that has . The People would encompass all individuals involved from careers , tutors , tour guides to guest lecturers . The Physical Evidence is not only the buildings , halls and lecture theatres but the intangible physical of the website itself . Arguably , it seems the results from this study suggests that People have more of an influence on decision making . Fiona said ,
... the college has been sending people on trips to different unis so that people can get an experience of what it would really be like . And the people that were giving us the tour and stuff , they did help me understand more about what kind of things I should be expecting if I do decide to go to uni , things like that .
Here the importance of the People is made clear . If the individual is not engaging , approachable and knowledgeable then this could have a big impact on the decision-making process of the individual . From the interviews conducted , it also became clear that the role of the tutor , in college , is extremely important in supporting this decision-making process .
College tutors seem to play a significant role in exposing students to the potential of university as an option post college . It can be inferred that they are a key conduit in terms of signposting options to students and relaying information . Fiona said ,
... my law teacher has told me about law taster days , stuff like that , like , quite specified . But then my tutor and … they email us quite a lot about just anything general to do with uni , and we get that fed through us quite a bit , which is quite useful .
Here , it can be seen that the support , and knowledge about the subject / choices on offer , is very valuable with useful tips and suggestions being made to the student . Whether this is the case across the board is unclear and further work needs to be completed looking at tutor knowledge of Universities and courses . Whilst the careers service is an essential part of the college , students are actually less likely to engage with it . In addition , this study seems to show that students spend longer with , and value , the views of their tutors more so than the careers professionals they speak to . It is evident that students value their opinions and use these perspectives as a driver in their decision-making process . An example of this was shared by Kevin ,
... especially , my tutor , he ’ s been very good ” … “ he gives you information and then he explains positives and negatives for me and then you can work out yourself if it ’ s good . Like , he makes you do what ’ s always best for you I think is good .
Page 12 of 22