The role of personal tutoring in supporting the transition to university: experiences and views of widening participation sport students

Despite the large and diverse cohorts annually recruited to Higher Education sport programmes in the UK, research exploring sport students’ experiences of transitioning into university is very limited. This study was conducted in response to several years of low retention and progression rates across first year sport degree programmes at a post-92 university in the UK. Through focus groups, the study explored the role played by the personal tutor in supporting effective transition of recently enrolled first year sport students from widening participation backgrounds. Most noticeably, the main contributory factors were found to be the nurturing of social integration and use of student-centred personal tutoring approaches to do so. The study further outlined how many widening participation sport students enter university with negative previous personal tutoring experiences and have limited understanding and misguided expectations of the role. The collective findings provide academic colleagues and university management with evidence of one model of effective support for a successful transition into university. Practical implications for widening participation students studying both sport and other degree subjects are presented, as are future research avenues and study limitations.


Introduction
In the United Kingdom (UK), widening participation (WP) has become an established component of the government's political drive in addressing inequality of access to higher education (HE) for underrepresented student groups. The agenda has achieved relative success over recent decades across the UK university sector, as evidenced by significant growth in student numbers entering HE from non-traditional and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This includes those classified as vocational, mature, parttime or disabled learners, and those coming from low income households or deprived neighbourhoods (Younger et al., 2018). UK universities are now fully committed to WP and fair access, and for many, this is an integral part of their student recruitment (Jones and Lau, 2010). In England for example, application rates for 18-year-olds living in areas with historically low HE participation rates increased to the highest recorded levels in 2018 (Universities UK, 2018). However, an unfortunate consequence of the escalating size, diversity and profile of modern-day student populations has been the significant rise in university withdrawal rates during the first 12 months of enrolment (Tinto, 2012;Christie et al., 2013;Kahu and Nelson, 2018).

Transitioning into university
For many students across multiple subject disciplines, but especially those from WP backgrounds, failing to overcome both social and academic barriers to HE can overshadow the many opportunities a high quality university education can offer (Bennet et al., 2007;Gale, 2011;Devlin, 2013). Successful university transition is reflective of newly arrived students feeling they have settled promptly, confidently and happily, made new friends and networks, and developed a sense of belonging and identity with peers and academic staff (Wilcox et al;2005;Farhat et al., 2017). However, a substantial research base clearly demonstrates how many find adjusting to social and academic demands as being a problematic and challenging aspect of early university life (Pillay and Ngcobo, 2010;Lee and Gawson, 2011;Murtagh, 2012;Turner et al., 2017). Evidence also suggests how new HE students are more likely to disengage, underachieve and ultimately withdraw from their studies if they feel unsupported and when their expectations are not fully met or only partially addressed (Bennett et al., 2007;Leese, 2010;Byrne et al., 2012;Thomas, 2012).
It is also important to remember how many first-year undergraduates, including those studying sport programmes, have only ever experienced school and further education learning environments where numbers are typically much smaller, study is more structured and tutor-led, fewer teaching staff may be involved and where groups are small enough for everybody to know each other reasonably well (Allin et al., 2017). Strong evidence further demonstrates how these students, and particularly those from WP backgrounds, lack sufficient understanding of what HE level learning entails (Gamache, 2002;Lowe and Cook, 2003;Allin et al., 2017), and that many enter their studies feeling underprepared and overwhelmed by the teaching and assessment methods they are likely to encounter (Allin et al., 2017;Fahrat et al., 2017).
It is further well established that large numbers lack confidence and struggle with the sudden shift towards independent learning, have limited experience of collaborative learning and are initially hesitant to ask for guidance and support from academic staff (Murtagh, 2010;Thomas, 2012;Hockings et al., 2018;McMillan, 2013). Part-time, mature and working-class students are also known to find it more difficult when transitioning into HE and have higher non-completion rates than those from traditional backgrounds (Tinto, 2010;Rubin, 2012).
The study by Gill (2019) is one of the few to have explored the thoughts, feelings and perceptions of sports students on their forthcoming transition into university. Key study findings were that many expected to face numerous academic and social barriers upon entry, including increased workloads, difficulty completing assessments to expected been designed to play an integral part in the academic, personal and professional development of all its students. Key personal tutor roles and responsibilities are to publicise and communicate their contact details, office hours and meeting arrangements to each of their tutees so they are aware of how and when they can make contact and meet personally. Within the sport department, a strong emphasis has been placed on better supporting newly arrived students to settle and adapt by developing their social integration and creating a sense of engagement and belonging in their new learning community. For example, staff and their tutees establish a relationship and get to know each other at the very start of their university life by undertaking a range of team building and practical sport activities together during programme induction. The personal tutor also monitors their tutees' academic progress and provides support for those who are not progressing satisfactorily through regular face to face meetings.
As far as possible, the personal tutor allocated in year one will stay with the same student throughout their time at RM, thus allowing for an effective and longstanding professional relationship of support to be developed. This is particularly important when it comes to completing reference requests for further study or job applications. If a member of staff changes role or leaves RM, a 'hand over' of tutees to the new personal tutor occurs.
Students are made aware well in advance of any change to their personal tutor and are able to request to change if they wish from the one allocated, without having to provide reasons. As the role can involve complex issues when dealing with students, a range of short personal tutor training courses are available. These include 'Building Positive Relationships', 'Responding to Student's Academic Concerns', 'Preparing and Delivering Feedback' and 'Presenting your Best Self'. Personal tutor related activities are also embedded into a core year one module to raise the currency and significance of the role with students.

