PRESUPUESTO DEL PROYECTO

The qualitative evidence suggests that PS for Y ls helped to improve students’ academic performance. The students who used PS felt that they had improved their grades because of their involvement in PS. They also felt they had gained interpersonal and learning skills. The PSers felt that the PSUs had gained an understanding of what was expected on the course and how to tackle the course.

The students who used PS felt they had improved their academic performance as a result from attending PS. However, they did not feel that it had prevented them dropping out. In their responses to the end of year PS Questionnaire, 71% reported that they would have done less well if they had not attended PS. Twenty-three percent

felt they would have enjoyed the course less. Interestingly no students reported that they would have dropped out without PS, and similarly no students reported that they would have done better without PS.

The students perceptions of how they benefited in terms of interpersonal and learning skills are set out in Table 5.17. The responses in this are drawn from the end of year questionnaire that is completed by users and non users (see Appendix I). Forty-two o f the 50 students who attended PS at least once completed this questionnaire.

P S HELPED ME TO: % Agreeingor Agreeing Strongly

Improve my group work skills 71 %

Increase my confidence 71 %

R educe the barriers between me and other students 7 1 %

Understand course concepts 71 %

Understand w hat w as expected on the course 6 6 %

Increase my motivation 6 2 %

Revise 6 2 %

Improve my communication skills 5 7 % Improve my listening skills 5 7 % Improve my understanding of how people leam 4 2 %

Improve my e s sa y writing 14 %

Table 5.16: Benefits Y1s who used PS reported from attending the sessions

As Table 5.16 shows the Y ls reported considerable benefits from attending the PS sessions. The most frequently recorded benefits were the improving o f their group work skills, increases in confidence, and the increased understanding o f course concepts. Students also felt they had increased their understanding o f what was expected o f them on the course as well as their motivation and their revision techniques.

In their group interview the PSers picked up on some of the benefits that students had reported. The PSers felt that PS had helped the PS users to work in groups and it had helped them to understand what was expected on the course.

Ola in her individual response to the group interview felt that students had gained from discussing topics and had also gained from working together in groups:

“Those that felt they were gaining something from the sessions came back every week to exercise their brain like in discussing and telling us all they knew about a topic. They obviously thought it was the best place to get past papers . . . Something I think they learnt quite well was to work with one another, together in a group. They learnt to care for each other, they all wanted to be the one to explain to someone that didn’t understand what we were discussing. They learnt how to use their imagination, their brains and how to use what they knew to answer questions. I once saw a group of boys and girls discussing which was fantastic because most of the time during the sessions the boys and girls don’t like working together, so I was really surprised. They made friends as well because the atmosphere was more relaxed and so easier to make friends.” (Ola’s written answers to the interview questions)

The PSers also felt that it had helped the students to understand what was expected on the course. This understanding was in two forms. First, the students had learned about the need to work independently through the year, and second they had learnt to practice their exam technique.

The PSers felt that the sessions had helped the PS users to understand what was expected on the course, in terms of working independently:

“Ola: I think they thought they were gaining something from it because if they weren’t then they wouldn’t turn up. So they actually knew they were getting something back . . . I think it helps their independence, being like learning on their own.

Nazia: A lot o f them just depend on what they are taught in class and we told them ‘You have to read it yourself, you can’t just depend on that because they touch on a topic and they expect you to read it’ because they didn’t realise. . .

Shaminder: They learnt about working at the same pace throughout the two years, not just at the examination period and also working independently so that you’ve done everything before hand and when its being taught in class it makes understanding so much easier.”

Another key part of learning about what was expected on the course was understanding about exam technique. The PSers were very clear that the students needed to learn how to answer exam questions if they were to be successful on the course:

“Shaminder: It’s good to get it started off straight away rather than just learning (exam) technique at the end. During the two years you need to learn

the technique itself. Having knowledge is one thing but knowing what the they want, the examiners themselves, that progresses over the two years. Nazia: A lot of them didn’t really know about past papers or you can get them or anything.

Ola: Some of them didn’t really know what the course was like .. .

Nazia: ‘Cause going from GCSE to A level is a really big jump and its a lot harder and you’ve got to do a lot more work, there are a lot doing it just how they did it at GCSE.”

This pre-occupation with the final exam is probably what led the PSUs to adopt more reproducing orientated approaches to studying that I demonstrate in Section 6.3.1.

The qualitative evidence suggests that the students who attended PS for Y ls improved their academic performance. The students themselves felt that they had, as well as developing other important skills. The PSers felt that the PSUs had developed a greater understanding of what was expected on the course, as well o f how to study to achieve on the course.

2. Did PSUs on Y1 achieve higher marks than non-PSUs in their end of year