Binding study advice is unnecessary
The binding study advice causes unnecessary drop-out, say opponents. Nonsense, high expectations ensure better learning performance, proponents argue. The abolitionists are gaining ground.
Picture: Type tank
'The binding study advice has had its day', the newspaper of the Windesheim University of Applied Sciences wrote a bit prematurely in early January. Zwolle first-years have to obtain 54 of the 60 credits to continue studying. But that strict standard does not ensure that fewer students from Zwolle drop out. One in three entrants left after one year, which puts Windesheim on the national average.
The Executive Board believes that no student should be dismissed because they have not obtained enough credits. “In our strategic direction, we have established that we want to offer higher education to everyone who has the talent for it and that no student drops out unnecessarily,” explains quality and policy manager Daniëlle Schwartz. "The binding study advice does not fit in with that."
Students stated that they need a big stick to stay focused
Windesheim therefore wanted to completely abolish the binding advice in the coming academic year. Instead, students would need to earn 40 or 45 credits to enter the main phase. But the participation council put a stop to that.
Teachers feared overcrowded classrooms if the university of applied sciences could no longer send freshmen away who did not get enough points. And students stated that they need a big stick to stay focused. After drawn-out negotiations, the council finally agreed to an experiment at the Business, Media and Law cluster that would like to get rid of the binding study advice.
Everything or nothing
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences is also struggling with stubborn dropout problems. One in three students has dropped out after one year, one in five leaves with a negative binding advice. No reason for the university of applied sciences to abolish the binding advice. The Executive Board wants to give all study programs the space to raise the standard from 48 to 54 or even 60 credits.
Four years ago, after a complete redesign of education, the Institute for Commercial Management was allowed to experiment with the all-or-nothing standard. With spectacular results. The propaedeutic output doubled from 32 to 68 percent. Seven out of ten students who started in 2015 are still on track and can therefore graduate in four years. Unprecedented, because at the Hogeschool Rotterdam as a whole, the return after five years of studying is 38 percent.
Other study programs therefore also wanted to boost the credit standard, but the Rotterdam Participation Council opposed this. The council was not convinced that such a strict binding advice is needed to improve study success. The resistance resulted in a major clash with the Executive Board. To break the deadlock, a committee led by the Rotterdam study success professor Ellen Klatter was asked to advise on measures that study programs can take to limit the dropout, including the binding recommendation.
Study programs that apply a standard of 50 or 60 credits, 'cause students to stumble unnecessarily
That committee was still busy when Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven announced last September that she would end the strict binding advice. Programs that apply a standard of 50 or 60 credits, she says, 'cause students to stumble unnecessarily'. The study advice is originally intended to prevent students who are not suitable for the study from muddling on. A standard of 40 credits is enough for that, says the minister. Because anyone who gets two thirds of their first year can never be in the wrong place.
Van Engelshoven received no support from the Lower House. But she still plans to put a stop to the strict binding study advice. She is now commissioning research into the effects of the binding advice and assumes that this shows that the standard needs to be relaxed.
Finishing touch
“Nobody grows because of low expectations,” says Ellen Klatter, following the example of American educational sociologist Vincent Tinto, the authority when it comes to preventing drop-out in higher education. “If you say that getting 60 or 70 percent of the credits is enough, you suggest that studying part-time is good enough. That is the institutionalization of study delay, ”says the Rotterdam lecturer. “A college education lasts four years. I think it's strange to assume in advance that it will take you five years. ”
The discussion should not be about raising the credit standard, but about what you need to do to increase the quality of education
In March, the committee, led by Klatter, advised giving all Rotterdam courses the space to work with a 60-point standard. But only as the final piece of a coherent package of educational improvements. “The discussion should not be about raising the credit standard, but about what you need to do to improve the quality of education,” says Klatter. There is still a lot to be gained there. Because at Hogeschool Rotterdam, a lot of attention is paid to reducing dropout rates, but these are often separate interventions.
In the final report, the committee lists ten measures that are scientifically proven to work, including high expectations, stimulating active learning, increasing student involvement and providing feedback on learning processes. It is the task of all study programs to develop a coherent package of improvement measures that are in line with their own educational vision. The committee recommends setting aside three years for this. Only when that improvement has been made can the binding recommended standard of 60 credits be the icing on the cake.
Fewer resits
The Faculty of Management and Business of Hogeschool Leiden has already made such an improvement. Teachers and students jointly developed a new educational vision on which the redesign of education is based. “The starting point is that everything in education should be aimed at getting students to learn,” says faculty director Anke van Vuuren. “Activating digital teaching methods are used for this and a method of testing has been chosen that encourages students to learn continuously. By offering students the opportunity to compensate for fail marks, we were also able to limit the number of resits. We want students to learn for the first test and not just for the resit. ”
We want to give the responsibility for learning back to the students
The Leiden approach is very similar to the improvement that Ellen Klatter has in mind, but in Leiden the binding study advice is not being increased, but rather abolished. “Binding study advice has no place in this system,” says Van Vuuren. “We want to give the responsibility for learning back to the students. Then they also have to decide for themselves whether to continue. We do give them advice, but that is not only based on the credits obtained. ”
The faculty director is not afraid that students will experience a study delay in their first year that they cannot catch up anymore. Students may not start the main phase until they have obtained all 60 credits. Because the education is set up in such a way that you can start at four times a year, this ensures minimal delay. First-year students who have not obtained all their credits, follow an in-depth module in the first teaching period of their second year in which they make up the arrears. In November they can join the other sophomores.
The courses have been using this system for two years. “So we know that it works, but it is quite scary to do it now without binding advice,” admits Van Vuuren. "But it really couldn't be much worse than it is now." Increasing the credit standard in higher professional education has led to worse, rather than better, study results. “And to pumping students around. Nine out of ten rejected students start again at another institution, according to research by the VU University. The majority of those turning heads simply get a diploma. ”
It is not realistic to send away students who have not obtained all credits after one year. That does not motivate
The faculty director is also aware that high expectations lead to higher study results. “I also think it is important that you radiate that it is normal to be involved in your studies full-time. But I do not think it is realistic to send away students who have not obtained all credits after a year. That doesn't motivate. I think that 25 years of working with increasingly higher credit standards has shown that. We simply see no added value in the binding advice. ”
Ellen Klatter surprisingly agrees. “If you have organizational and qualitative education in order, binding advice is not necessary at all. The art academy of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences does not work with a binding recommendation, and yet has a first-year graduation rate of 58 percent.
