Currently reading Forsyth et al. (2022) “Shape-shifting and pushing against the odds: staff perceptions of the experiences of first generation students in South Africa and the UK.”

In thinking about who trust whom and why (not), it’s always interesting to see how people talk about other people, in this case how teachers talk about first generation students.

Forsyth et al. (2022) investigate how teachers talk about the experiences of first generation students in both South Africa and the UK in 20 interviews in each place, and despite the very different settings, find mostly similarities. For example, while teachers appreciate that first generation students bring with them valuable skills and experiences, they focused more on describing the difficulties those students encounter when entering university as a foreign space. And while they thought that someone should help first generation students integrate with other students and the university more broadly, they don’t necessarily see that as their own responsibility, even while acknowledging that someone should really step up and nobody else, nor “the university” were doing it.

Additionally, teachers looked at first generation students from a deficit perspective, noting for example that they come from low-income families and a “somehow less satisfactory environment” (quote of the authors’ conclusions, not a teacher!), don’t know what to do and that their expectations are ill-informed. But talking about a group of students in such a prejudiced way is of course not helping, especially since teachers typically, unless it came up in conversation with students, don’t have factual information about which students are first-generation students and therefore can only rely on prejudices. They claim that they notice anyway “by their accent, by the way they […] aren’t quite as professional in their outlook as some of our other students […] you kind of know because they’ll pronounce words wrong” (UK staff), and make assumptions about how the transition from home to university works that they probably haven’t gone through themselves (or at least not the teacher quoted talking about “first generation people“), describing the shape-shifting to fit in at university and then back to fit in with their home context, and being “kind of caught between two cultures“.

Overall, teachers tended to make assumptions about and generalize first generation students’ experiences and undervalue the diverse experiences and skills they did bring, even though the teachers interviewed for this study had volunteered their time to contribute to research about first generation students and therefor probably mean well. Nevertheless, they saw first generation students’ struggles as individual problems rather than structural, and “the university” as something fixed rather than something that could be changed, and that they could contribute to changing, so more people would feel they are welcome and belong without the need to do so much “shape-shifting” to fit in (also quite an assumption that students act out an inauthentic role while at university!).

Forsyth et al. (2022) write “[w]hilst we acknowledge that students’ educational trajectories are constrained and influenced by previous experiences we need to encourage academic staff to consider a wider range of approaches, recognising the skills that these students bring and consider how they can contribute to developing an inclusive university.” Even though it might feel differently especially in universities with a long and proud tradition, “‘[b]eing a university’ is an on-going process of ‘becoming’ as universities are constantly developing, and therefore there is no reason for universities to teach or relate to students in the same way for ever.”

Suggestions for how to make change happen from an academic development position are to

• help teachers find different ways of talking about their expectations of students and to imagine new ways of teaching and assessing — possibly in co-creation with first generation students.
• ask course teams under re-design processes to explain what has been done to make sure a course is fully accessible and how they are building on students’ prior experiences inside and outside of university — possibly also in partnership with students.
• provide a structured framework or “permission” to change things up. (Great way of saying that, which I need to remember for future use: “Making changes to conventional assessments and teaching techniques requires a great deal of individual confidence or a structured framework provided by the university. Teachers need permission to do things differently.“)

What I found fascinating in this article is just how many prejudices and generalizations come through when even most likely well-meaning teachers speak about first generation students. It’s a good reminder to be very careful with how we speak — and think — about groups of people and that we should pretty much always assume that people within any group might have one or several characteristics in common, but nevertheless consist of people with very diverse histories, live experiences, preferences, etc.. So assuming that we know everything about someone just because they are a member of a certain group is almost certainly going to be wrong. Even more reason for co-creating learning and teaching with the students we have!

Forsyth, R., Hamshire, C., Fontaine-Rainen, D., & Soldaat, L. (2022). Shape-shifting and pushing against the odds: staff perceptions of the experiences of first generation students in South Africa and the UK. The Australian Educational Researcher, 49(2), 307-321.

As always, pictures from my favourite spot when walking to take a dip…

Early morning beach before the sun comes up high enough to actually reach the beach…

But it’s sunny in the  water!

I love this combination of seeing the blue sky reflected in some spots, and being able to look into the green water in others!

And all the different scales of waves!

It’s also always interesting how much stuff you notice floating in the water when you look at pictures after the fact!