Using Student Data to Identify Students Who Are At Risk Of Failing To Progress

Handley, Simon (2022) Using Student Data to Identify Students Who Are At Risk Of Failing To Progress. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

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Simon Handley PhD Thesis published_Final version_Submitted Jan 2021_Final Award Feb 2022.pdf - Accepted Version

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Abstract

It is imperative to ensure student progression for two reasons. Firstly, to be sure that the students, who are investing years of their lives, are guided to a successful completion of their studies, and secondly, to provide a reliable income which is needed to maintain the viability of the course, through the continued payment of fees from students who are fully engaged with their academic studies.

Universities hold vast quantities of student administrative data. Traditionally there has been limited use of this data in providing student support. The academic process has generated student performance data and used it for making progression decisions. In addition to this, generic student data has been gathered during the admissions process, such as qualifications, gender, socio-economic classification and parental experience of higher education. This has been collated to produce reports required by the government for monitoring and reporting purposes. My research has made use of this data to investigate and analyse potential relationships to student progression using both academic and non-academic factors. A Bourdieusian approach was adopted to explore student and Institutional Habitus, Cultural Capital and Cultural Social Reproduction to provide a focus for the variables or factors investigated.

Using Adjusted Binary Logistic Regression, five factors have been identified as having a statistically significant relationship to student progression. These are entrance qualification type, commuting/non-commuting students, students who achieve/exceed the UCAS tariff entrance requirement, students whose GCSE mathematics result is higher than grade C, and those students who are studying in one of four academic schools. No significant difference was found in the progression of students based on the non-academic factors of gender, socio-economic classification, ethnicity or parental experience of higher education.

Qualification type was identified as the most significant factor for progression. Vocational students were found to be less likely to proceed to a second year of study when compare to A-level students. Curriculum designers need to reflect on this result and identify methods to provide equal opportunities for progression.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:
DateEvent
January 2021Submitted
February 2022Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords: BTEC, EDEXCEL, progression, qualifications, GCSE, A-level, commuter students, UCAS tariff, Bourdieu, cultural capital
Subjects: CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-01 - education
Divisions: Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection
Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > School of Education and Social Work
Depositing User: Jaycie Carter
Date Deposited: 25 Jul 2022 11:44
Last Modified: 25 Jul 2022 11:44
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/13430

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