Supporting international PGT students’ interaction and participation, academic confidence and belonging through academic skills classes and a student-led video project

Abstract

This paper reports on a research project which took place at a university in the North of England during the academic year 2021-22. As a small team of discipline-based Academic Skills Tutors, we provide weekly two-hour classes for PGT Education students. Classes focus on giving students the tools to develop their academic and communication skills. The aim of our research was to find out about students' interaction and participation, levels of academic anxiety, and sense of belonging. To gather students’ views, we conducted an online survey which was sent to all students, and we ran three focus group sessions. We then presented the results to students and asked them if they would like to participate in a video project in which their experiences were captured, with a view to creating a resource for incoming PGT students to support their transition to postgraduate study in the UK. The project produced three short videos, each of which picks up one of the themes of the research (participation, academic anxiety and belonging). This paper first presents our research findings on the three themes: student interaction and participation, academic anxiety and students' sense of belonging. It then reflects on the process of producing the student-led video project.