Foundation Degree Research Articles

Learning is like a lava lamp: the student journey to critical thinking

This article explores the ways in which a university Foundation Degree programme supports undergraduate Early Years students to develop critical thinking, mindfulness and self-actualisation through their lived personal and professional experiences. It considers the impact of this on graduates employed within the Early Years sector. Findings inform future design of a university Foundation Degree programme situated within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). As undergraduates, students engage in higher-level learning aligned to their practice within the workplace. An interpretive participatory qualitative research methodology is used to gather the views of six alumni who completed their studies in 2014. They participated in the research freely within ethical parameters approved by a university ethics committee. Findings revealed that the development of critical thinking is empowered by having a personal or professional impetus, which in the case of Early Years is the child as being at the heart of values-based practice. This, with the inclusion of mindfulness, drives students to a sustainable deeper layer of thinking to achieve self-actualisation. The acquisition of critical thinking has assisted students in being able to subsequently take up positions of authority within the Early Years workforce.

Women, higher education and family capital: ‘i could not have done it without my family!’

Previous research suggests that through engagement with higher education (HE), mature female students experience identity change and transformation which could lead to conflict and strain on family relationships. This paper analyses the links between family support and students’ feelings of success. The findings are based on qualitative research methods focusing on whether HE changes a woman’s identity and reconstructs family relationships using a theoretical lens of family capital as a tool of analysis. A narrative line of inquiry was used to build detailed stories of a small group of female students and their partners. The 11 women students were selected from one foundation degree in an Early Years programme at a further education institution. Data was constructed using mind mapping, focused interviews and a mosaic approach of participant-led research. This paper shows that HE transforms women’s lives and the lives of their families. My paper contributes to knowledge on this topic through the development of a model of family capital. The paper concludes that through accessing family capital and having their studies valued by their family, women are able to minimise their feelings of guilt and be successful in their studies.

An exploration of important factors in the decision-making process undertaken by foundation degree students with respect to level 6 progression

Deciding what degree to study and where are very important decisions to make for a range of practical and economic reasons, and much research has been undertaken in this area. What has not been considered previously is the decision-making processes of students who have completed an associate degree, such as a Higher National Diploma or Foundation Degree, and are now considering where to complete their Bachelor education. Associate degrees are often provided by further education colleges (FECs) in partnership with universities, and the choices available to college-based higher education students are whether to continue at the college or move to university. A mixed-methods approach was adopted comprising of an online questionnaire and subsequent focus groups of students studying at HE at a southwest FEC. The findings showed that equal importance is placed on the practical issues of proximity and familiarity as on course suitability, with the only differences between those remaining at college and those moving to university being financially based.

Effect on students from attending a university degree programme run in partnership with further and higher education institutions

This paper considers the effect on students from attending a university foundation degree programme delivered in partnership with six further education teaching institutions in England. The programme is situated within the early childhood education sector using an instructional design which promotes higher-level learning within the teaching institution and the workplace. Learning in one environment is aligned to the other. The research process actively involved students and was conducted within ethical parameters approved by a university ethics committee. A qualitative methodology examined data drawn from focus groups, an online survey and content analysis. Programme effect was seen as enhancing personal and professional capability and promoting higher-order learning. The findings go some way towards theorisation and documentation of programme effect by identifying the influence of instructional design and extend knowledge about aligning the pace of teaching and learning with professional practice.

The paradox of higher vocational education: the teaching assistant game, the pursuit of capital and the self

This article discusses the reasons offered by one group of paraprofessionals to explain their decision to study for a work-related higher education programme. It reports on an ethnographically inspired piece of research that aimed to capture the initial motives that a group of teaching assistants had for studying for a Foundation degree at a post-1992 university. This group of students were largely female mature students, who were also overwhelmingly mothers with dependent children. It is suggested that Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, habitus and illusio can be utilised to understand why these learners become motivated to enter higher vocational education. Workplace change and the pursuit of capital are highlighted as being a catalyst for the fracturing of illusio, career switching and undergraduate study. Somewhat counterintuitively, virtually all the students indicated that they had decided to study for a qualification that was primarily designed to help them succeed in their existing employment role as a means of acquiring a new occupational role and version of self.

