MENTORING AND ADVISING NEEDS OF SCHOOL-BASED STUDENTS IN A KENYAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

1. MENTORING AND ADVISING NEEDS OF SCHOOL-BASED STUDENTS IN A KENYAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY By GITHINJI FELICITY WANJIRU Maastricht University, Netherlands Wednesday 5th – 7th June 2013

2. WHAT IS MENTORING AND ADVISING? • The concepts ‘mentoring and advising’ (M & A) have been used interchangeably in the literature to refer to forms of supervising, • coaching, - teaching, • assisting, - learning, • guiding, - compensation, • leading, - support, • Readiness, and socialization (Rix & Gold, 2000).

3. Background of the Study • These are institutionalized in Higher Education (H.E) institutions to help meet the goals of quality, equity, student persistence and completion of academic programmes. • Most research from the Western Countries confirms that M & A are important non-academic factors that contribute to reducing the attrition rate of students and the quality of academic programmes through the incorporation of practices such as student engagement, learning communities, academic and social integration (Tinto & Goodsell-Love, 1993).

4. Background of the Study... • Literature indicates that frequent interaction with faculty is more strongly related to the satisfaction with college than any other type of involvement or, indeed, any other student or institutional characteristic. • Thus, finding ways to encourage greater student involvement with faculty (and vice versa) could be a highly productive activity in universities (Astin, 1999).

6. Background of the Study cont… • Changes in the tertiary education sector have resulted in academic staff having to accommodate a higher proportion of students from diverse backgrounds, and tertiary institutions globally, have been moving towards greater recognition and support of diverse student groups through bridging foundation and fast-track programs. • Kenya is one of the countries in Africa that continue to experience a steady expansion of its H. E system, both in terms of student numbers, number of institutions and diversity of academic programmes.

7. Background of the Study cont… • Over the past five years, student enrolment in the public universities had been rising by at least 40% annually while subsidies had increased by only 4% to 5 % (GoK, 2009). • According to the government's Economic Survey 2010, the number of students in public universities was 143,000 in 2009 - up from 101,000 the previous year. • About 50% of these students were what are referred to as non-traditional students (Module II, school-based or part-time students).

8. Background of the Study cont… • These groups of students were not as homogenous as regular students. • First, some might have stayed outside formal learning institution slightly longer and were therefore, coming as mature students (Obanya, 2004). • These students were working and this meant the time they had to concentrate on academic work was limited.

9. Background of the Study cont… • This has been made possible by a deliberate policy adopted in 1998 to allow fee paying students to the institutions as a strategy for the institutions to generate revenues for expansion. • Hence, the student population in Kenya’s public Universities is now as diverse as there are modes of study, unlike the traditional residential campus students. • One way to address the above challenges is for the institutions to design interventions such as M & A to enrich the learning experiences.

10. Statement of the Problem • This study has been necessitated by the fact that SBS attend residential sessions for study for brief periods of time over the school holidays. • At the same time most of the SBS work either full time or part time in their course of study and may require various non academic services such as tutoring, mentoring, time management, study skills, career selection, ethics and other services related to life goals and personal development.

11. Statement of the Problem cont... • This presents a challenge to the institutions in terms of how to maintain and enhance quality in the face of increasing diversity of student numbers and scarce resources. • The task of this study therefore, is to find out the mentoring and advising needs for SBS in Kenya public universities. • A number of the programmes for these types of students were offered in the evenings and/or weekends (part-time students) or during school holidays, in the case of SBS who were the concern in this study.

12. Statement of the Problem cont... • What this meant was that we had an increasing number of students in the institutions who might have required more attention from their lecturers and who needed more other compensatory programme in the form of academic advice and mentoring.

13. Justification for SBS • The need to focus on this group of students was due to the fact that they almost became the majority of students enrolled in public universities in Kenya. • Statistics available from the 2009 Republic of Kenya Economic Survey showed that part-time students constituted about 44% of total enrolments in public universities. • One of the issues that led to the undertaking of this study was the claim that the growing number of module two students in public universities in Kenya had constrained available teaching and learning resources and resulted to lowering of quality (Obanya, 2004).

14. Justification cont... • Though conclusive studies had not been conducted to establish if performance of the regular and parallel students were different, there were perceptions that the introduction of parallel programme worsened the issue of quality in public universities. • This was because the high enrolment rate had not been accompanied by increased facilities and human resources (UNESCO, 1997).

15. Justification cont... • On other instances, it had been alleged that, under-qualified students had been admitted to critical departments just because they had the money to pay the fees. • The large number of students also meant that facilities at the universities had been overstretched and,

16. Justification cont... • in some cases, lecturers did not have the time or the motivation to give quality lessons (RoK, 2009. • though, but they pointed to the need for the institutions to put in place academic support services for this group of students as an intervention to enhance quality. • Besides, the diversity in academic programmes and modes of study, the student body was increasingly diverse in age and socio-economic profiles.

