Foundation Year Challenges and Support in Higher Education

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Study Skills for Higher Education- Assignment 2
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference List................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
In this part of the entire assignment, the key importance regarding foundation year from the
perspective of students will be analyzed. Moreover, it has been assessed form previous studies
and articles that the students that need to make their entrance at a university by being a part of
foundation year generally face some challenges. Explanation of these challenges will also be
done at the report. Moreover, some discussion will also be done about the process of study skills,
which will ultimately be helpful for foundation year students at overcoming these challenges at
certain extension.
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Main Body
Importance of the foundation year for different students
Foundation year program is extremely helpful for a range of different students who think s that
they are not eligible enough to carry on their respective degree within a certain time period. In
foundation years, the teachers generally teach specialized courses towards the students in order
to make them more susceptible at taking admission at different universities. It such a process that
assist different students at entering into high degree course even if they are not eligible at the
first phase. In addition to that, there are some other importances of foundation year from the
perspective of different students. Description of these importances has been illustrated below:
Students might fell a tertiary educational background
Foundation year programs are generally extremely helpful for those students that left their
education for some times after leaving their schools as the foundation year can make any student
get settle on their tertiary study. In addition to that, foundation year might also be extremely
helpful towards bringing back the process of conducing study and taking notes. In addition to
that, students might also achieve their respective learning styles while being a part of entire
foundation year program (Simm et al., 2011). Moreover, it introduce some contract hour for
study, which is initially extremely helpful towards making an overall study system. Completion
of an entire foundation year course might be extremely helpful towards making prefabricated
commitment regarding studying at a certain university with certain subject. In addition to that,
continuous progressions at foundation year study are generally extremely helpful towards
continuing the study at a particular course and a particular subject for achieving a university
degree.
Overall improvement of academic skills
Different study materials and courses that are closely associated with foundation year student are
generally extremely helpful towards improving the overall academic skill set of an individual.
Moreover, a foundation year course generally assists at developing such skills that is helpful at
getting success at tertiary education at certain extension. In addition to that, foundation year are
also extremely helpful towards the students for improving and developing their overall academic
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writing skills, independent research skills and time management skill (Sanders et al., 2016). In
addition to that, enhancements of academic skills are also extremely valuable and helpful
towards identifying the gaps of learning process, which will ultimately be valuable towards
bridging the overall gap between required study skill and existing study skill. Lacks of different
skills can easily mitigated through the help of improving academic skills at foundation year
study. As an instance, while taking higher education at engineering, a student must have
adequate knowledge at mathematics. Students that do not have adequate experience at math
season are needed to make some bridging seasons so that they can recover from their weak
points.
Alternative route at study course
In recent time and instances, it has been observed radically that there are enormous competition
at the entry stage of different academic learning courses. Moreover, an overall higher mark is
required for entering in a study course (Toledo et al., 2016). It is not possible for every student to
get higher marks. These types of students can take an alternative route towards entering at their
respective study course. Therefore, it has been observed that these foundation years are actually
useful at gaining expertise in some specific skill set that are extremely useful towards the overall
development process of students. Some alternative pathway options for enhancing a particular
skill is also possible through the help of foundation year courses.
Purposely choosing streams that are best fitted as per backgrounds and interests
There are bunches of different foundation courses that are exactly aligned with the study
materials of actual coursework. In addition to that, it has also been found through several
different instances that those foundation courses are extremely helpful towards helping students
who are not able to take on their selective course due to lower marks (Powell and Lawan, 2017).
In different situations and backgrounds, it has been observed those foundation years are
extremely helpful towards identifying the gaps that causes the actual failure of getting higher
marks. Students can also gather idea regarding their preferred study area while being a part of
foundation program.
As an instance, any beginner can be extremely helpful and valuable for those students that have
never gone through these courses (Ireland, 2018). On the other hand, it is also extremely helpful
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towards choosing right study stream in accordance with their particular study barrier. Moreover,
it has also been analyzed and articulated that students can easily chose their stream at advanced
studies while being laid back by the foundation year at certain extension. Since students can also
make choices to take on some higher education degree while conducting study at foundation
year, they can easily assess their key areas of improvement before getting admission at higher
study courses.
Gaining credit towards conducting future study
Different foundation courses are extremely helpful towards making some extra credit towards
future study, which will ultimately be helpful for the students towards entering at the second year
if their overall marks do stack up (Curtis et al., 2017). In addition to that, students might also get
exiting benefits through the help of foundation year study, as it will also help them at conducting
their selective study process. Getting some extra credit might also be extremely beneficial
towards ensuring the fact that students are not in any form of disadvantageous option while
taking on their full-fledged educational streams. Students might also get the advantage of
focusing more into their RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) program so that they can make any
learning procedure easy, reliable and relevant.
Different challenges that has been faced by foundation year students
Despite the fact that foundation year students might get more help from their overall study
program, it has also been observed that the sometime they face ranges of different problems that
really shut down growth scope at future context. In the section of the entire report, some of these
challenges are needed to be mitigated for the overall wellbeing of these types of students at
certain extension (Ryan et al., 2017). As an instance, it has been observed that there are some
stigmas at the overall process of foundation year program from the perspective of both
employees and employers at certain extension. Diversity at group can also be maintained and
evaluated through the help of foundation year students at certain extension. As an instance, when
a group has been formulated based into some regular students and some foundation year
students, it is natural that there will be some diversity at that group, which might automatically
minimize the overall credibility that group at greater extension.
