Inspiring Capability at University

Context

One university department noticed that only 49% of their students were achieving a 1st class or 2:1 honours degree. The rest were getting 2:2, a 3rd class degree or were failing. The university leaders wanted students to take responsibility for understanding their own learning systems, their neurodiversity, their needs to stay motivated and engaged and then to use this knowledge to fulfil their potential.

What we did

We asked the staff if they understood their own systems, their own neurodiversity and their own needs to stay motivated and engaged and whether they were able to use this knowledge to fulfil their potential. When the answer was ‘no’, we started with the staff team, helping them to uncover their own structures for working at their best and their worst. We supported them to understand and advocate for the kind of feedback that motivated them. Finally we supported them to develop a shared structure for when their staff team, as a whole, was working at its best together.

From here we developed workbooks for the staff and students to use over three years within create peer-coaching groups. The students came to discover their individual structures for learning individually and together. They were able to advocate for themselves within lectures and tutor groups. They were also able to adapt their own behaviours to support one another and collaborate with staff. We incorporated this learning into another initiative across the university called Personal Development Planning so as to ensure that this personal and professional development was seen by the students to be valued across the whole university.

What happened next?

Some students could easily see the benefit of recognising their neurodiversity and that of their peers while others went along with the programme but didn’t really see results until they came to the more independent learning requirements of their third year.

Although we didn’t do the kind of intervention that can claim causal results, the first year of this learning to learn, neurodiversity programme resulted in 55% of students achieving the top two grades, the next year is was 63% and in the third year (that is students started learning these skills in their 1st year and embedding them in their 2nd and 3rd) 75% of students achieved the top two grades.