Towards a model first year experience - a staff perspective

“Students are at their most vulnerable in the first year in terms of their likelihood of academic failure and they are most at risk with respect to a range of potential social, emotional, health and financial problems” (McInnis, 2001, p. 106). In 2001, Richard James edited a special edition of Higher Education Research & Development dedicated to the theme of the first year of higher education. In doing so he outlined the increasing focus on the first year experience (FYE) as a subfield of higher education research, and as a “central organising point for student support and development within universities” (James, 2001, p. 101). Eight years on, the FYE is still very much on the agenda for the higher education sector, and in much the same ways. Attention to the FYE in Australia in the last decade has included national surveys and research reports (e.g., Krause, Hartley, James, & McInnis, 2005; McInnis & Hartley, 2002; McInnes, James, & Hartley, 2000), documenting of institutional responses (e.g., Ballantyne, Todd & Olm, 2007; Burnett, 2006; Cameron & Tesoriero, 2004; Pitkethly & Prosser, 2001) and case studies presented through various fora such as dedicated conferences and journals, as well as more broadly in the higher education literature. A recent impetus to this field was the awarding of a senior Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) fellowship to Sally Kift for the project Articulating a transition pedagogy to scaffold and enhance the first year learning experience in Australian Higher Education. Adopting a case study approach, Professor Kift has interrogated good practice exemplars through expert commentary and theoretical frameworks in order to arrive at a set of ‘Guiding Principles for a Transition Pedagogy’ (ALTC, 2008; 2009). A recent forum (February, 2009), convened as part of this program, drew 450 participants, highlighting its relevance, impact and currency (ALTC, 2009).