An Insight into Students’ Transition to Tertiary or Academic Pathways Programs

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of transitional challenges, wellbeing, help seeking barriers, and adjustments (N = 47).

TWHAS constructs	N	Mean	SD
Personal challenges	47	2.411	1.047
Socio-emotional challenges	47	2.828	1.225
Academic challenges	47	2.984	1.083
Moods	47	2.947	0.933
Coping	47	3.259	1.157
Socio-demographic barriers	27	2.241	0.994
Psychological barriers	28	2.429	1.063
Adjustments	46	3.351	1.100

Scale Minimum = 1, Scale Maximum = 5, N = Number of students; scale mean = 3.

Table 2. Personal, social, and academic challenges reported by all students (N = 47).

TWHAS Constructs	Scale Items Since starting at this College, how easy or difficult it was for you to:	Median	Mode
Personal	Balance family commitments with studies	2.00	3.00
	Balance financial commitments with studies	3.00	2.00
	Find time to exercise	2.00	1.00
Social	Make friends with people from similar backgrounds	3.00	2.00
	Make friends with people from different backgrounds	3.00	3.00
	Meet up with friends outside university	2.00	2.00
Academic	Participate in online study & discussion	3.00	3.00
	Feel respected	4.00	3.00
	Understand my course requirements	3.00	3.00
	Complete my assessments	3.00	3.00

Likert scale Minimum =1 (Very Difficult); Maximum = 5(Very Easy); Scale mean = 3.00.

Table 3. Wellbeing: moods and coping reported by all students (N = 47).

TWHAS Constructs	Scale Items Since starting at this College, how often do you feel	Median	Mode
Moods	Misunderstood	3.00	4.00
	Unable to concentrate	3.00	3.00
	Nervous	3.00	3.00
	Everything is too difficult	3.00	3.00
	Pressurized to succeed	3.00	3.00
	Worried (e.g., about money, study, family)	3.00	3.00
Coping	Unable to fit in	3.00	3.00
	Not wanting to go to The College	3.00	4.00
	Lonely	4.00	5.00
	Tired for no good reason	3.00	5.00
	Irritable	3.00	3.00
	Low self-worth	3.00	5.00

Minimum =1(All the time); Maximum = 5(Never); Scale mean = 3.00.

Table 4. Barriers faced by students in seeking help (N = 27).

TWHAS Constructs	Items If you did not seek help, tick the below that applies to you	Median	Mode
Socio-demographic barriers	I would be concerned about language barriers (e.g., my English is not good)	2.00	1.00
	I would be concerned that staff may not respect my faith	2.00	1.00
	I would be concerned that staff may not understand my cultural background	2.00	2.00
	I would be concerned that my family member, or friend, cannot accompany me	2.00	1.00
Psychological barriers
	I would be concerned about what others would say	2.00	3.00
	I would be concerned that others would find out	2.00	1.00
	I would feel ashamed	2.00	3.00
	I would not trust the support staff	2.00	1.00
	I would be afraid to seek support	2.00	3.00
	I would be concerned I may not be able to explain my problems	3.00	3.00

Minimum = 1(Strongly Disagree), Maximum = 5(Strongly Agree), Scale mean = 3.00.

Table 5. Overall adjustments to The College (N = 47).

TWHAS construct	Item Generally, how well do you think you are adjusting to The College	Median	Mode
Adjustments		3.00	3.00

Minimum (Not adjusting at all) = 1, Maximum (Adjusting very well) = 5, Scale mean = 3.00.

Figure 1. Feelings when beginning studies at The College.

Note: percentages may not total to 100% due to rounding.

Figure 2. Personnel from whom students sought help.

Note: percentages may not total to 100% due to rounding.

Table 6. Initial feelings and later adjustments (N = 46).

Level of Adjustment to The College	Initial Feelings When Students Started at The College
	Very nervous	A bit nervous	Mixed feelings	Excited	Very excited
Not adjusting at all	25%	0	5%	0	17%
On the way to adjusting	13%	0	10%	0	0
Adjusting somewhat	50%	58%	45%	20%	17%
Adjusting well	13%	42%	35%	40%	0
Adjusting very well	0	0	5%	40%	66%
Total students	8	7	20	5	6

Table 7. Students’ help seeking and adjustments (N = 46).

