'Bartholomew's Taxonomy of Self: The motivated undergraduate student' supports a transformational higher education experience, using personal tutoring to facilitate self-awareness, intrinsic motivation and autonomy.

Jane Bartholomew (self-employed)

Monday, April 7, 2025 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM

MEANING

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Session Outline

The ‘Taxonomy of Self: the motivated undergraduate student’ offers institutions opportunities to consider a future-facing, competency-based, student-focused enhancement system, resulting in an inclusive, personalised development programme for all. The existing focus of today’s Higher Education sector is one of accountability and measuring ‘success’ (Zepke, 2018), whilst students place more emphasis on grade-chasing than on personal growth. An opportunity therefore exists for the sector to review the purpose of a higher education and replace the goal of obtaining a ‘good degree’ with developing the emotional and psychological competencies students need for life-long impact.

This taxonomy comprises three stages of personal development: self-awareness, motivation and autonomy. Young adults need to become self-aware, intrinsically motivated and autonomous in-order-to be able to confidently navigate their futures and contribute effectively to society, the economy and the world (Barnett, 2007). This is arguably the most important outcome of a truly transformational higher education experience (Johansson and Felten, 2014), one that concentrates its efforts on the students’ acquisition of a wide range of attributes and competencies, to include demonstrating reasoning, logic and the application of previous knowledge to new situations (Piaget, 1946).

Engaging with the taxonomy offers both the student and personal tutor, across the degree, chance to explore a range of topics designed to trigger reflective practice. Topics include confidence, enthusiasm and determination for example. These conversations naturally lead to an increased sense of self-awareness. Personal tutoring provides the student with time and space to identify next steps and the setting of goals to support their on-going transition to university or other personal, academic or professional/future aspirations.

Transitioning to HE makes some students anxious and fearful, yet others enthusiastic and excited to commence this next phase of life. Each individual student experiences their own personal journey of self-discovery; therefore, it is necessary to acknowledge they will need to feel challenged to both succeed and fail, in order to ‘grow’ (Dweck, 2017). Interestingly, in psychological terms, 18-year-olds are categorised as adolescents and 22-year-olds as young adults (Piaget, 1946). Dweck (2017: 690) observed that motivation occurred through the fusion of peoples’ psychological and social development, which then facilitated the necessary “thinking, feeling and acting” that enabled autonomous behaviours. This begs the question, how well is this stage of human development understood in relation to current HE provisions and are all graduates therefore truly prepared for the world of work? The audience is invited to discuss this question and whether ‘Bartholomew’s Taxonomy of Self’ would offer a future-focused, competency-based enhancement system, centred around the development of ‘Self’?

Learning Outcomes

Following the presentation, audience members will be able to identify the positive impact that the ‘Taxonomy of Self: the motivated undergraduate student’ has on a personalised student-staff tutoring system.

The audience will gain an appreciation of the role that personal tutoring has on today’s students to support their becoming self-aware, intrinsically motivated and autonomous in readiness for their futures.

Bibliography

Barnett, R. (2007). A will to learn: being a student in an age of uncertainty, Maidenhead: The Society for Research in Higher Education and Open University Press.

Dweck, C. S. (2017). From needs to goals and representations: Foundations for a unified theory of motivation, personality, and development, Psychological Review, 124(6), 689–719.

Johansson, C., and Felten, P. (2014). Transforming students: Fulfilling the promise of higher education. JHU Press.

Piaget, J. (1964). Cognitive Development in Children: Piaget – Development and Learning, Journal of research in Science Teaching, 2: 176-186.

Zepke, N. (2018). Student engagement in neo-liberal times: what is missing? Higher Education Research & Development, 37(2), 433-446.

Competencies
This session addresses the following competencies of the UKAT Professional Framework for Advising and Tutoring