Dr Louise Taylor

Social-psychological dimensions of learning are under-researched, but they affect student achievement. Within a marketized higher education context in England, United Kingdom, this study examined whether the relation between students’ social identities as members of their discipline and academic achievement could be further understood by considering the mediating roles of approaches to learning and frequency of making course complaints. Undergraduates (N=679) completed a questionnaire to assess these constructs. As expected, approaches to learning and course complaining both acted as serial mediators of the link between discipline identification and academic achievement: stronger discipline identification was related to more deep approaches to learning, less complaining, and higher achievement, whereas weaker discipline identification was related to more surface approaches to learning, more complaining, and lower achievement. The findings suggest that addressing these social-psychological aspects of learning could improve students’ academic achievement.

Fantasy proneness has recently been related to creative thinking. To try and explain this link, we examined whether the relation was mediated by Openness to Experience (openness) because fantasy proneness and openness involve an imaginative thinking style. Study 1 assessed fantasy proneness (Creative Experiences Questionnaire), openness, and creative (divergent) thinking in 87 undergraduates (77% women, mean age 20 years). Study 2 replicated the method with museum visitors of similar age (58% women, mean age 23 years). Our hypotheses received partial support: although fantasy proneness did not directly predict creativity in either study, bivariate correlations in both studies revealed that fantasy proneness positively predicted openness, and openness positively predicted creativity. In addition, openness mediated the relation between fantasy proneness and creativity, but only in Study 2. These findings reveal potentially useful relations between fantasy proneness, openness, and creativity, and show that findings from student populations are not necessarily generalizable.

Research co-produced with my students over several years provided the first empirical evidence regarding the negative impacts on learning of students identifying as consumers. This work has culminated in the recent development and successful validation of a teaching resource (see www.brookes.ac.uk/SIIP) to support students’ motivation for learning by enabling them to critically reflect on the extent to which they identify as consumers. Our first publication on this topic (Bunce et al., 2017) found that a consumer identity is associated with lower academic attainment, and it is the highest cited paper in this area (371 citations according to Google Scholar). The open-access teaching resource has already been adopted by several universities nationally and internationally.

Introduction: The effect of socioeconomic status on adolescent substance abuse may be mediated by family socialization practices. However, traditional mediation analysis using a product or difference method is susceptible to bias when assumptions are not addressed. We aimed to use a potential outcomes framework to assess assumptions of exposure‐mediator interaction and of no confounding of the results.

Method: We revisited a traditional mediation analysis with a multiple mediator causal mediation approach using data from 17,761 Norwegian young people (13–18 years), 51% female. Data were collected through a print questionnaire. Socioeconomic status was operationalized as parental education and employment status (employed or receiving welfare); drinking behavior as the frequency of alcohol consumption and frequency of intoxication in the past year; and socialization practices as general parenting measures, alcohol‐related parental permissiveness, and parent drinking behavior.

Results: There was no consistent evidence of exposure‐mediator interaction. Formal sensitivity analysis of mediator‐outcome confounding was not possible in the multiple mediator model, and this analysis supported the hypothesis that socioeconomic status effects on adolescent substance abuse are fully mediated by family socialization practices, with apparently stronger effects in younger age groups observed in plots.

Conclusion: We found that the effect of socioeconomic status on adolescent substance abuse was fully mediated by family socialization practices. While our analysis provides more rigorous support for causal inferences than past work, we could not completely rule out the possibility of unmeasured confounding.

Forest School provision is a growing phenomenon in the UK due to its perceived impact on participant learning and wellbeing. This study sought to understand the impact of Forest School provision on the social and emotional development of participants using practitioner’s  reflections. Semi-Structured interviews with six qualified Forest School Leaders explored practitioner experiences working with children and young people. A thematic analysis with a social-constructionist epistemology revealed three interrelated themes, which are inherent in the Forest School ethos. These themes show Forest Schools to be micro-communities constructed by participants. 

The study concluded that Forest School micro-communities are established by each Forest School that is formed. These micro-communities contribute to the social and emotional development of children and young people through the construction of a shared space,  fostering a sense of community and a shared power paradigm between leaders and participants.

