Most students entering university are adolescents, and the timing of becoming a student often coincides with many other developmental changes taking place in their lives, such as
- moving away from home and family
- learning to be responsible for themselves and the organisation of their life
- exploring new relationships
- establishing a sexual identity
- learning to tolerate personal uncertainty
- learning to work and learn in ways that are unfamiliar and radically different from patterns at school or college
For some adolescents, the anxieties that result from starting university can cause their thinking and behaviour to regress to that normally associated with much earlier adolescence. They may seek to ‘act out’ their conflicts on the people and organisations around them and push boundaries through lateness, non-attendance or not submitting work. Academic Tutors need to address these issues when they arise and reinforce the values of the institution. One of the main problems for tutors is how to identify whether external manifestations of conflict in adolescents/young adults are a healthy striving for autonomy and personal integration, or whether they may be symptoms of more disturbing states such as depression, anxiety, addiction or occasionally the onset of more serious mental illness.
Transitions, and transitional issues, are not only associated with entering into the university, but also occur in moving between stages of a degree programme, and in moving out of the university after completing the programme. Transitional issues present themselves at each stage of a programme and tutors need to understand the issues that students face at each stage if they are to support them effectively.