A journey of negotiation and belonging: understanding students' transition to science and engineering in higher education

TY - JOUR

T1 - A journey of negotiation and belonging: understanding students' transition to science and engineering in higher education

AU - Holmegaard, Henriette Tolstrup

AU - Madsen, Lene Møller

AU - Ulriksen, Lars

N1 - Published online October 2013

PY - 2014/9/1

Y1 - 2014/9/1

N2 - The paper presents results from a longitudinal study of students’ decisions to enrol on a higher education science programme and their experiences of it. The aim is to give insights into students’ transition process and negotiation of identity. This is done by following a cohort of 38 students in a series of qualitative interviews during a 3-year period starting as they were about to finish upper secondary school. We find that the students’ choice of study is an ongoing process of meaning-making, which continues when the students enter higher education and continuously work on their identities to gain a sense of belonging to their science or engineering programme. The use of a narrative methodology provides understanding of choice of study as involving changes in future perspectives and in the interpretation of past experiences. Further, we gain access into how this meaning-making process over time reflects the students’ negotiations in terms of belonging to higher education and their coping strategies when their expectations of their new programme interact with their first-year experiences.

AB - The paper presents results from a longitudinal study of students’ decisions to enrol on a higher education science programme and their experiences of it. The aim is to give insights into students’ transition process and negotiation of identity. This is done by following a cohort of 38 students in a series of qualitative interviews during a 3-year period starting as they were about to finish upper secondary school. We find that the students’ choice of study is an ongoing process of meaning-making, which continues when the students enter higher education and continuously work on their identities to gain a sense of belonging to their science or engineering programme. The use of a narrative methodology provides understanding of choice of study as involving changes in future perspectives and in the interpretation of past experiences. Further, we gain access into how this meaning-making process over time reflects the students’ negotiations in terms of belonging to higher education and their coping strategies when their expectations of their new programme interact with their first-year experiences.

U2 - 10.1007/s11422-013-9542-3

DO - 10.1007/s11422-013-9542-3

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1871-1502

VL - 9

SP - 755

EP - 786

JO - C S S E

JF - C S S E

ER -