Purpose – Student loyalty is important if universities are to stay in business by recruiting and retaining
satisfied students who provide positive evaluations of their university to others. The current study employed a theoretical framework established by consumer researchers to test the hypothesis that university social
responsibility (USR) would predict student loyalty, but that this relation would be mediated by perceived
service quality, student satisfaction, and student trust in their university.
Design/methodology/approach – Fee-paying university students in Pakistan (n 5 608) completed a
questionnaire to assess their perception of USR and service quality, their satisfaction with and trust in their
university, and loyalty toward their university.
Findings – Structural equation modelling with partial least squares software supported the hypotheses that
higher perceived USR would be related to higher student loyalty, and that this relation would be mediated by perceived service quality, student satisfaction, and student trust.
Originality/value – This study provides a novel contribution to the limited literature on USR and its relations
with student loyalty. Several models have previously examined the relation between corporate social
responsibility and general consumer loyalty, but these have limited applicability to the education sector. The
data in this study support a model showing that USR supports student loyalty through its positive impact on
perceptions of service quality, student satisfaction, and student trust. The findings suggest that USR could be a marketing tool that supports student loyalty, as long as USR initiatives increase students’ perceptions of service quality, satisfaction and trust in their university.

Fantasy orientation (FO) in childhood has previously been investigated in binary terms, with play being categorised as fantastical or not. This study examined the relation between FO and creativity by considering FO on a linear-type scale, with 0 = reality-oriented (e.g., playing basketball), 1 = possible fantasy (e.g., having a pretend tea party), 2 = improbable fantasy (e.g., pretending an alligator is hiding under the bed), and 3 = impossible fantasy (e.g., pretending to be a unicorn). Seventy-two 4- to 7-year-old children completed verbal, physical, and artistic creativity tests, and an FO interview. FO was only positively related to physical creativity when measured in binary terms. However, it positively related to both verbal and physical creativity when measured using the four-point scale, although, FO remained unrelated to artistic creativity. Future work could use this more nuanced coding of children’s FO to explore further the potential relations between FO and creativity.

Background. The marketisation of higher education (HE), which positions students as consumers and academics as service providers, may adversely affect students’ motivation for learning and academics’ motivation for teaching. According to self-determination theory (SDT), high-quality forms of motivation are achieved when individuals experience fulfilment of three psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Aims. This study applied SDT to examine academics’ perceptions of whether the marketized HE context in England, UK, supported or undermined these three psychological needs for their students and for themselves. It also examined their perceptions of the impact that this context had on their teaching. Sample. Participants were 10 academics teaching at five post-1992 higher education institutions in England, UK. Method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and subsequently analyzed using thematic analysis. Results. Academics observed that students identifying as consumers seemed to display lower levels of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. This contributed to an HE environment that diminished the academics’ own psychological needs. Although some felt able to improve student motivation through their teaching, others felt demotivated and disempowered by top-down pressure from managers and bottom-up pressure from students. Conclusions. The marketized HE context may undermine high-quality motivation for students’ learning and academics’ teaching. Academics should be supported to teach in ways that facilitate competence, autonomy, and relatedness in their students and themselves.

The marketization of higher education and focus on graduate employability and earnings data has raised questions about how students perceive their roles and responsibilities while studying for their degree. Of particular concern is the extent to which students identify themselves as consumers of their higher education, for example, whether they view their degree as a purchasable commodity to improve future earnings. This is because research has found that a stronger consumer identity is related to lower academic performance. This study examined whether this relation could be explained by the impact of a consumer identity on the extent to which students adopt deep, surface or strategic approaches to learning. The hypotheses were that the relation between consumer identity and academic performance would be mediated by approaches to learning, whereby a consumer identity would be related to adopting a more surface approach, a less deep approach and less strategic approach. Undergraduates completed an online questionnaire that assessed the extent to which they identified as a consumer, their approaches to learning and academic performance. The analysis partly supported the hypotheses: a stronger consumer identity was related to a more surface approach to learning. However, a surface approach to learning did not mediate the relation between consumer identity and academic performance. Conversely, a deep approach to learning mediated the relation between consumer identity and academic performance, whereby a stronger consumer identity was related to lower academic performance through its negative impact on a deep approach to learning. There was no relation between consumer identity and strategic approach to learning. Implications of students identifying themselves as consumers of their higher education are discussed.

British university students from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds are less likely to achieve a ‘good’ degree classification than white students, despite taking prior attainment into account. To examine this gap, the current study conducted focus groups with 17 BME students studying health and social care related subjects to understand their experiences of learning and teaching. This was theoretically informed by self-determination theory, which proposes that achieving one’s full potential for learning, alongside experience of wellbeing, is supported by environments that help individuals to meet their needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Thematic analysis revealed that BME students encountered many obstacles that inhibited their experience of fulfilment of these three needs, which often undermined their initial desire to achieve their full potential. The findings are discussed in light of how universities can support BME students to achieve their full potential, and in doing so, address the BME attainment gap.

