Students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Lessons for institutional leaders

1. Effective teaching and support for students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education. www.lowses.edu.au Students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Lessons for institutional leaders

2. Overview • The study • The new conception • What helps LSES students: Lessons for leaders

3. The study • Funding body • Partners • Team • Methodology

4. Funding body, partners and team • Professor Marcia Devlin • Professor Sally Kift • Professor Karen Nelson • Ms Liz Smith • Dr Jade McKay

5. Methodology • Literature review • Interviews with 89 successful students from low socioeconomic backgrounds (3 universities) • Interviews with 26 staff (6 universities) • A national environmental scan of effective practice

6. New conceptual framework: ‘Bridging socio-cultural incongruity’ • Rejecting deficit conceptions that either: • Students are ‘the problem’ and/or • Institutions are the problem. Instead, conceiving the facilitation of student success as a ‘joint venture’ toward bridging socio-cultural incongruity.

7. New conceptual framework: ‘Bridging socio-cultural incongruity’ • The incongruity is between: • The social and cultural capital of the LSES student and • The social and cultural capital of the institutions in which they study. Neither is in deficit, they are simply incongruent, at least initially.

8. What helps LSES students: Teaching • Teachers know and respect students. • Teachers offer flexibility, variety and choice. • Expectations are clearly communicated in plain language. • Learning is scaffolded. • Teachers are available and approachable to assist student learning.

9. What helps LSES students: Leadership • Inclusive curriculum and assessment design. • Engagement with and support from others. • Encouragement and normalisation of ‘help-seeking’. • Active minimisation of financial challenges. • Resourcing and supporting teachers of LSES students.

10. Effective teaching and support for students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds: Resources for Australian higher education. www.lowses.edu.au www.lowses.edu.au