Trailing or Failing? A Hidden Mental Health Issue: The Changing Futures Project

Abstract

The ‘Changing Futures Project’ aimed to directly tackle an issue that has been long reported in both academic and professional body spheres, that of student failure in engineering education[1,2]. It focused on the experiences of 96 Engineering & Applied Science students who were classified as ‘failing’ or ‘trailing’ in one or more modules. One of the unforeseen outcomes of the project was the high numbers of students who reported that they had been experiencing mental health problems at the time when they found themselves failing. By putting in a series of academic and individual support interventions, including referring students to the relevant counselling and medical support services, the project proved to be a great success, with all but three students within the original sample progressing to the next level of their academic journey.