The Supportive and the Survivalist: How have tutor attitudes changed in a decade? John Buglear

Preliminaries 1: Context Comparisons between 2006 and 2016 Tuition fees trebled Research activity steady: > 50,000 academic staff in both RAE 2008 and in REF 2014 Higher Education Academy accreditations up So, how do tutor attitudes to their students in 2016 compare with those in 2006?

Preliminaries 2: Analytical approach Supportive vs Survivalist tutors Supportive: student-focussed, empathetic Survivalist: subject-focussed, ‘gatekeepers’ Attitude measurement using Thurstone scaling Statement generation and evaluation on a scale from 1 to 11: 1 (extreme survivalist – ‘Student who drop out tend to be spoilt brats who can’t make it without Mum and Dad holding their hand’) 11 (extreme supportive – ‘I want all students to come here to graduate’) Questionnaire design and elicitation: May/June 2006 (n=82) and May/June 2016 (n=85) Calculation of tutor scores (weighted average of Agreed statements): the higher the score the more supportive

Distributions of scores Mean (2006) = 7.16, Mean (2016) = 7.41

Distribution of scores by gender Females:. Mean (2006) = 7 Distribution of scores by gender Females: Mean (2006) = 7.14, Mean (2016) = 7.39 Males: Mean (2006) = 7.17, Mean (2016) = 7.43

Distribution of scores by job Lecturers:. Mean (2006) = 7 Distribution of scores by job Lecturers: Mean (2006) = 7.15, Mean (2016) = 7.37 Heads: Mean (2006) = 8.06, Mean (2016) = 7.81 Professors: Mean (2006) = 6.57, Mean (2016) = 7.45

Distribution of scores by department

Distribution of scores by department Accounting: Mean (2006) = 6.55, Mean (2016) = 7.45 Economics: Mean (2006) = 7.21, Mean (2016) = 6.95 HRM: Mean (2006) = 7.55, Mean (2016) = 7.67 Management: Mean (2006) = 7.15, Mean (2016) = 7.44 Marketing: Mean (2006) = 7.31, Mean (2016) = 7.80

Distribution of scores by HE career duration Less than 5 years: Distribution of scores by HE career duration Less than 5 years: Mean (2006) = 8.06, Mean (2016) = 7.37 5 to 10 years: Mean (2006) = 7.67, Mean (2016) = 7.51 More than 10 years: Mean (2006) = 6.98, Mean (2016) = 7.40

Who were the least supportively inclined in 2016? 17 respondents with scores < 6.5 8 females (47.1%), 9 males (52.9%) 42.4% and 57.6% respectively in sample 1 in Accounting (5.9%), 9 in Economics (52.9%), 2 in HRM (11.8%), 2 in Management (11.8%) and 1 in Marketing (5.9%) 18.8%, 23.5%, 11.8%, 30.6% and 15.3% respectively in sample 6 less than 5 years experience (35.3%), 3 between 5 and 10 (17.6%), 8 more than 10 (47.1%) 24.7%, 20.0% and 55.3% respectively in sample

Who were the least supportively inclined in 2006? 16 respondents with scores < 6.5 6 females (37.5%), 10 males (62.5%) 42.7% and 57.3% respectively in sample 9 in Accounting (56.3%), 1 in Economics (6.2%), 2 in HRM (12.5%), 3 in Management (18.8%) and 1 in Marketing (6.2%) 26.2%, 11.3%, 27.5%, 26.2% and 8.8% respectively in sample 16 more than 10 year experience (100%) 78.1% in sample