Improving student outcomes in higher education: New Zealand teachers’ views on teaching students from diverse backgrounds

Abstract

The research literature on student retention is voluminous and longstanding. However, a unified theory of retention remains elusive; instead a variety of explanations and approaches have been developed. This article uses two discourses, integration and adaptation, to make sense of the findings from a survey of teachers who taught students enrolled for the first time in seven tertiary institutions in New Zealand. While the article reports results from the survey, it focuses particularly on how tertiary teachers understand diversity; whether and how they accommodate diversity in their teaching. It offers some critical reflections on these teachers’ views about diversity.

Acknowledgements

An early draft of this paper was presented at the New Zealand Association for Research in Education (NZARE) conference in Dunedin, December 2005. We acknowledge the TLRI, which funded the project, and thank our research partners in the seven institutions for their contribution.