Experiences of Student-Teachers: Implications for Refined Student-Support

Every institution has support services available for students, especially first-year students, that would help deal with issues they might need assistance with during their early years. Student support services offered at universities to assist students’ academic, social, or psycho-emotional needs help to enhance their overall welfare and academic achievement. This study investigated university student-teachers experiences and their implications for refined student support. A case study qualitative research design was employed for this study with 12 student-teachers (five male and seven female) as the sample. A focus group interview method was employed to generate responses, and the information was evaluated with thematic content analysis. This study reported that first-year students encountered various challenges classified into academic (inconsistency in keeping the timetable of lectures and lecturers, misplacement, and missing academic results), social (inadequacies in the transportation system and accommodation issues), and psycho-emotional (low self-esteem, external academic pressure, and suicidal ideation). It was also revealed that the respondents benefitted from extra classes by lecturers, tutorials from student associations and peers, assistance from the student affairs unit and students’ associations, and aid from the counselling unit, staff advisers, and clerics support services in the institution. Also, there is a need for improvements in the various support services available in the institution. Therefore, it was recommended that institutions only offer admission to students applying for education-related courses.