It is an experience that is very familiar to Baars: she started at vocational college (‘mbo’ in Dutch), then went on to a university of applied science (‘hbo’) and finally university. She is now a PhD student at Radboudumc, but as a student she decided to investigate the experiences of so-called mbo-stackers at university. To this end, she conducted qualitative research with colleagues Nienke Peters-Scheffer and Freek Oude Maatman and spoke to fifteen MBO stackers. Their findings were recently published in Orthopedagogiek: onderzoek en praktijk.
In 2023, Baars shared her call for students. In no time, she had received more than a hundred responses, far more than she needed. This was remarkable, because almost all of them said they felt they were the only ones (or one of the few) who had ended up at university via that route. “But the figures, and the large response, show that this is not true,” says Baars.
Unsolicited support
Baars: “When these students explain their route to university, they almost always get responses. Sometimes these responses are demotivating. During a selection round for a master's programme, one student was told: ‘You're really a doer, not a thinker. Can you handle it here?’ That's a strange question, because students who have completed a vocational programme on average have a higher success rate in master's programmes. Or people respond with exaggerated admiration, ‘as if it were a modern-day miracle’. Some students are proud of such a response, but others mainly hear what is not being said. One student, for example, thought that people were surprised because they assumed that he had less cognitive ability.”
The university can also play a role in this by thinking more carefully about when and how help is offered. “Several interviewees were offered extra guidance without reason. In some cases, there was an introductory meeting prior to the study, or extra support was offered via emails and other channels, sometimes even before you had attended a lecture.” Helpful behaviour usually stems from assumptions about competence, but these expectations can actually have negative consequences for academic performance. Undoubtedly, there are good intentions behind this, but that is not always how it comes across, explains Baars. “If you link that to other, previously experienced microaggressions and uncertainty, then suddenly a narrative emerges: you don't belong here.”
Just being normal
How can we help as a university? “By providing information about stacking, the associated rights and the feasibility. A desk at the open day, a clear page on the university website with your rights as an hbo/mbo stacker and information about the feasibility: it would make an immediate difference. Not only does it make it easier to choose, but it also gives you the feeling that your presence at the university is not exceptional, but part of a normal educational path. That's why it also helps to share success stories from other transfer students, because they make you less uncertain about obtaining a university degree.”
The students Baars spoke to also indicated that the university and staff could show more appreciation for vocational education and vocational graduates in general. “Lecturers could, for example, invite vocational graduates from the field to give lectures in which they share their professional knowledge.”
“Ask what someone needs, rather than deciding in advance what someone might need. That sounds simple, but it really makes a difference. Stacker students don't want applause or extra guidance, but they do want an environment that doesn't automatically question their place.”