17. Justification cont... • The contact and quality of time that the students had with the institutions and lecturers had become so differentiate that issues of increased access and diversity of the student body brought into question the issues of quality and the institutions could do to enrich the learning experience of the various student groups.

18. Gaps • sought to address was to capture the perceptions of academic staff and SBS on what they thought they required in respect to mentoring and academic advice services. • given the increasing student enrolments in the face of inadequate human and material resources, this study sought to explore how increased academic and personal counselling programme could be provided by the institutions to improve student retention, particularly for “non-traditional" or "adult learners” defined, as SBS.

19. Where was the Action? • The study was undertaken in one of the Kenyan public university with a sample of SBS drawn from the School of Education (SOE). • The choice of this university was influenced by the fact that the institution had a regular student mentoring programme that was meant to address the various barriers to academic and social success that many students encountered at the institution. • It was therefore, important to establish if the programme was tailored to meet the learning and welfare needs of SBS.

20. Why did It matter? • The case of this university was meant to provide a starting point to reflect on how the growing number of part-time, non-traditional students, in public universities in Kenya could be assisted by the institutions to go through a quality learning process. • The study had been inspired by the need to explore institutional interventions that would be designed to balance the trend of increased access of non-traditional students to public universities with quality learning and outcomes.

21. Why did It matter? • This was because while HE was important and increased access and attainment of university education were critical to the socio-economic development of a country; this target could not be realized unless such increased access was accompanied by interventions which contributed to quality learning outcomes. • SBS were selected since they attended residential sessions for study for brief periods of time over the school holidays.

22. Why did It matter? • At the same time, most of the SBS worked either full-time or part-time in their course of study and might have required various academic support services such as tutoring, mentoring, time management, study skills, career selection, ethics and other services related to life goals and personal development. • Hence, the study wanted to establish how the institution was coping with this challenge.

23. Objectives of the Study • To explore the M & A needs of SBS in one of Kenya's public university. • To find out how M & A programs to the SBS are being carried out in the University. • To find out problems faced by SBS in accessing M & A needs in realizing their educational goals in the University. • To propose student-based recommendations to universities to improve and enhance the quality of M & A needs for school-based at the University.

24. Significance of the Study • To bring out the unmet academic needs of SBS in Kenya public Universities. • Show the implications of admitting a diversified student body without commensurate institutional arrangements to meet their academic needs as on quality.

25. The Scope and Limitations of the Study • Due to constraints of time and resources, this study was limited to one public university in Kenya. • The respondents for the study were limited to the enrolled SBS at the university in SoE. • A total of three hundred and twenty students from the departments in the SoE offering the SBP were sampled for the study.

26. Theoretical Framework • This study was guided by the Social Support Theory (Williams, Barclay and Schmied (2004). • The theory posits that if support is available, coping may be more rational and effective; • if support is lacking coping may be absent and the individual may give up.

27. Conceptual Framework • The conceptual framework guiding this study illustrates the non-academic components that have been intentionally designed to help the SBS navigate their academic life on campus and successfully complete their programmes. • This is enhanced by having an institution which is sensitive to student diversity in terms of mode of study, gender and social-economic origin.

28. Conceptual Framework

29. Review of Related Literature • A review of literature reveals that the number of colleges offering mentoring programs is on the rise (Haring, 1997), and mentoring is increasingly being viewed as a tool for promoting student retention (Walker & Taub, 2001), particularly the retention of first-year students (Johnson, 1989). • But in Africa, literature review shows that these services were not easily available in public universities, and where they were their importance to improving quality of academic programs was rarely appreciated. • In Kenya, services were limited due to high number of students: staff ratio, short semester dates and lack of staff. • The study therefore, sought to find out what services were in the university for SBS that helped them achieve personal and professional development.

30. Research Methodology Research Design • The study used descriptive research methodology, qualitative in approach. • A case study technique was adopted to enable the researcher to achieve, among other things, an in-depth collection and analysis of data.

31. Target Population • The target population was made up of a cohort of students enrolledin school-based Bachelor of Education programme (B.ED) in the university in the various departments in the SoE. • The justification for selecting the enrolled school-based B Ed students was because the programme had the largest number of students in the university SBP.

32. Sampling Techniques • Stratified and random sampling was used in grouping the enrolled SBS according to year of study and gender. • Stratified sampling was appropriate because the population from which the sample was drawn did not constitute a homogenous group. • Simple random sampling of the enrolled SBS was necessitated to allow equal chances to all the students.

