple Transitions

10. “I’m scared. Please say hello!” (Huy) Insight #2: Heightened Anxiety and University

11. “I just want to learn all which I will need in my life” (Victoria) Insight #3: Enabling Program Content

12. Beyond enabling…. …After transitioning to undergraduate.

13. “I always felt very much like I was a student that very early on teachers decided wasn’t worth teaching… I was very, very scared to start foundation studies because I wasn’t sure it would be any different.” (Jo - Social Work) Theme #1: The ongoing impact of misrecognition

14. Student confidence was built through“a warm, inviting environment… (in which) every answer will be considered with respect”(Eleni - Education) Theme #2: The importance of enabling pedagogies

15. “It has been life changing…being a lot more confident and comfortable within myself. It has given me the power to know that I can steer my life in the direction that I want to go in” (Nathan - Psychological Science) Theme #3: Transition as transformation

16. Graduation and beyond… (They’re) so much more confident about what their pathway is, and confident about themselves and realising that they are capable of being at uni. That’s probably the most important thing. Obviously there’s the skills and the knowledge, but for them to have that belief in themselves, and to feel like they can do it, they can achieve, they’ll get there... Often they’ll tell me it was the best thing they’ve done with their lives… It’s life-changing for many of them. (Sociologist). 

17. Discussion & Recommendations • Enabling programs provide supported transition to university, assisting students to develop skills for academic success. • Inclusive enabling pedagogies assist students to build trust with educators and identify supports to succeed in the university environment. • These reflections on individual educational trajectories, highlight the transformative role of these pathway programs, which assist students to re-engage with education and better connect with university and the opportunities provided.

18. Where to next? Final interviews. Further analysis will provide specific recommendations for enabling pedagogy. Results will be published shortly.

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20. Questions?Jennifer.stokes@adelaide.edu.auAcknowledgements Dr Cally Guerin and Dr Linda Westphalen at The University of Adelaide Dr Garth Stahl and Dr Chad Habel at the University of South Australia