A study of student attrition in the foundation year program of a teachers’ college

ABSTRACT

This study addresses the retention problems of at-risk students in the Foundation Year Program at the Bahrain Teachers' College. Data were collected from the instructors and the students using questionnaires and focus group interviews. Findings show that both instructors and students think the college could play a more active role to increase the readiness of the students for undergraduate work in teacher education. They indicate that major areas where students need instructional support include the language arts (Arabic and English language), maths, science, and the skills for group work and oral presentations. However, students and instructors had opposing viewpoints regarding the expected level of support provided by the instructors as well as the level of assessment and its alignment with course content. Taking the students’ and the instructors’ views into consideration, the researchers conclude the study with a recommendation for the restructuring of the foundation year curriculum to align with the needs of the students and for the inclusion of regular and relevant professional development for instructors. The significance of this study is that it serves as a microcosm for the challenges faced by in-coming students in other teacher training programs in the Arabian Gulf region.

KEYWORDS:

• Foundation year
• student attrition
• challenges
• teacher preparation programs

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank the Dean of the BTC, Dr. Ted Purinton, for his support. They would also like to thank Ms. Zain Abuqurah and Ms. Aalla Kalawadh for their assistance.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Parween Ebrahim

Parween Ebrahim is an assistant professor at Bahrain Teachers' College. She has a PhD in English from Princeton University, USA. Her research and teaching interests include: children's literature, World Englishes, multi-literacies, and the role of literature in second language teaching and in teacher education

Mohamed Al-Moumni

Mohamed Al-Moumni is a lecturer at Bahrain Teachers' College and an inspector of education. He writes about didactics, language acquisition, refining hard grammar and upgrading the mother tongue, including dialect and slang. He also focuses on child lexicon and the use of figurative language by young learners. 

Abdulghani Al-Hattami

Abdulghani Al-Hattami is an assistant professor at Bahrain Teachers' College. He worked as an assistant professor at the Deanship of Education Development at the University of Dammam in KSA from 2012 to 2015, where he received the Excellence Teaching Award. After completing his Master's degree in English Language Teaching, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to complete another master's degree in research methodology from Loyala University in Chicago in 2006. He then received teaching and research positions at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, where he earned his doctoral degree in measurement, statistics, and research design in 2012. Al-Hattami has published more than 50 research papers in different international journals

Afrah Ali

Afrah Ali is a lecturer at Bahrain Teachers' College. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Applied Linguistics at Lancaster University in the U.K. She holds an MA in TESOL from the American University of Sharjah, UAE. She has been involved in English language education for 15 years, working as a teacher, teacher trainer, lecturer, and consultant in several international contexts. Her research interests include pragmatics, L2 writing, and teacher education.