Development and evaluation of an intervention to improve further education students' understanding of higher education assessment criteria: three studies

Three studies about helping Further Education students prepare for study at university

This paper reports three studies about preparing Further Education (FE) students for the transition to Higher Education (HE) by improving their understanding of HE assessment criteria. In study 1, students and tutors in both FE and HE were interviewed for a qualitative analysis of their understandings and expectations about assessment criteria. In study 2, students in FE and HE completed questionnaires measuring self-rated understanding and ability about assessment criteria, and beliefs about essay writing. Studies 1 and 2 both showed that FE students were more confident than HE students about their understanding and ability in relation to assessment criteria, but FE students’ understandings suggested more surface approaches to learning and more naïve epistemological beliefs. In study 3, a workshop intervention to improve FE students’ understandings of HE assessment criteria was evaluated in a comparative longitudinal trial. The intervention reduced FE students’ self-rated understanding and ability, and promoted more sophisticated beliefs about essay writing, by comparison with students who received standard tuition. We concluded that interventions to develop more realistic understandings of what is required in academic writing could be used to prepare FE students more effectively for the transition to HE.

This paper reports three studies about preparing Further Education (FE) students
for the transition to Higher Education (HE) by improving their understanding of
HE assessment criteria. In study 1, students and tutors in both FE and HE were
interviewed for a qualitative analysis of their understandings and expectations
about assessment criteria. In study 2, students in FE and HE completed
questionnaires measuring self-rated understanding and ability about assessment
criteria, and beliefs about essay writing. Studies 1 and 2 both showed that FE
students were more confident than HE students about their understanding and
ability in relation to assessment criteria, but FE students’ understandings
suggested more surface approaches to learning and more naïve epistemological
beliefs. In study 3, a workshop intervention to improve FE students’
understandings of HE assessment criteria was evaluated in a comparative
longitudinal trial. The intervention reduced FE students’ self-rated understanding and ability, and promoted more sophisticated beliefs about essay writing, by comparison with students who received standard tuition. We concluded that
interventions to develop more realistic understandings of what is required in
academic writing could be used to prepare FE students more effectively for the
transition to HE.