Evaluating a transitional support intervention to improve educational outcomes and experiences for students registered with disability and inclusion services

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on an intervention for students experiencing disabilities to reduce the reported statistical negative gaps in continuation and attainment. This study established how targeted interventions, alongside inclusive practice, can be effective in reducing these gaps. To collect data from the students, the study’s design used questionnaires containing questions with pre-set answers choices, Likert scale questions and free text options. 1003 students known to disability services at an English university were invited to take part, 47 responded to the pre-programme questionnaires and 51 responded to the post-programme questionnaire. 11 students attended enough sessions to participate, these students were tracked during their studies to assess the impact of the transition programme, in terms of retention and progression. Student satisfaction with the transition programme was statistically significant and improved the students’ experience of joining the university. An unexpected outcome of the programme was that 10.5% more students obtained a support plan with the university and 6.6% more students were awarded the Disabled Students’ Allowance. The study concludes that further development of transition programmes, at key points in the students’ life cycle, would be beneficial to individual students and reduce the reported gaps in outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Disability
• transition
• university
• intervention

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Harley

Jennifer Harley joined the University of Law in 2016 as the disability and inclusion service manager. Currently, she is in role as a project manager for disability inclusion working on the strategy and implementation of disability inclusion, taking a holistic approach. Jennifer is a practitioner researcher and focuses on exploring interventions to improve student outcomes in higher education.