ABSTRACT

Student support practitioners, who provide personal counseling and academic advising to non-traditional students, play a key role in widening participation efforts, but their perspectives are rarely researched. To address this gap, this study draws on the practice perspective on knowledge and learning, and explores the practice-based knowledge shared by support practitioners working in Israeli higher education institutions. The study is based on interviews with 43 practitioners who work in 17 higher education institutions, and addresses their expertise, insights and practices. The discussion focuses on practitioners’ collectively developed understandings of the student lifecycle and their situated knowledge and support practice in the organizational context of academic faculties. Practitioners suggest that support at the stages of enrollment and withdrawal are missing elements in the student lifecycle approach. Advice at the enrollment stage could significantly reduce students’ difficulties, as well as the likelihood that they will change their course of study or withdraw. Support for students who withdraw requires a nuanced and contextual understanding of withdrawal – one that includes ‘healthy withdrawal’. Finally, practitioners suggest that it is more useful to consider the faculty or department as the relevant organizational level for student support, and call for a distributive structure of support services. This would strengthen relations with students and staff and generate faculty-situated support knowledge and practice. The study calls for taking into consideration the practice-based expertise of support practitioners to improve understanding of the experiences, needs and challenges of widening participation.

摘要

向非传统学生提供个人咨询和学术建议的学生支持从业者在扩大参与努力方面发挥着关键作用，但他们的观点很少被研究。为了解决这一差距，本研究借鉴了知识和学习的实践观点，并探讨了在以色列高等教育机构工作的支持从业者共享的基于实践的知识。该研究基于对在 17 所高等教育机构工作的 43 名从业者的采访，并探讨了他们的专业知识、见解和实践。讨论的重点是从业者对学生生命周期的集体发展理解，以及他们在学术机构的组织环境中所处的知识和支持实践。从业者建议，在入学和退学阶段的支持是学生生命周期方法中缺少的元素。入学阶段的建议可以显着减少学生的困难，以及他们改变学习课程或退学的可能性。为退学的学生提供支持需要对退学有细致入微的了解——其中包括“健康退学”。最后，从业者建议将教师或部门视为学生支持的相关组织层面更有用，并呼吁支持服务的分配结构。这将加强与学生和教职员工的关系，并产生教师支持的知识和实践。