Study title

Mathematics learning, identity and educational practice: the transition into Higher Education. This project focuses on how different mathematics educational practices at 16-19 and in transition to Higher Education influence students' developing dispositions towards and decisions about study in HE, and students' success in first year HE.A longitudinal survey will track a cohort of students learning outcomes and decisions as they move from Level 3 study to the end of their first year at university, and provide evidence of the effectiveness of programmes and transitional practices.Case Studies will draw on the stories of transition of 40 individual students' and related field studies in 4 universities and 8 Departments where different transition approaches are being practised in regard to mathematics, viz: 'diagnostic assessment and targeted support', 'widening participation' and 'school-university collaboration initiatives'.Outcomes will include understandings of (i) the diversity of student experience of learning mathematics in 6fFE for transition into STEM in HE; (ii) how educational transition practices and policies impact on student choices, dispositions and retention, and thus (iii) how initiatives might be more successful in engaging learners in mathematics.