Abstract
The first year at university is always challenging, but particularly in 2020 when COVID-19 triggered lockdowns and a rapid shift to online learning. This mixed methods study tracked the wellbeing and engagement of 60 new students in an undergraduate teacher education program at an Australian university throughout the first trimester of 2020. Follow-up focus groups with 14 students used interview and photo elicitation to explore how COVID-19 influenced wellbeing and engagement. Quantitative results demonstrate both student wellbeing and student engagement dipped strongly at the start of lockdown but recovered towards the end of the trimester. Focus group findings illustrate the diversity of experience in terms of student access to time and space to study, their ability to sustain relationships online, and the cumulative stress of COVID-19. The findings lead to recommendations for supporting this cohort and for future research.
Highlights
Starting university is well documented as a challenging time for students (Baik et al, 2015) with student attrition highest in the first year (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency [TEQSA], 2020)
The current study explores two critical and related dimensions of the student experience, engagement and wellbeing, in the first trimester of a Bachelor of Education degree at an Australian university
Following statistical significance (p < 0.05), post-hoc Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests were performed to determine any differences in wellbeing and engagement compared with teaching period 2
Summary
Starting university is well documented as a challenging time for students (Baik et al, 2015) with student attrition highest in the first year (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency [TEQSA], 2020). This is so for Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs, the focus of the current study. A recent report showed the ITE first-year retention rate was just 77%, three percent lower than comparable undergraduate programs (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2019). The current study explores two critical and related dimensions of the student experience, engagement and wellbeing, in the first trimester of a Bachelor of Education degree at an Australian university. In Week 5 of the semester various locations in Australia went into lockdown which severely restricted people’s movement and led to a rapid shift to online learning
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