By Tracy Mayes
A lesson from my niece
My niece is applying to university. Her parents left school at 16. Her school's not a feeder to high tariff universities. At least she's got me, I think, as I ask her whether she's looking at the Russell Group. "And have you looked at NSS results?" She asked me what I was talking about.
Now in terms of individual Open Days, she is on it. There's a spreadsheet. There are specific questions about course content. Niece is ambitious: Oxford is on the maybe pile. And yet, though well-intentioned, I'm already speaking a different language. I'd assumed she would know these terms, simply because she's clever and motivated and I know that any university will be lucky to have her. But if you google 'how to choose a university course', you can go quite far without even coming across mention of Russell Group or even NSS!
Now I should know better, but I'm so institutionalised! Working in any field long enough creates a kind of "occupational psychosis". We can forget what it's like on the 'outside'.
We see it all the time with new staff recruits, when our workday acronyms and initialisms are met with a blank face. Now, I know that the phrases I'd used aren't unique to Sheffield, but they also are not common to everyone.
Blindspots and shorthand thinking
There are two things happening here. One is a kind of occupational blind spot that is common in any line of work. The second is the assumption about what someone applying to university knows. Both can have the same impact, depending on the circumstances. The conversation with my niece was a small moment. A reminder moment for me! But these moments multiplied, and assumptions liberally sprinkled, can become alienating - fast. They subtly "other" the recipient, quietly sending the message: you don't belong here. The lack of familiarity can be mistaken for personal inadequacy - especially when you throw in the institutional power dynamic.
I've seen us do this with new students, in various different ways, even with the best of intentions. It's understandable - making assumptions is part of human nature and has evolutionary roots - yet it's problematic.
But what can I do?
We can compound the challenges for new students or we can work to mitigate them. But how?
What assumptions do we make about our new students? Let's take some examples. How about courses heavy on maths content. Do we ever assume that things have been covered at A level which may not have been? Do we assume that a student joining us in second year (yes, that happens) has the same maths background as the rest of the cohort? Tools like Skills Audit for Maths and Stats (SAFMAS), a self-assessment tool hosted in Blackboard, can help students identify any gaps in the maths and stats knowledge needed for their course.
What about mature students? Starting a course 21+, it can easily feel that this isn't a place set up for you. The fresher tropes that focus on drinking and club nights are worn thin enough for actual school leavers, let alone anyone else. It's one thing to not be offered a flyer for a club on the concourse because you look 'too old', it's another thing entirely when the lecturer delivers an intro talk that refers to everyone in the room having just completed their A levels and moved to a new city. We can reflect on how we talk to our students.
I was once in an intro talk of 350 undergraduates where one speaker told the room that they could have lots of drunken fun, but not to urinate in public, because it could be reputationally damaging (no, really, this happened). Looking around that lecture theatre, it was clear to me that the vast majority of the audience did not fit the narrow demographic that he was speaking to.
We can set the tone (check our assumptions, respond to and learn from blind spots). And we can point to resources to help students unpick university conventions and help them understand which academic skills they may need to develop.
Level Up Your Skills is really helpful for this:
In the chaotic and uncertain time of starting a new course, students don't even know what they don't know. Small moments can get amplified. Things can feel overwhelming. However, we are the gatekeepers and we can make a difference. The language we use in an intro session, the way we explain an assignment brief, or how we signpost support in our Schools all feed into the success of this transition, and how much a student feels that they belong.
My niece and others will have challenges ahead. They do not arrive with the hidden curriculum rulebook (more on that in a forthcoming blog…) Academic culture shock, imposter syndrome, financial pressures and the weight of being a pioneer may all be challenges. Don't underestimate the influence that we have over how these challenges are faced.
Not everyone has a cool auntie on speed dial (as if she would call!), but I'll be there on Whatsapp, hopefully doing better.
Tracy Mayes is an Academic Skills Adviser within the Student Success and Inclusion team.
