Improving the transition to university: introducing student voices into the formal induction process for new geography undergraduates

Abstract

Recently, there has been renewed interest in the area of school to university transitions within geography. This article focuses upon one aspect of these transitions, namely the induction programmes offered by universities to their new undergraduates. It argues in favour of extending the length of the induction period currently offered by many institutions and incorporating student voices into the induction process through peer mentoring. In making this argument, the article reports upon the new Extended Induction to Geography programme that Newcastle University piloted for the first time in 2011–2012.

Keywords::

• peer mentoring
• extended induction
• student voice
• youth transitions
• guidance
• learner support

Notes

^1. GeogSoc is the student-run geography society at Newcastle University.

^2. The annual intake of geography students at Newcastle University is 150 per academic year.

^3. Tutor groups are randomly created by the Degree Programme Director at the beginning of first year and remain together as a group throughout the degree programme. Attaching mentors to tutor groups was pedagogically desirable, given that the Geographical Study Skills module is also taught in tutor groups, it was assumed that the students would quickly get to know each other and form a self-supporting group. In terms of managing the degree programme's logistics, it was also desirable to avoid creating dedicated mentor groups, comprising different sets of students.

^4. There were 15 tutor groups of 10 students but 17 mentors, meaning that two tutor groups were assigned two mentors.