FFYE Forum – From Surviving to Thriving: Equitable Pedagogy for Student Success | 5 March

The Australian Universities Accord challenges universities to deliver on higher education participation targets for students from equity groups to achieve parity by 2035. Related to this, the new Higher Education Support Act, which links the HES (2021) domain 1  Student Participation and Attainment), requires us to demonstrate how we support all students to be successful in their learning and achieve their potential.

In our last FFYE Forum, we presented the Social Impact Dashboard to reflect on how well UTS is tracking the participation of equity students and to explore all of our students’ engagement and satisfaction with our social justice and awareness programs and their learning experiences in our courses. (HE Accord)

In this next on-campus FFYE Forum on 5 March, we invite you to join us to learn more about how we can respond to sector demands for widening participation and integrated student support and explore practical approaches to the design and delivery of a supportive learning environment. (HE Accord, Student Support Act)

Associated Professor Lynn Sinclair (ADTL Faculty of Health) will set the scene by tying our FFYE Social Impact Grant to the HE Accord. Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), Professor Joanne Gray, will then introduce us to the new UTS Support for Students Policy that forms part of the UTS response to the demands of the Accord and related legislation.

Professor Sally Kift (PFHEA FAAL ALTF GAICD) will bring this together, delivering a national context and provide solutions. In her keynote, ‘According Transition Pedagogy: Delivering equitable inclusion and success for all students’, she will show how the six curriculum principles of Transition Pedagogy (Transition, Diversity, Engagement, Design, Assessment and Evaluation and Monitoring) provide a practical guide to supporting all students to achieve their academic and personal goals.

For the second part of the forum, we plan a world-café style activity so people can share practice and learn from colleagues. FYE and FFYE Grant Holders will highlight the curriculum principles used in their projects and how these directly address the transition needs of their students. Students from two student support programs U:PASS and HELPS will join too to deepen the discussion. 

We  welcome all interested colleagues, including academics, student support staff and those interested in student success, and students, to join us for this event.

The event will be catered with afternoon tea goodies. Please come early to enjoy and network.

Look forward to seeing you on 5 March for another exciting on-campus community event.

Kathy and team (Social Impact FFYE grant team)  

What is the UTS FFYE Program?

The UTS FFYE (First and Further Year Experience) Program is an institutional-wide program, designed to support the successful transition of students in their journey through their degrees and into the workplace. The program has three foci: curriculum, people and the university infrastructure, drawing from community and connection in collaboration with academic and professional staff.

One key element of the program is community building. FFYE Forums (regular meetings) and FFYE community (MSTeams) provide spaces for sharing, learning and ongoing collaborations connecting research, practice and student experience. Contact Kathy Egea (FFYE coordinator) to join.