How Students’ Inspirations and Aspirations Impact Motivation and Engagement in the First Year of Study
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This is a topic of high importance and relevance to the education community.
The introduction outlines succinctly the broad issues related to ethnicity attainment gaps and the context of aspirations and inspirations to career options. It would be good if there was data not just on attainment but also employability and ethnicity to include this.
Student partnership work is to be commended in the research design.
How was the written reflective task worded to the students? For transparency it would be good to state this.
Impact of HE setting on inspirations and aspirations. There is a wealth of research knowledge on factors that impact successful transition to HE e.g. belonging which could be included and cited in this section to strengthen the points made.
A key strategy is the return of alumni on a programme to share career experiences and case studies with students as relatable role models.
Overall the paper is clear and well-articulated. Some suggested corrections are indicated below.
Line 28: intrinsically motivation; extrinsically motivation: intrinsic motivation?
Line 30: students all 30 arrive with the belief: there is an implied assumption here. It is generally understood that this is true but saying all students that is not supported with specific evidence. I would suggest rephrasing so that all students is not stated in such absolute terms unless there is a reference to support the claim.
Line 45: a broader range of topics would typically: *that* would
Line 124: each of the key demographics: it would help the reader to list this in parentheses for completeness
Line 236: poster sessions which: *in* which
Line 355: in a biosciences and chemistry: bioscience
Author Response
Reviewer 1
The authors would like to thank the reviewer for their time in reviewing this manuscript. The comments have been useful to improve them manuscript, please see the details of how the authors have responded to each recommendation below.
Comment 1: The introduction outlines succinctly the broad issues related to ethnicity attainment gaps and the context of aspirations and inspirations to career options. It would be good if there was data not just on attainment but also employability and ethnicity to include this.
Response: a section addressing this has been added to the introduction
Comment 2: How was the written reflective task worded to the students? For transparency it would be good to state this.
Response: a section addressing this comment has been added to the methods
Comment 3: Impact of HE setting on inspirations and aspirations. There is a wealth of research knowledge on factors that impact successful transition to HE e.g. belonging which could be included and cited in this section to strengthen the points made. A key strategy is the return of alumni on a programme to share career experiences and case studies with students as relatable role models
Response: A paragraph has been added to the end of section to address how to impact the success of transitions into higher education.
Comment 4: Line 28: intrinsically motivation; extrinsically motivation: intrinsic motivation?
Response: altered to intrinsic motivation
Comment 5: Line 30: students all 30 arrive with the belief: there is an implied assumption here. It is generally understood that this is true but saying all students that is not supported with specific evidence. I would suggest rephrasing so that all students is not stated in such absolute terms unless there is a reference to support the claim.
Response: all replaced with generally
Comment 6: Line 45: a broader range of topics would typically: *that* would
Response: “that” added
Comment 7: Line 124: each of the key demographics: it would help the reader to list this in parentheses for completeness
Response: “(diversity of gender and ethnicity)” added
Comment 8: Line 236: poster sessions which: *in* which
Response: “in” added
Comment 9: Line 355: in a biosciences and chemistry: bioscience
Response: altered to “bioscience”
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is clear and easy to read. The main question addressed by the research is interesting.
The subject contributed by the authors in comparison to other publications and other published materials provides the inspirations and aspirations of first year Biosciences and Chemistry undergraduates, how these change over the first year of study and their impact on motivation and engagement.
The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and apply to career development modules , as well as curriculum design.
Author Response
Reviewer two
Response: The authors would like to thank the reviewer for their time in reviewing this manuscript and the kind comments.