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In addition to that, foundation year students generally experience a prefabricated sense of
isolation while conducting their study. It might take off some opportunity from foundation year
students. Some stigma might also raise between the perceptions of foundation year students,
which are also their overall disadvantage. On the other hand, some of the foundation year
students might be more aged than normal year students, which also creates diversity at certain
extension. It is also a big disadvantage for foundation year students. Moreover, it has also been
observed that foundation year students who studied at their home might feel themselves socially
excluded, which is also their big disadvantage. Mature students who are more aged than regular
students might also get very limited opportunities regarding networking. It can be burden at their
overall growth factor.
Some of the students that taken on foundation year had also stated that they had not been treated
like university students at certain extension. As an instance, it has been observed that some of the
library stuff does not conduct their work in accordance with the foundation year students. They
felt that their study resources are limited and thus resulting into ineffective placements.
Moreover, students are generally restricted from using electronic journals and VLEs that has
been hosted by HEI library facilities (Poh et al., 2016). In coincide; foundation year students also
felt that they are currently struggling with their overall independent aspects of learning. Students
of foundation year also need to enhance their overall study support skills in order to cope up with
regular students at certain extension. Some of the mature students that conducted foundation year
study generally block different timetables, which genuinely hurt their overall score at the
university. They found it extremely difficult to get alongside with university lifestyle after being
detached with it for so long. It is quite natural for them to reintegrate themselves with the regular
students.
In addition to all of these, absence of recent schooling might also point out some negative
aspects at the overall growth and lifestyle of entire foundation year students. Besides that, they
also feel depressed and demotivated that make them delusional towards the entire education
system.
Recommendation for overcoming the problem
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1. It can be highly recommended to make some collaboration between the regular students
and the foundation year students in order to minimize the gaps between them. Regular
face-to-face meetings and contracts might be extremely helpful in the context. In addition
to that, making collaborative projects might also become extremely valuable in the
particular aspect.
2. Reinforcement and alignment of the overall HE system alongside with the foundation
year courses might also seem extremely value able in the particular aspect. In includes
different training and other active engagement programs in order to guide the overall
foundation year students with more resources regarding library materials so that they can
solve the issue regarding database and library (Steedle et al., 2019).
3. Offsite foundation year students have to be prepared for experiencing different teaching
approaches and in context to honors level so that the overall growth exposure can be
measured. In addition to that, it is also needed to make sure the fact that the difference
between the actual study course and the foundation year study course is not much.
4. Effective induction is also extremely needed since it assists foundation year students to
get some proper tutorial and mentoring program, which will further be useful at braining
out the overall gap between the needed skill and the potential skill. Moreover, the overall
adaptation of Honours degree without compromising the core academic standards are
also needed for assessing different vocational elements in addition with alternative forms.
5. Supporting the overall skill set and skill level of foundation year students might also be
extremely valuable towards them from getting the benefits of assessing some additional
and more vibrant study skills and it is needed through the study season (Ray et al., 2017).
Tutors are needed to be more responsive and cooperative for being supportive and
relevant towards them.
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Conclusion
After analyzing the entire study, it can be easily concluded that there are some expectations from
the foundation year students that they are going to be successful at their career in future context.
In this particular matter, it can also conclude that foundation year is extremely helpful towards
some students as it assist them at bridging the overall gap between current expertise and needed
expertise. Moreover, foundation year studies are also extremely helpful towards creating
alternative pathways in order to study a specific study skill. Moreover, it has also been assessed
from the study that there are some factors that make students to take on foundation year courses
despite the fact that there are some risks associated with foundation year study. Lastly, it can be
concluded that effective help from teachers and mentors might be extremely helpful towards the
development process of foundation year students.
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Reference List
Simm, D., Marvell, A., Winlow, H. and Schaaf, R., 2011. Student experiences of foundation
degrees in further and higher education. Planet, 24(1), pp.2-9.
Sanders, L.D., Daly, A.P. and Fitzgerald, K., 2016. Predicting retention, understanding attrition:
A prospective study of foundation year students. Widening Participation and Lifelong
Learning, 18(2), pp.50-83.
Toledo, P., McLean, S., Duce, L., Wong, C.A., Schubert, A. and Ward, D.S., 2016. Evaluation of
the foundation for anesthesia education and research medical student anesthesia research
fellowship program participants’ scholarly activity and career choices. Anesthesiology: The
Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, 124(5), pp.1168-1173.
Powell, R. and Lawan, H., 2017. Applying to the UK foundation programme from a European
medical school. BMJ, 356, p.i6592.
Ireland, J., 2018. Pisacano Leadership Foundation Names 2018 Pisacano Scholars. The Annals of
Family Medicine, 16(6), pp.573-575.
Curtis, E., Wikaire, E., Jiang, Y., McMillan, L., Loto, R., Fonua, S., Herbert, R., Hori, M., Ko,
T., Newport, R. and Salter, D., 2017. Open to critique: predictive effects of academic outcomes
from a bridging/foundation programme on first-year degree-level study. Assessment &
Evaluation in Higher Education, 42(1), pp.151-167.
Ryan, P.S., Gormley, G.J. and Hart, N.D., 2017. Preparation for practice: a novel role for general
practice in pre-foundation assistantships. Education for Primary Care, 28(4), pp.210-215.
Poh, B.L.G., Muthoosamy, K., Lai, C.C. and Gee, O.C., 2016. Assessing the Metacognitive
Awareness among Foundation in Engineering Students. IAFOR Journal of Education, 4(2),
pp.48-61.
Steedle, J.T., Radunzel, J. and Mattern, K., 2019. Understanding the Preparation Levels Needed
for Different Postsecondary Pathways: A Rigorous Academic Foundation Is Critical for All.
Ray, M., Milston, A., Doherty, P. and Crean, S., 2017. How prepared are foundation dentists in
England and Wales for independent general dental practice?. British dental journal, 223(5),
p.359.
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