The triple shift: student-mothers, identity work and engagement with low-status vocationally related higher education

This paper discusses a piece of qualitative research that examined the narratives that a group of learners articulated when they discussed their experiences of studying on a relatively low-status, vocationally related higher education programme. These students were school-based teaching assistants who were undertaking foundation degree study at a post-1992 English university. Data collection was primarily undertaken via semi-structured interviewing with first- and second-year foundation degree students. Eight group interviews were carried out with 44 participants. These were followed up with 12 individual interviews. Participant observations and documentary analysis of course-related documents were also drawn upon as contextualising sources of information. The accounts that were provided by students who undertook study alongside mothering are focused upon within this paper. These learners were routinely found to be involved in a triple shift of identity work. This stemmed from their positioning in the home, higher education and their workplaces. It is suggested that the concepts of identity management, disidentifiers and stigma can be usefully employed alongside habitus and field to make sense of the accounts that are documented.

Experiences Developing Human Capital: Enhancing Operator capabilities at Brunei LNG Sendirian Berhad (BLNG)

This work presents a review of efforts made since February 2012 to develop the human capital of operators working at Brunei LNG Sendirian Berhad (BLNG) and Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sendirian Berhad (BSP) through participation on a part time Foundation Degree in Process Engineering offered in partnership with Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB). Initially undertaken in February 2012 with an intake of 18 students, the programme was expanded to include a second intake of 17 students in July 2014. Intended as a bespoke course for industry, the review covers the development from these initial beginnings to its transformation into a part time equivalent of a full time academic programme. Work focuses on experiences faced by both the academic institution and industrial stakeholders, with issues discussed including; development of institutional and industrial administrative frameworks for the course, and their adaptation over time; student experiences, including effect on personal life and the realities of merging operational and academic requirements during study; comparative part time student performance with full time students; lecturer experiences implementing the programme, including differences in teaching the full time and part time students. This review also highlights some unanticipated benefits, such as students desire to progress onto full time degree courses subsequent to their part time study, along with more expected outcomes such as closer links between academia and industry.

Evolución de la madurez emocional en alumnos de Formación Profesional Básica mediante el empleo de actividades fuera del contexto escolar en el área de las ciencias naturales

The new implementations of the FP Basica (Spanish equivalent of a Foundation Degree) tend to gather quite a high number of students in the same classroom. In general, these students lack emotional and scientific literacy. The following investigation analyses the evolution of the emotional literacy of 16 students in their first year of FP Basica in the hairdressing sector, using some out of the scholar context interdisciplinary activities as an educative resource. Once the activities have taken place, the students are interviewed in order to analyse a series of predetermined emotional indicators which constitute to the denominated General Stencil of Emotional Indicators and respond to the antonym of the ones established by Diaz y Flores (2001). The answers of the students are analysed using Specific Templates of Semantic Pairs, according to three different situations where the emotions happen: during the activity, in the classroom and finally outside the school. The processing of the different results allows us to compare the evolution of the emotional literacy in the course of the tasks. Taking into account the starting and final statuses, an important emotional evolution is noticed generally among the students. Normal 0 21 false false false ES X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:4.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

Evolución de la madurez emocional en alumnos de Formación Profesional Básica mediante el empleo de actividades fuera del contexto escolar en el área de las ciencias naturales

The new implementations of the FP Basica (Spanish equivalent of a Foundation Degree) tend to gather quite a high number of students in the same classroom. In general, these students lack emotional and scientific literacy. The following investigation analyses the evolution of the emotional literacy of 16 students in their first year of FP Basica in the hairdressing sector, using some out of the scholar context interdisciplinary activities as an educative resource. Once the activities have taken place, the students are interviewed in order to analyse a series of predetermined emotional indicators which constitute to the denominated General Stencil of Emotional Indicators and respond to the antonym of the ones established by Diaz y Flores (2001). The answers of the students are analysed using Specific Templates of Semantic Pairs, according to three different situations where the emotions happen: during the activity, in the classroom and finally outside the school. The processing of the different results allows us to compare the evolution of the emotional literacy in the course of the tasks. Taking into account the starting and final statuses, an important emotional evolution is noticed generally among the students. Normal 0 21 false false false ES X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Tabla normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:4.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Times New Roman; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

People with dementia, contributing to learning and teaching in higher education: Innovative practice.

Patients and service users have a well-established role in teaching and learning on professional qualifying programmes such as such as social work and nursing. However, the role of people with dementia in contributing to educational initiatives at higher educational level remains under explored. Four people with dementia were recruited as Expert by Lived Experience Tutors for the Foundation Degree in Dementia Studies at a University in the United Kingdom. They met students regularly to support their learning. We were interested in researching whether and how this enhanced the ability of students to enable people to live well with dementia. However, we also discovered that the initiative gave insight into psychosocial aspects of dementia, and a new opportunity to explore personhood, co-production and social citizenship. That is the focus of this article.

