Listening to students: Experiences and expectations in the transition to a history degree

The transition to university has never been more challenging both for students and tutors, and there is a commensurate need to understand students' experience at this critical point. Research suggests that students' performance is powerfully influenced by perceptions and responses conditioned by previous experience of learning in their subject. This, however, is still too rarely taken into account by tutors, who commonly possess only a sketchy knowledge of their students' stage of development. This article examines the student perspective at the point of entry to a history degree programme in order to help university tutors to understand more fully their students' interest and rationale for studying history, views on effective teaching and learning, and preparedness and motivation. The findings lead to some practical suggestions for constructing a learning context which can act as a springboard to effective learning in the subject.