So You’re Studying with Children? A Case Study in Inclusive Support

So You’re Studying with Children? A Case Study in Inclusive Support

Students with dependent children are often an invisible group, with little focus on their retention and progression (Marandet & Wainwright, 2010; van Rhijn et al., 2015). Assistance for student parents has often been an add on approach with support services disproportionate to the number of students represented (Lovell, 2014). This case study describes how this was transversed at the University of Southern Queensland by identifying and responding to a problem unique to this cohort.
In 2024 students with children complained that the introduction of a new academic calendar did not stagger university and school start times. Consistent with the research, these students described difficulty preparing for study, attending class and completing assessment (Marandet & Wainwright, 2010). To mitigate this experience, two teams active in the third space collaborated to design an interactive online workshop for commencing student parents. The Student Success Advising and Student Support for Learning teams utilised Lizzio’s (2006) Five Senses of Success model to design a targeted and accessible onboarding experience relevant to this cohort.
Positive feedback gathered from students after the workshop indicated that it effectively addressed their concerns at this point in their studies and increased their likelihood of accessing support available to them. One major outcome was the enhanced ability to provide wrap around support for this cohort through the learnings derived from the process of collaboration. Moreover, careful timing of the session and the online format meant the workshop was accessible, scalable, and could be applied to onboard various unique cohorts.

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