From healthcare support worker to registered nurse

Workforce planning, education and training are essential for achieving an appropriate mix of skilled and motivated staff, but the NHS's financial challenges mean new ways of providing safe staffing levels and balancing the books are required. This article describes the development of an education programme for band 1 to band 4 unregistered support workers that led to the introduction of an assistant practitioner (AP) role. It also explains how the programme evolved from a one-year certificate in higher education to a foundation degree in health care, and has since produced over 100 APs in a range of clinical areas who deliver high quality, competent and patient-centred care in a cost-effective, sustainable way.

On the Horizon

The NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition uses a systematic methodology to report on new trends, challenges, and emerging technologies. This year, I noticed more global references than in the past, with examples from other countries in each category. TRENDS Let's start with trends that will drive technology planning and decision-making. Trends are reported in terms of their short-, mid-, and long-term impact. Short-term trends will either become commonplace or fade away in that time (Johnson et al., 2016, p. 6). Table 1 compares 2016 with 2015 trends. As you can see, there are some consistencies as well as shifts between 2015 and 2016. For example, the increased use of blended remained consistent. I believe this statement identifies a driving force: Students have expectations that higher education will mirror the information accessibility and immediacy of their connected lives (Johnson et al., 2016, p. 18). Blending draws upon the distinct advantages of both the online and face-to-face worlds. The University of Central Florida has an open resource website (http://blended.online.ucf.edu/) that provides useful tools and information about blended learning. The growth in blended has an impact on policy, leadership, and practice. The second trend, the growing focus on measuring learning, which moved from mid-term to short-term over the last year, is precipitated by the growing amount of data being collected on students. Through various tools, data are being amassed on as well as student activities (e.g., use of the library, social networks, shopping on college-based networks). With the growth in analytics, these data can be harvested and used to examine student readiness, progression, and remediation. This trend has renewed interest in the examination of and the best methods to measure learning. It has also raised ethical questions. For example, should we have consent from students to use their data for administrative decisions? What are the legal and ethical concerns related to data privacy and security of sensitive student data? In terms of mid-term trends, the redesign of spaces shifted from short term in 2015 to mid term in 2016.1 would suspect that funding for higher education has delayed the redesign of spaces to be more student-centric with smart room technologies and flexible spaces for cross-disciplinary interactions. For some standards and guidelines regarding spaces, you can use Educause's Learning Space Rating System (www.educause.edu/eli/initiatives/learning-space-rating-system). The mid-term trend, shifting to deeper learning, represents the growing need to ensure that our graduates have the knowledge and skills needed for the job market. This trend acknowledges the movement away from surface (memorization and multiple-choice tests) to deeper learning, defined as the mastery of content that engages students in critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and self-directed learning (Johnson et al., 2016, p.14). There is a growing emphasis on teaching through project-based, inquiry-based, or challenge-based strategies. The Lumina Foundation's Degree Qualification Profile is a good site to broaden your thinking about deeper (www.luminafoundation.org/resources/dqp) and the intellectual skills needed by associate, baccalaureate, and master's degree students. Advancing cultures of innovation remains a long-term trend and reflects the role of the university in fostering innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurial thinking. A new long-term trend Is the reexamination of higher education models. Competing market factors, employer needs, and consumer demands for accessible education are precipitating an examination of new roles and models for higher education. Staley (2015), who presents five, quite provocative models, gets one thinking about the future of the university. …

Exploring assistant practitioners' views of their role and training.

To examine the views of assistant practitioners and trainee assistant practitioners regarding experiences of practice in relation to the autonomy of the role and level of supervision, the training involved and support experienced in undertaking the foundation degree, and the effects of the assistant practitioner role in the workplace. A service evaluation was undertaken in which a small cross-sectional quantitative survey was distributed to trainee assistant practitioners undertaking the foundation degree, and assistant practitioners who had previously completed the foundation degree or who had qualified via another route. A total of 93 questionnaires were returned. The data indicate that there is some uncertainty surrounding the skills and competence of those undertaking the foundation degree, and a lack of opportunity for career progression for unregistered staff. Increased understanding of the scope and role of assistant practitioners and the academic requirements of the foundation degree is required to increase assistant practitioner numbers.

Development of a web-based teaching resource for analytical science practitioners

This paper describes the production of multimedia teaching material aimed at working analysts in the water industry who are studying the Open University‟s Foundation Degree in Analytical Sciences. In collaboration with staff at Scottish Water, Edinburgh laboratories, audio and video materials were produced which demonstrate a number of basic laboratory techniques routinely carried out in chemistry and microbiology laboratories. Teaching laboratory techniques (and associated safety procedures) is by its very nature a visual process, and requires the cultivation of a skill base and good practice that can only be gained by repetition. However an initial „show and tell‟ stage is required. This is extended to coverage of aspects of laboratory management, and how analysts work in teams to produce analytical data for the customer.