Theoretical Framework and Study Aims
Alexander Astin (1984) proposed a student engagement theory based on student 'involvement', which he defined as 'the amount of physical and psychological energy that the students devotes to the academic experience' (Astin, 1984, p. 297). The theory, which has made a significant contribution to student engagement literature, policy and practice, proposes that the more students feel academically and socially involved, the better their overall learning experience will be and the less likely they are to drop out or fail. Thus, within the context of Student Involvement Theory, a highly involved student is one who devotes considerable effort to studying, spends time on campus, participates actively in student organisations and interacts frequently with other students and academic staff.
Alternatively, a typically uninvolved student will show signs of neglecting their studies, spend little time on campus, abstain from extracurricular activities and have infrequent contact with fellow students and academic staff (Astin, 1999).
Over the past three decades, a range of studies have both supported and disputed various components of this body of work. For example, the theory has received criticism for the general and basic assumptions it proposes about involvement plus its heavy emphasis on only traditional, full-time and residential students from North America. Furthermore, the relevance of the theory to those entering HE from non-traditional backgrounds, including mature, part-time, WP, disabled and working students is uncertain and warrants further scrutiny and investigation.
The recent growth in personal tutoring research across the HE sector has been well received and is an encouraging step forward. However, criticism has been made of the heavy emphasis on atheoretical studies undertaken with small sample sizes from traditional backgrounds across a narrow range of disciplines (e.g., nursing). Therefore, using Student Involvement Theory (Astin, 1984) as a guiding theoretical framework, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the role played by personal tutors in supporting effective transition of recently enrolled first year WP sports students at RM.

