Better Accommodating First Generation Students: MicroCPD Transcript

First-generation students are the first in their families to go to University, and they may not have accumulated the knowledge that often comes from having parents with experience of Higher Education. 

This lack of social capital can result in a lack of confidence in navigating University life. Such students may be less able to engage and unclear about expectations that academic staff have, which, together with the change from their School environment, may compound the problem of not feeling like they are part of the social group emerging amongst the rest of the cohort. 

In order to support these students we should examine our ways of working to ensure that those of us who were not ourselves first generation students are cognisant of the ways in which our current practice and assumptions put some of our students at a disadvantage. 

We should focus in particular on our first year provision, and consider easing the transition to University education delivery by incorporating more group-based activities with relatively low-stakes and formative outcomes. We ought also take care to explain at every stage the point of the learning activities and the connection to the overall aims of the module or programme. In doing so, we thus involve students as essential contributors to the learning process and the wider academic community.