Context based learning in chemistry: Chemistry in Sport [part 1

A learning resource for part-time 1st year foundation degree students was designed to be completed entirely by independent study. The course presented chemistry in the context of sport and investigated the use of a number of alternative methods of teaching/ learning, including:● The Perry Scheme of Intellectual Development● Multiple intelligences (MI) Theory● Problem-Based Learning (PBL)● Context Based Learning (CBL)● Mind Mapping● Case Studies● Web-based independent learningA website containing questions, hyperlinks to further content and external webpages was produced. The students’ response was positive. They enjoyed the course, found the context interesting and the presentation helpful. The assessment marks improved (a 5-6% increase) compared to a more traditional paper based course. As only eight students took the course these results cannot be seen as statistically significant but provide agood indication that this was an effective approach. In completing their assessments and pre and post questionnaires the students provided valuable feedback that will enable improvements to the learning resource.

Context based learning in chemistry: Chemistry in Sport [part 2

A learning resource for part-time 1st year foundation degree students was designed to be completed entirely by independent study. The course presented chemistry in the context of sport and investigated the use of a number of alternative methods of teaching/ learning, including:● The Perry Scheme of Intellectual Development● Multiple intelligences (MI) Theory● Problem-Based Learning (PBL)● Context Based Learning (CBL)● Mind Mapping● Case Studies● Web-based independent learningA website containing questions, hyperlinks to further content and external webpages was produced. The students’ response was positive. They enjoyed the course, found the context interesting and the presentation helpful. The assessment marks improved (a 5-6% increase) compared to a more traditional paper based course. As only eight students took the course these results cannot be seen as statistically significant but provide agood indication that this was an effective approach. In completing their assessments and pre and post questionnaires the students provided valuable feedback that will enable improvements to the learning resource.

Nursing associates: a return to state enrolled nurses?

Plan for unregulated support role seen as a way to obtain ‘nursing skills on the cheap’, reports Clare Lomas

Law and ethics: problematising the role of the foundation degree and paralegal education in English post-compulsory education

This article is based on research on a foundation degree programme in paralegal education in England. The content explores the pedagogical benefits of this academic programme with its work-related focus. The research has been completed with academic tutors and students who are associated with a foundation degree programme in paralegal education in the north of England. The researchers have adopted an ethnographic paradigm in their exploration of learning and teaching within this academic programme. The research is ‘field based’ as it is situated in a particular context and it has occurred over four years of investigation. The article advocates the development of a transformative learning ethos that is based on a sound philosophy of teaching and learning in order to support the development of understandings of ethics within a vocational foundation degree context. The originality of the article rests in the observation that paralegal education is ideally situated within a foundation degree structure due to its vocational emphasis and its philosophy of pedagogy. The combination of practical work experience on the foundation degree and a clear vision of pedagogy has led to the emergence of a vibrant curriculum within a post-compulsory educational context.

Skill mix: Using the assistant practitioner to drive efficiency

This article outlines the development of the assistant practitioner role within a primary care setting and the experiences of 5 trainee assistant practitioners undertaking a foundation degree in health and social care delivered by the University of Bolton. The article will examine the changes in staff skill mix within general practice, and how the assistant practitioner role aims to contribute to the efficacy of services, improve patient access, and continuity of care. Furthermore, it will explore how it is offering career progression for healthcare assistants, in line with the Skills for Health (2015) skills escalator. A focus group methodology was used to gather the views of the trainee assistant practitioners at the end of their university programme and about to enter their new role. They were asked to reflect on the benefits of their learning and competency development, considering how their role has changed and will change in the future.

Rocket Science in a Virtual World

As a partner college of Greenwich University, Bromley College run Foundation Degrees in Software Development and Network Computing, and as part the programme, students complete a major Software Development project in year 1 and 2. The academic year 2014-15has a combined post 18 student cohort of 25 male and 1 female. Within the group there are two students with learning need statements, one for Dyslexia the other with Pervasive Learning Disorder. The theme for the year’s project is Rocket Science, where students are required to produce a desktop program capable of modelling the flight of a single stage rocket and this case study sets out to describe the delivery learning requirements.In education, virtual worlds provide unique learning opportunities, for accurate/real contexts and activities for experiential learning, simulation, modelling of complex scenarios, social interaction, that may not be experienced in other learning modalities (Atkinson, 2009).