Level of adjustments	Sought help with issues of emotional wellbeing?
	Yes	No
Not adjusting at all	5%	11%
On the way to adjusting	5%	8%
Adjusting somewhat	39%	42%
Adjusting well	39%	21%
Adjusting very well	12%	18%
Total Students	18	28

Table 8. Spoken English language proficiency and adjustments(N = 44).

Level of Adjustment	Spoken English Language Proficiency
	Very Limited	Limited	Fair	Good	Very Good
Not adjusting at all	0	33%	25%	0	5%
On the way to adjusting	0	33%	12%	0	5%
Adjusting somewhat	0	0	37%	50%	44%
Adjusting well	0	33%	12%	36%	23%
Adjusting very well	0	0	12%	14%	23%
Total students	1	3	8	14	18

Table 9. Written English language proficiency and adjustments (N = 44).

Level of Adjustment	Written English language proficiency
	Very Limited	Limited	Fair	Good	Very Good
Not adjusting at all	33%	25%	11%	0	5%
On the way to adjusting	0	50%	0	9%	0
Adjusting somewhat	0	0	55%	45%	47%
Adjusting well	33%	25%	22%	27%	29%
Adjusting very well	33%	0	11%	18%	18%
Total students	3	4	9	11	17

Table 10. Employment and adjustments (N = 44).

Level of Adjustment	Are you currently employed?
	Yes	No
Not adjusting at all	17%	6%
On the way to adjusting	8%	6%
Adjusting somewhat	33%	44%
Adjusting well	33%	25%
Adjusting very well	8%	19%
Total Students	12	32

Table 11. SES and adjustments (N = 38).

	Generally, how well do you think you are adjusting to The College?
SES category	Not adjusting at all	On the way to adjusting	Adjusting somewhat	Adjusting well	Adjusting very well
Low	0%	0%	28%	43%	29%
Medium	4%	2%	46%	25%	13%
High	2%	0%	71%	14%	0%

Table 12. Mean differences in TWHAS variables across selected groups.

TWHAS constructs	Gender		Type of enrollment		Age
	Female N = 25	Male N = 17	Inter national N = 6	Domestic N = 39	Under 25 N = 30	Above 25 N = 15
Personal challenges	2.227	2.667	2.444	2.410	2.667*	1.911
Socio-emotional	2.640	3.059	3.000	2.778	3.144*	2.133
Academic challenges	2.710	3.368 *	2.917	2.917	3.308*	2.283
Moods	2.827	3.324	2.639	2.983	3.239*	2.333
Coping	3.313	3.500	3.222	3.257	3.589*	2.578
Socio-demographic barriers	2.033	2.455	3.250*	2.160	2.367	2.025
Psychological barriers	2.365	2.469	3.444	2.307	2.441	2.409
Adjustment	3.200	3.650	3.170	3.360	3.500	3.000

* = significant at 0.05; Based on the direction of the scale questions, mean values below 3 for transitional challenges, wellbeing and adjustments indicate concerns, whereas mean values below 3 for social and psychological barriers indicate no concern or less barriers.

Table 13. Mean differences in TWHAS variables across selected equity-sub groups.

TWHAS constructs	Language		Refugee status		First in Family (FiF)
	LOTE N = 18	Non LOTE N = 26	refugee background N = 14	Non refugee Background N = 33	FiF to attend The College N = 14	Not FiF to attend The College N = 33
Personal	2.370	2.423	2.428	2.404	2.595	2.333
Socio-emotional	2.592	2.961	2.714	2.868	2.904	2.787
Academic	2.875	3.038	2.910	3.015	3.160	2.909
Moods	2.990	2.897	2.666	3.065	3.095	2.883
Coping	3.342	3.198	2.773	3.464	3.392	3.202
Socio-demographic	1.840	2.515	2.541	2.154	1.928	2.350
Psychological barriers	2.075	2.656	2.785	2.309	2.666	2.349
Adjustment	3.671	3.121	3.210	3.412	3.430	3.310

* = significant at 0.05; Based on the direction of the scale questions, mean values below 3 for transitional challenges, wellbeing and adjustments indicate concerns, whereas mean values below 3 for social and psychological barriers indicate no concern or less barriers.