Student perception of the impact of mathematics support in higher education

Abstract

Mathematics support in higher education has become increasingly widespread over the past two decades, particularly in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Despite this, reliable evaluation of mathematics support continues to present challenges for those working in this area. One reason is because ideally, properly structured support should function as an integral part of the overall educational experience of the student, in tandem with lectures and tutorials. When this occurs, it makes it difficult to isolate the impact of mathematics support from these other entities. In this paper, the results of a large-scale nationwide survey conducted with first-year service mathematics students in nine higher education institutes in Ireland are considered, exploring students’ perceptions of the impact of mathematics support upon their retention, mathematical confidence, examination performance and overall ability to cope with the mathematical demands they face. Students were extremely positive about the effectiveness of mathematics support in all of these areas, providing valuable insights into the value of learning support in mathematics.