Abstract
This study explores, for the first time, the study orchestrations of (mostly Black) engineering students who enter an academic support programme in their first year at university at an educational disadvantage by virtue of their exposure to an inferior, racially determined school education.
The empirical manifestation, and the stability over time, of their study orchestrations is described, and the association between their study orchestrations and learning outcome is investigated.
It is concluded that the manifestation of individual study orchestrations of these particular educationally disadvantaged engineering students, as well as the association between their study orchestrations and their learning outcomes, is essentially similar to that of other students; academic success is associated with theoretically desirable study orchestrations - particularly when these are manifested early on in the programme since they remain essentially stable over time. Where changes do occur over time they are generally of a theoretically desirable nature and, to a lesser extent, where theoretically undesirable changes occur they appear to be associated with a decline in academic achievement.
The implications of these conclusions for academic support programmes and for future research are discussed in so far as they impinge on admissions procedures, the identification of potentially ‘at risk’ students early on in the academic year and explicit provisions of intervention mechanisms to assist such students.
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Meyer, J.H.F., Parsons, P. & Dunne, T.T. Study orchestration and learning outcome: evidence of association over time among disadvantaged students. High Educ 20, 245–269 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136229
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00136229