33. Sample Size • Eighty students (40 females and 40 males) from the four departments made the sample. • making a total of three hundred and twenty students. Instruments for Data Collection • A questionnaire for students and lecturers • Interview schedules • Focus Group Discussions • Document analysis

34. Pre-testing of the Research Instruments • To increase the validity and reliability of the research instruments, a pre-test to refine the instruments will be conducted in another public university in the Rift Valley of Kenya using the enrolled SBS in the SoE. • Validity was enhanced by use of several/triangulation of instruments to collect data on same issues and cross-checking with already available data on same issues. • Reliability was enhanced through piloting of research instruments.

35. Data Collection Procedures • The researcher collected data with the help of two research assistants. • To start with, the researcher obtained research permits from the university office of research. • The researcher then visited the university to request the Dean SoE, chair persons of departments of education for permission to carry out research in their departments.

36. Data Collection Procedures cont... • Students’ questionnaires were administered first during their learning sessions as this was the best time to meet them under the supervision of the researcher and the two research assistants. • After filling in the questionnaires, 8 students from all the departments were selected for the FGDs. • Both primary and secondary data was collected in this study. • For the secondary data, various documents were sort from the departmental heads.

37. Methods of Data Analysis • Data was organized and coded in numbers; colour to ease identification of the questionnaires example male had blue and female had pink questionnaires. • The data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively, guided by the study objectives. • The qualitative analysis was presented using responses from the respondents while quantitative analysis was done on frequency tables and absolute percentages.

38. THEFINDINGS OF THE STUDY AMA Needs of SBS at the University • Most of the SBS were not aware of the AMA programme in the university though regardless of gender, 95.9% thought that academic mentoring was important to SBS. • Most of the students considered availability of mentors as scarce and not available at all, while a small percentage of students considered mentors as readily available.

39. THEFINDINGS OF THE STUDY Major areas which students required AMA and a mentor’s advice were: • Use of library • Examination- Missing marks - How to tackle examinations -Timetabling • Student welfare issues • Choice of academic units • Graduation requirements and on classification

40. FINDINGS CONT... • Majority of the SBS had no academic mentor allocated to them (76.3%) while (23.8%) students had academic mentors and advisors. • Most students with academic mentors identified them either through: A friend or as the mentor was in class teaching. On identification of lecturers to be academic mentors, • 85.7% of the mentors were requested, • volunteered • Registered with the mentoring office, • Assigned by the chairperson of the department, • Assigned by dean of students, • Others had a background on counselling.

41. FINDINGS CONT... Whether AMA programme at the university Addressed the Learning and Welfare Needs of SBS • In terms of awareness of the university policy all 14 (100%) mentors affirmed the existence of a mentoring policy at the university. • However, they were not well-conversant with the policy statement based on the different views that they gave in articulating the policy statement.

42. FINDINGS CONT... Challenges Encountered by Mentors • Students and lecturers were always busy • Age difference • Financial challenges in conducting activities with students • Mentors (23.8%) reported students expecting monetary support, • issue of deadline for submitting their work, • They are people with families and also adults so sometimes you have to listen to them and try to understand.

43. Challenges Encountered by SBS • The major challenge was timetodo assignmentssuch that they reported coming back to the institution with overdue assignments, • Time provided for the school-based programme which was two to three weeks. • Attendance to lectures • Lack of awareness about mentoring, • Technology

44. CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY Based on the findings above, this study draws the following conclusions: • Most of the SBS were not aware of the AMA programme in the university though regardless of gender, they thought that academic mentoring was important to the SBS. • Majority of the SBS had no academic mentor allocated to them. • AMA was considered successful by most mentors however, (71.4%) were of the opinion that the university does not adequately provide for AMA needs for SBS. • The major hindrance of acquiring information on mentoring and advising by SBS was lack of awareness and limited time in the university.

45. THE STUDY RECOMMENDED • Every university student should be allocated a mentor on registration day whose interaction should start immediately in 1st year, to be taken through the advising programme until they get to 4th year. • There is a need for mentors to receive training in AMA to improve on their mentoring skills. • A students’ in-service training on AMA, seminars and workshops should be organized for both regular and SBS. • Monitoring and evaluating of AMA programme every semester to ensure that the mentors and mentees are making adequate progress.

46. Recommendations for Further Research • A more extensive study that would cover larger samples be conducted. • A similar study should be conducted in other public universities because AMA needs are different due to different environmental factors and backgrounds. • It is also important to conduct a study to find out the perceptions of masters and PhD students in accessing AMA needs in the university.

47. END OF PRESENTATION THANK YOU!!!