Abstract:

Students studying in higher education in the United Kingdom these days generally have come from a wide variety of different backgrounds. As a consequence their levels of key skills such as Maths and English can differ considerably. A problem that needs addressing is how best to support students with weak key skills such that they are able to progress with their course of study and thus enabling to make a more effective transition into Higher Education. This study first looks in depth into a model of support addressing low key maths skills in engineering courses. This new innovative 1-1 mathematics support system has been designed to provide essential key mathematics skills needed in a range of different subject areas across the different disciplines within the university. A robust 1-1 maths support system is put in place which can help weaker students first build their basic maths skills and then also help with the mathematics course material throughout the year thus leading to less students failing at the end of the year.

The method proposed for supporting these weak students once they have been identified through the initial diagnostic screening process is to offer them a one hour, one-one mathematics support session with a maths tutor on a weekly basis during semester 1 and semester 2 of the academic year. The support has three phases to it, phase 1 is addressing the lack of very basic maths skills identified by the diagnostic assessment then phase 2 is supporting the students with their current course material within their mathematics module and finally phase 3 is preparing them for the final examination. The support is to be fitted around the support tutor and student’s timetable as appropriate.

Many disciplines across universities ranging from Business, Finance, Economics that rely heavily on the students having key unpinning mathematics skills and as such this model of support can be further adapted and be a useful way of supporting the students through their chosen course of study. On an even wider scale, similar model approaches could also be made adaptive to other areas of study which rely heavily on other key underpinning skills across the higher education sector.

Analysis and results from diagnostic assessments provide good initial comparisons on relative improvements been made. The overall results from a two year study indicate that of those students supported with this method the majority of them tend to succeed at the end of the year and successfully progress in their chosen courses of study. In comparison students identified as needing support but who do not accept the support or do not seriously engage with the support tend to find it difficult in passing and progressing. The cost benefit analysis of implementing such a scheme shows that there are enormous potential financial benefits for Higher Educational Institutes. Most universities are facing similar challenges with the weaker students coming onto their programmes and this model of support offers a new insight and initiative of providing key skill support that is enabling students to cope better with the demands of their studies. When institutions see the associated cost benefit of this model of support then it will be easier for them to invest in the required resources to support these kinds of bespoke initiatives.

Keywords:

1-1 support, key skills, diagnostic assessment, engineering mathematics, widening participation.