Foundation Year Student Support: A Study Skills Report

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Individual Report
Study Skills
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report explains the different aspects of study skills, foundation year and the students from
wide participation background. Foundation year plays a very crucial role for the students from
the widespread background. The main importance is that the foundation year helps the
students from the wide participation background to develop belief and self-consciousness
within themselves. The foundation year also helps such students to identify their visions and
the career paths that they have to choose. The later parts of the report discuss the issues that
the foundation year students face during the course. Most of the students in the foundation
year are from the wide participation background hence they haven’t faced the university
environment earlier hence they fail to cope with the environment and handle the scenarios. But
the Study Skills helps the students to develop different quality and skills that help them to face
and solve the different problems that arise during the course and the throughout the learning
of the life of the student. Students from a wide participation background also face the issues in
understanding and expressing what they need which develops a communication gap between
the student and the teacher. But the Study Skills helps the students to learn effective
communication so that they can express themselves clearly and speak out what they want to
learn and understand.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
DISCUSSION................................................................................................................................... 4
A) IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUNDATION YEAR FOR STUDENTS FROM WIDE
PARTICIPATION BACKGROUNDS AND EXPLAIN WHY IT IS IMPORTANT.....................................4
B) EXPLAIN THE KEY CHALLENGES FACING FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS..............................6
C) DISCUSS HOW STUDY SKILLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION CAN HELP FOUNDATION YEAR
STUDENTS OVERCOME SOME OF THESE CHALLENGES..............................................................8
D) DRAW CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THESE KEY POINTS..........................................................10
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 11
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
This report is going to discuss the different aspects of Study Skills. The report is going to cover
all the necessary things like what are the different problems that foundation year students face,
how study skills address the problems and what is the importance of foundation year for
students from wide participation background, etc. The starting section of the report contains
the detailed and elegant information the foundation year, wide participation and the
importance of foundation year for the students from wide participation background. The next
section after that contains the explanation of the different major difficulties that the foundation
year students face in developing. The difficulties discussed in this section are the key difficulties
that can affect the overall future and career path of the student. The further section contains
graceful discussion on the Study Skills i.e. what Study Skills mean and how it addresses and
solves the different difficulties that are faced by foundation year students. The last section of
the report contains a brief conclusion of what is observed in the aforementioned sections.
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DISCUSSION
WIDE PARTICIPATION BACKGROUND
Widening participation in higher education is an element of the UK and Europe Government
Education Policy. The main aim of widening participation is to increase the number of
individuals with also increasing the proportions of the lower class, people with disabilities and
minorities in Higher Education (WPB, 2018).
FOUNDATION YEAR
In any university, the foundation year is where the student is given full support if he/she has
been out of education for few years and is nervous for the degree in the university (Field,
2010).
A) IDENTIFY THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUNDATION YEAR FOR STUDENTS
FROM WIDE PARTICIPATION BACKGROUNDS AND EXPLAIN WHY IT IS
IMPORTANT
The foundation year for students from wide participation backgrounds plays a crucial role. The
key roles are:
 Believe – The students from wide participation background are generally nervous about
the education and are not willing to make any efforts for studying by the point of view
that they are somehow not capable of doing so. Foundation year in the university plays
an important role in helping the student to believe in themselves and encourage them
to take continuous steps towards education (FY, 2017).
 Familiarization with Teaching and Learning – The foundation year will help the student
to understand the different teaching and learning styles and will help the students from
Wide Participation background to understand the study skills that can be applied in any
field of interest for effective education (FY, 2017).
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 Clearing the vision – The foundation year helps the students from wide participation
backgrounds to understand what they have to do and which type, of course, suits those
best in which they can enrol. The students from wide participation background can
make clear decisions based on the guidance provided to them for their carrier and
future (FY, 2017).
 Seeing the Opportunities – For such students the foundation year helps them to see the
wide variety of opportunities and courses in which they can find their area of interest
and enrol in the course (FY, 2017).
 Path Guidance – The foundation year play an important role in path guidance for the
students from the wide participation background. This is important because the
students will not be able to find out what would be the steps that they have to take for
pursuing their interests (FY, 2017).
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B) EXPLAIN THE KEY CHALLENGES FACING FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS
The main issues that are faced by foundation year students are:
COMMUNICATION GAP
The students from wide participation background have difficulty and hesitation in expressing
what they need or what they have to understand. This creates a problem for the teachers too.
Teachers cannot communicate with students in this way. Hence the combination gap between
the teacher and the student is one of the major issues faced by foundation year students (Hill,
2016).
NON UNIVERSITY BACKGROUND
The migration from non-university background to a university environment makes the students
feel less comfortable and they found it "away too professional thing" that is not made for them.
Coming from a non-university background, the students cannot adapt to the practices of the
university in the foundation year too quickly (Hill, 2016).
LEARNING NEW LANGUAGE
This is one of the most crucial and the most noticeable matter of concern with the foundation
year students. They are taught how to write, speak and communicate in new languages. But
due to their gap in education, they find it difficult to adopt the changes too quickly. This
decreases their self-confidence and also become a hindrance in learning further courses. Hence
the learning of a new language can be a big matter of concern for foundation year students. The
universities may have to experiment and change the ways to teach new languages to the
students (Hill, 2016).
