“When You Fail, You Feel Like a Failure” : One Student’s Experience of Academic Probation and an Academic Support Program

Abstract

This in-depth, qualitative study explored the experience of academic probation. It recounts the story of Mark, an undergraduate student on academic probation who participated in an academic support program to attain good academic standing. His story is contrasted to the current literature on academic probation and is considered in light of Dewey’s (1958,1938/1997, 1934/2005) theory of experience. This paper offers an important contribution to the literature on higher education by revealing a rich, complex, and unique experience which illustrates that Mark does not correspond to the typical image of probationary students depicted in the literature. This article breaks away from an oversimplified portrayal of probationary students, offers a provisional conceptualization of academic probation, and calls for further definition of the notion of academic probation.