Asked what their ¡°ideal student¡± is like, and social science lecturers seem to be more interested in attitudes than attainment.

Billy Wong, lecturer in widening participation at the?University of Reading, and Yuan-Li Tiffany Chiu, soon to take up a position as a teaching fellow in educational development at?Imperial College London, conducted the study among 30 social science lecturers at two post-92 London institutions.

They shared their findings at the conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education on 6 December.

The researchers found that, when asked about the characteristics of the ¡°ideal student¡±, lecturers stressed ¡°being prepared, engaged and committed, as well as being critical, reflective and [actively making progress]¡±. It was ¡°effort rather than the outcome¡± that was considered ¡°central to [lecturers¡¯] constructions of an ideal university student¡±, the paper says.

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One respondent commented that some ¡°smart students know that they are super smart and not trying hard at all to complete their work because they think that they can rely on their intelligence for everything¡±. More generally, students were ¡°praised for ¡®trying your best¡¯, more so than ¡®being the best¡¯¡±.

Asked about the practical implications of their research, Dr Wong suggested that universities should think about ¡°strengthening the induction process to make students more aware of what lecturers want. It should be stated explicitly and supported.¡±

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Where lecturers had strong expectations of what they were looking for, particularly when ¡°some students don¡¯t even know what to expect¡±, it could amount to ¡°an implicit and unconscious preference for certain types of student¡±, and perhaps disadvantage those from non-traditional backgrounds.

¡°Should we prepare students a bit more,¡± asked Dr Wong, ¡°to ensure the starting point is as equal as possible?¡±

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation.com