SELF-ASSESSMENT
The foundation year students get failed in analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. This makes
the students less aware of their own self and they start to become a pot filling with books
without knowing that how will that knowledge be used. The lack of self-assessment also leads
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to less interest in the university courses and less interaction between the university and the
student (Hill, 2016).
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C) DISCUSS HOW STUDY SKILLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION CAN HELP
FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS OVERCOME SOME OF THESE CHALLENGES
STUDY SKILLS
Study Skills are (also called as study strategies) are the methods that are applied for improving
the one’s learning. Study Skill teaches different approaches and techniques that help one in
developing the learning methodology. Study Skills are considered important and useful for
lifelong learning throughout one's life (Richardson et al., 2010).
The study skills help students in many different manners:
GETTING ORGANIZED
Study skills help the student to manage the tasks they have in an organized manner. This not
only helps them to organize their studies but also the daily work they perform. This way the
student feels less overwhelmed and understands what are the next steps they have to take for
the completion of any task (Burns and Sinfield, 2012).
EFFECTIVELY UNDERSTANDING NEW LANGUAGE
The study skills help the student to effectively understand new languages by different methods
like effecting writing, effective reading, and effective speaking. This way the student becomes
comfortable in communicating in a new language. The learning of a new language builds
confidence in the student and helps them to open up with other people like teachers and
students (Burns and Sinfield, 2012).
UNDERSTANDING HOW TO STUDY
Study skills comprise of the techniques that help the student to understand the methods that
they should have to use for effective and efficient studying. Students are taught various
methods like how to deal with distraction and how to make reports quickly and easily. This, in
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turn, helps them to understand and adapt new skills which they can use for effective studying
(Burns and Sinfield, 2012).
UNDERSTANDING WHAT TO STUDY
The students are taught how to identify their area of interest and how to perform self-
assessment. This helps them to identify their vision and develop a passion for educating
themselves with a purpose. By this way, the students start to take interest in their respective
streams and know what they have to pursue (Burns and Sinfield, 2012).
EFFECTIVE WRITING, READING, COMMUNICATION
Even if the foundation year students know what they have to do, they have to understand how
to do it effectively. This can be done by understanding the context of different scenarios and
expanding the views on that scenario. Effective reading, writing and communication help the
students in broadening their mindset and think in a wider context in every situation.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
The study skills help the students to develop self-assessment and awareness skills. This will help
them to be more conscious of what they want and ask for that instead of being confused that
what is going on. Self-assessment is the key for the students to open up, identify and ask their
requirements and make progress by understanding what their current position is. Self-
assessment eradicates the certainty from the student’s mind that they are incapable of doing
something (or studying more specifically) and forces the student to find out its talent and
interests by exploring different areas (Burns and Sinfield, 2012).
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D) DRAW CONCLUSIONS BASED ON THESE KEY POINTS
Analyzing the key points above the things observed are that the foundation year for the student
which are from wide participation background is very important. Even though the in foundation
year students face little difficulties but the foundation year plays a very important role in
developing different skills that can help them in choosing the right vision and making right
decisions for their bright future. The above data clearly shows that the students from wide
participation background lack a lot of skills and self-confidence. This makes them nervous for
making important decisions in life-related to their studies and prevents them from a good
education. The foundation year plays a very important role in eradicating this lacking
confidence in the students. The students who have participated in the foundation year also face
different difficulties which in turn increase their nervousness. The difficulties like non-university
background deprive them of learning new things. The student becomes more confused in
between the process. Study Skills for sure have addressed the issues and helped the students to
overcome these difficulties in the university during the foundation year. Study skills address the
different difficulties by various approaches and techniques and try to convert those difficulties
in opportunities for the students. Study skills help the students in becoming more organized by
which they feel less overwhelmed and learn to face the university environment easily. The
development of skills like self-awareness, how to study and what to study proves to be a better
approach for the students in the foundation year and helps them to cope with the new
environment and be prepared for the upcoming challenges. Summing up everything, the main
conclusion can be made is that the students in the foundation year, especially from wide
participation background, face a lot of difficulties. Study Skills helps these students in
addressing the difficulties they are facing and also helps them to solve those issues. I this way
help them to become more prepared, conscious and skilful.
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CONCLUSION
This report successfully explained all the aspects that were important for the students in the
foundation, their analysis and study skills. The study on wide participation, foundation year and
the role of foundation year in wide participation was clear and keen to the point. The report
clearly explained what wide participation is and what is foundation year. This helped in
understanding further topics more easily. The next section was consisting of the different
problems that were faced by foundation year students. This section also made its point
precisely and helped in understanding the actual practical problems rather than any prediction
or theoretical concepts. Then the explanation of Study Skills helped in understanding its role for
solving the issues more accurately and was successful in addressing the major problems. The
conclusion based on the above three sections was clear and to the point. In this way, the report
was successful in explaining all the aspects of the foundation year, wide participation
backgrounds and Study Skills.
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