Methods
Focus groups were the chosen data collection tool in this qualitative study because they enable the gathering then questioning of several individuals about their attitudes to, Hayman, Coyles, Wharton and Mellor The role of personal tutoring in supporting the transition to university: experiences and views of widening participations sport students.
Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 18: October 2020 9 experiences of and thoughts on a specific concept or topic (Leung & Savithiri, 2009 (2019) also employed focus groups to explore first year undergraduate psychology students' personal tutoring experiences.
Each focus group was completed at a convenient time and location for all consenting participants. In all cases, this was within a safe, private and comfortable room within the RM campus. When undertaking qualitative research, it is important that the interviewer quickly builds trust and rapport with interviewees, so they feel reassured and relaxed to freely discuss topics they feel appropriate. The lead author has an established background in undertaking qualitatively based research within HE settings, which he used to aid the process of establishing a positive and empathetic bond with participants (Patton, 2002).
He had also lived the WP university student experience himself, which provided valuable insight and understanding into likely barriers and vulnerabilities faced by the participants.
The focus group questions were pilot tested by four WP second year undergraduate sports students who each had experience of engaging with the RM personal tutor process. This confirmed an approximate completion time of 40 minutes, with all wording and terminology considered appropriate and understandable for first year cohort students.
Four face-to-face focus groups, each comprising between seven and nine participants and for attending RM and their highlights thus far (Rapley, 2004 , 1985). A copy of all focus group questioning schedules used in the study are available on request from the first author.
All four scripts were read multiple times by the first and second authors, with notes reflecting theme statements and their meanings placed within margins. The same authors then independently annotated each interview transcript with their personalised thoughts and interpretations of the data. Thematic coding employed an inductive approach to allow for lower order themes to be derived. There were some minor discrepancies between the two separate coding results, but all were discussed and promptly resolved. Primary associations and connections based on similarities and patterns between derived themes were made, resulting in the generation of four main themes. Once finalised, direct quotes representing each theme were selected. The final analysis stage involved developing written accounts from identified themes which were reviewed and redrafted several times.

Findings
The findings are presented under four key themes which reflect the experiences and views of participants in the study. Participant and focus group (FG) numbers are presented in parentheses (e.g., P1, FG1 reflects participant 1 in focus group 1). The influence of negative pre-university personal tutoring experiences Some participants entered RM having encountered negative previous personal tutoring experiences within the school and college system. Several openly described their frustrations and reasons to why they had previously disengaged with the personal tutor role.

The personal tutor as a lynchpin for social integration
It was like college tutors were contacting everyone saying we should book a meeting with them to see how things were going but it was all a bit forced and like they had only been told to make contact by the managers which put me off.
(P7, FG1) Going to see your personal tutor was not taken so seriously by anybody in my college, so I only ever arranged a few meetings over the two years I was there.

Discussion
To our knowledge, this study was the first which specifically explored the role played by personal tutoring in supporting the transition of first year WP sport students into HE. It is important to note how all RM personal tutors are allocated sufficient capacity within their workloads to undertake the role, thus providing valuable time for them to sustain regular face to face and online contact with their tutees. This approach appears successful in strengthening the relationships and rapport initially formed during induction and early stages of the academic year. Self-selection bias plus failure to provide participants with opportunity to corroborate the accuracy of their personal tutoring experiences through member checking were further study weaknesses. Nevertheless, the study findings provide a firm foundation for future personal tutoring research to build upon. For example, longitudinal studies utilising regular semi-structured interviews and self-report diaries would enable participants to discuss their personal tutoring experiences frequently over extended time periods (e.g., every 4-6 months). Such research may help to identify any key differences between those who encounter a successful transition into university with those who do not.

Conclusion
The HE sport discipline is one which continues to recruit high numbers of WP students annually from diverse backgrounds. This study fills a gap in the literature and provides evidence on the role played by the personal tutor in supporting the transition of first year WP sport students into a post-92 UK university. Astin's theory was found to be a useful starting point to frame and explore engagement and involvement of the whole student cohort. Most noticeably, the main contributory factors to a successful transition were the promotion of social integration through student-centred personal tutoring approaches.
Additionally, our findings are the first to suggest that participants entered HE with negative previous personal tutoring experiences from school and college, which created a very distinct set of student expectations. In our experience, tutors devoted some considerable time and energy re-setting these. It appears personal tutors' sustained efforts to establish rapport with tutees were strongly influenced by their sport coaching backgrounds. This is an important finding and has implications for university leadership teams who may consider drawing consciously on the practices of coaching to underpin future personal tutoring policy and procedures. The collective study findings provide personal tutors working within and outside of sport subjects with evidence of how one subject group effectively supported the transition of a diverse student population into university. Longer term benefits may include improved retention and progression outcomes, increased proportions of students obtaining good honours awards, enhanced student satisfaction and improved employability rates.