Supporting the development of persistence: strategies for teachers of first year undergraduate students

Supporting the development of persistence: strategies for teachers of first year undergraduate students

The first year of university study has a major impact on later participation and performance. Transitioning to university from school or other contexts requires first year students to become selfdirected learners, entering an environment with minimal constraints and expectations of selfmotivation and individual effort. In 1991, Costa named the habits of mind, suggesting that demonstration of these habits will enhance the academic success of learners. This research project aimed to identify teaching and learning strategies with potential to assist first year university
students to persist at a task. Persistence is one of Costa's (1991) habits, and it supports one of the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education, recently adopted by Central Queensland University. This paper outlines data gathered from two participating tutors of first year teacher education students at a Queensland regional campus. Participant journals and individual
interviews were the data sources. Analysis revealed that student persistence can be developed and enhanced through teaching and learning strategies focusing on reflection on learning, shared experiences, and positive feedback, even though different pedagogical approaches were adopted.
Specifically, one tutor addressed the habit of persistence explicitly, the other did not, yet both groups of students showed evidence of having persisted at their tasks.

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