Social workers in the UK experience higher levels of burnout compared with other healthcare professionals, making it important to understand how they can develop resilience to protect themselves from psychological distress. The current study aimed to deepen our understanding of the psychological predictors of resilience, which include emotional intelligence, reflective ability, social competence, and empathy, using self-determination theory. This theory suggests that fulfilment of the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness will support resilience and protect against distress. We expected these needs to explain additional variance in resilience and distress beyond other emotional and social competencies. Analysis of questionnaire data from 211 social work students in the UK provided partial support for these hypotheses. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness were significantly positively correlated with resilience, and hierarchical regression analysis revealed that they explained somewhat more variance in resilience than previous factors alone (p=.06). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness explained significantly more variance than previous factors alone in psychological distress, although only autonomy and competence correlated with less psychological distress. Unexpectedly, relatedness correlated with more psychological distress. Furthermore, resilience played a mediating role between key variables and psychological distress. Implications for supporting the development of resilience in social work students are discussed.

In higher education in the UK, there is an unnecessary and inequitable attainment gap of approximately 15% between the number of black and minority ethnic (BME) students and white students who receive a first class or upper second class degree. The aim of this study was to explore whether BME students experienced structural inequalities in teaching and learning that thwarted the extent to which they experienced satisfaction of their need for autonomy, which may contribute to the existence of an attainment gap. Three focus groups were conducted to explore these issues with 17 BME students studying at one UK university. They were all female, aged between 18–50 years, and most described their ethnicity as Black African. Thematic analysis combining an inductive and deductive approach generated two themes: lack of satisfaction of the need for autonomy, and satisfaction of the need for autonomy. All students predominantly discussed situations in which they felt unable to behave in ways that were concordant with their true sense of self, due to factors including course material that did not address diverse cultural issues and negative stereotypes held by students and staff. They described how this often led to a sense of isolation, diminished motivation, and lower wellbeing. In contrast, some students described specific lectures in which diversity was discussed in a way that satisfied their need for autonomy. Implications for teaching are discussed.  

Results: Findings revealed significant cultural differences in PND and social support. Multiple Regression analyses revealed that PND, social support and culture could predict Maternal Infant Bonding (MIB), with PND being the only significant independent predictor. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance that cultural factors play in the development of PND and the establishment of MIB in the context of culturally attuned healthcare services. 

The UK government has made substantial investments in electric transport as a potential means of reducing CO2 emissions (DoECC, 2012). This paper investigates responses to recharging plug-in battery electric vehicles from the perspective of electric vehicle (EV) drivers. Drivers in the UK Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle trial (n = 135, 29% female, M = 47 years) completed questionnaires and were interviewed to assess their attitudes and experiences before they obtained their EV and after driving the EV for 3 months. The results demonstrated that drivers were positive about recharging – preferring it to ‘refuelling’ – and they became more relaxed over time about the frequency of recharging. Drivers managed without using a public charging infrastructure although such an infrastructure may be desirable to promote EV use. Finally, there was an interesting difference in drivers’ awareness of the environmental impact of driving and recharging an EV before and after the trial in relation to CO2 emissions and the energy cycle. The results are discussed in relation to the implications for developing the future EV market.

Aims: To investigate: (a) the sleep problems that young adults (YA) with ID might be experiencing taking into account their own perspective, (b) the relationship between the YA and their parents’ sleep and (c) the coincidence between the YA and their parents’ perception of the YA’s sleep. 

Method: Twelve adults aged 19–25 years and their parents were recruited from day centres. The parents completed sleep questionnaires regarding the YA sleep, their own sleep and daytime sleepiness. A structured interview was also held with nine of the YA, investigating their sleep habits. 

Results: A high prevalence of sleep problems was found in YA with ID with the most common being: day-time sleepiness, sleep onset delay and night waking. Parents underestimated their children’s overall sleep problems. There was an association between the parents’ and the YA sleep. Parents’ perception of their children’s sleep problems (i.e. parasomnias, night waking, sleep anxiety, duration and delay) coincided with the YA perception of their problems. 

Conclusion: Findings are in line with previous research and confirm the expectation that YA with ID experience sleep problems. The importance of including the individuals’ input when assessing complex states such as sleep was revealed. Future research is needed with a larger sample to confirm the results.