This report presents a project carried out at the University of the West of Scotland to explore contemporary theory and research in student transitions in higher education. The report includes a review of the literature on higher education transition along with data collected about current practice in transition initiatives from a variety of higher education institutions.
The literature to date on student transitions in higher education is underpinned by a lack of clarity and agreement as to what is meant by ‘transition’ and by a lack of theorising around transition to allow higher education practitioners to move beyond description and evaluation towards explanation and evidence-based intervention.
The report addresses these two areas through a literature review structured in three sections. These sections review:
- how transition has been defined and conceptualised within the literature to date;
- which theoretical frameworks have been most effectively applied to allow explanations of transition to emerge and;
- how effective practices in the support of transition have been presented in the literature to date.
Part of the #HEA12days series - get the whole collection of publications and resources here.
