I’ve just re-read my previous post in preparation for this one, and it occurs to me that unless you know me or have been following my travails, it’s unlikely that you will have gleaned a clear idea of the rationale underpinning my EdD thesis.

The main reason that I’m researching the impact of expectations on student transitions into part-time postgraduate (PTPG studies) is because of my students.  I work in a MillionPlus University, and it’s fair to say that most of the students that I teach are what Leese (2010) would describe as non-traditional PG students, because they are not all progressing straight from their undergraduate degrees.  It’s also fair to say (until next month) that they are currently all part-time with what Tobbell et al. (2008) would describe as “complicated lives”.  Apart from answers to my research questions, what I really want to find out is how I, and the School of Education in which I teach, can support new PTPG students more effectively.

I first became interested in the topic of transitions into undergraduate HE studies when I was teaching on and managing HE in FE business provision at an FE College in the Midlands.  It was my anecdotal observation that the type of (L3) entry qualification that HND Business in FE students had impacted on their transition into, retention during and achievement on the programme.  Transition into UG studies was a hot topic at the time, because of the perceived need to measure and evaluate the impact of Widening Participation.  But there was very little on transition into HE in FE (Schofield and Dismore (2010) excepted – and even that was in a different discipline).So when I needed a topic for my MA Education dissertation I needed to look no further.  Both my qualitative and quantitative data blew my anecdotal observation out of the water, and that changed my life (and the lives of my then current and future students) for ever.

So when I moved from HE in FE to teach PTPG students in an HEI, it seemed logical to scope my EdD studies accordingly.  Whilst there is a small but growing body of research into transition into PG studies, much of it focuses on full time students (Morgan, 2015; inter alia).  Some studies (Scott et al., 2014) focus on types of transition; but there is little specifically relating to PT students.

So now you know both what and why……..