A study on the generation mechanism and precise assistance strategies of students with learning difficulties in higher vocational nursing

Summary:

Since the expansion of higher education in China, the source of students in higher vocational colleges has tended to be diversified, and the basic ability of students has been significantly different, and academic difficulties have become a key bottleneck to improve the quality of talent training. Based on the theory of multiple intelligences, through in-depth interviews with 68 students with difficulties in a higher vocational nursing college, it was found that there were common problems such as cognitive bias, motivation decline, emotion management disorder, behavioral adaptation lag and growth environment limitations. Further analysis points out that the problem of students with academic difficulties is mainly due to the structural imbalance between the enrollment expansion policy and the educational environment, the mismatch between individual intelligence structure and development needs, and the intertwining effect of internal and external factors. Based on this, this paper proposes to construct a long-term guarantee mechanism covering academic support and personalized tutoring, psychological support and resilience improvement, social support and multiple evaluation, and family and teaching collaborative education, so as to form a precise closed-loop assistance system and provide a theoretical basis and practical path for solving the problem of transformation of students with academic difficulties in higher vocational colleges.

Keywords: higher vocational colleges; specialist nursing; students with academic difficulties; generation mechanism; Precise assistance

Introduction:

The expansion of university enrollment has promoted the rapid expansion of higher education, and at the same time profoundly changed the structure of students. The enrollment of higher vocational colleges has shifted from a single ordinary high school graduate to secondary vocational and social candidates, and the diversification of students has led to an increase in the number of students with academic difficulties year by year, which has become a difficult problem in talent training. Most of the existing studies focus on double first-class undergraduate colleges, but there are few discussions on students with academic difficulties in vocational colleges. Ordinary undergraduate colleges have strict admissions and single sources, while higher vocational colleges have complex student sources, and the reasons for academic difficulties are more diverse. The curriculum system of higher vocational colleges still follows the traditional discipline framework, and does not build a teaching model that matches the structure of students. The curriculum design ignores the existing skill base and the professional quality of general high school students, resulting in the dual dilemma of "those with insufficient foundation are stranded and those with skilled skills are limited". The standardized evaluation mechanism continues the "score-only theory", ignores the differences of students, and aggravates the weakening of students' self-efficacy. At the same time, there is a disconnect between policy expansion and education practice, which leads to a complex situation of interweaving internal and external factors in the causes of learning difficulties.

Based on the theory of multiple intelligences, this study selected students with difficulties in specialized nursing majors based on practical observations, analyzed their behavioral characteristics and difficulties through typical case interviews, and constructed a differentiated intervention model adapted to multiple students, so as to provide a theoretical and practical basis for solving the bottleneck of higher vocational education quality and improving the hierarchical training system.

1. Research status and theoretical basis

(1) Research status

In the past five years, it is found that the field of basic education abroad has faced a serious problem of students with learning difficulties, and a lot of explorations have been carried out in the field of assistance, and relevant policies have been introduced ^[1]. In the United States, governments at all levels, schools, families, non-governmental organizations and communities have collaborated to build a three-dimensional and comprehensive diagnosis and treatment assistance system, and remarkable results have been achieved. The government intervenes in schools with substandard education quality and sets up special funds to support frontline teacher training; The school implements graded intervention for students with academic difficulties, invites experts to provide professional counseling for students with serious academic problems, and relies on family and community forces to form a volunteer alliance to provide comprehensive support. In addition, foreign research mainly focuses on the causes of learning difficulties, intervention strategies and educational support systems, and in recent years, there has been a trend of multidisciplinary integration.

In recent years, domestic scholars have conducted in-depth research on the problem of students with academic difficulties, and have achieved certain results. Zhong Qiquan defines a student with academic difficulties as "a student with one or more mental disabilities in understanding and using spoken and written language" ^[2]. According to Li Gangsheng, undergraduates with normal intelligence but who have difficulties in completing their studies in regular education are also called "students with academic difficulties" or "students with academic warnings" ^[3]. At present, scholars have systematically discussed this issue from the aspects of definition, connotation, characteristics, causes, intervention strategies, theoretical methods and empirical evidence, emphasizing the importance of multi-factor interaction.

Studies at home and abroad have shown that education policy and teaching practice are mainly discussed in China, while cognitive neuroscience and personalized intervention are focused abroad. Through the retrieval and quantitative visualization analysis of CNKI's "students with academic difficulties", it is found that most of the related studies focus on basic education, and the research objects are mainly "double first-class" and undergraduates in ordinary undergraduate universities, while there are few literatures on students with academic difficulties in higher vocational education. In the context of enrollment expansion, the source structure of vocational colleges is complex, the quality is uneven, there are significant differences in students' learning habits and basic abilities, and the proportion of students with academic difficulties cannot be ignored, which has become an important problem affecting talent training and education quality improvement.

Figure 1 Metrological visualization analysis

(2) Theoretical basis

In 1983, Gardner systematically proposed the theory of multiple intelligences for the first time in The Structure of Intelligence, which was gradually refined in subsequent research, forming an important system for explaining the structure of human intelligence ^[4]. He subdivided intelligence into nine types: language, logic-mathematics, spatial, musical, body-movement, interpersonal, introspective, natural observation, and existential intelligence ^[5]. The theory points out that with appropriate external support and individual efforts, various intelligences have the potential to develop independently and can be combined with each other, for example, some people have obvious advantages in language and logic, while others are more prominent in music, movement, or emotional observation.

In the traditional concept of education, people usually regard language ability and logical thinking ability as absolute criteria for measuring the level of intelligence. However, the reality shows that language and logic are only a more explicit part of the physical and intellectual powers. In fact, in addition to the above two abilities, individuals also possess a variety of potential intelligences, such as spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, body movement intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, self-awareness intelligence, and natural observation intelligence. In the practice of school education, fully exploring and utilizing these potential intelligences of students is helpful to promote the transformation of students with learning difficulties. Based on the theory of multiple intelligences, Ying is good at discovering the advantages of students with learning difficulties in the process of transformation, implementing targeted counseling according to the characteristics of their intelligence combinations, and carrying out diversified evaluation.

2. Characteristics and types of students with academic difficulties

(1) Characteristics of students with academic difficulties

In recent years, the research on the characteristics of students with learning difficulties has shown multi-faceted and interactive characteristics. Based on the analysis of the problems of 68 students with academic difficulties in the specialized nursing major of our hospital, the author summarizes and summarizes the following characteristics of students with academic difficulties:

1. Variability

The definition of "student with learning difficulties" is not static; If the problem stems from the learning attitude that can be adjusted through intervention strategies, the student's learning status can be expected to improve through their own efforts. On the contrary, if a one-size-fits-all approach is adopted for students with learning difficulties, the problem is likely to evolve from less severe to more serious.

2. Complexity

The problem of "students with learning difficulties" is complex, and the causes are intertwined with multi-dimensional factors: cognitive differences, improper learning strategies, insufficient motivation and emotional disorders at the individual level; At the family level, there are problems of insufficient support, economic pressure, conflict of educational philosophies, school education methods and peer relationships. In addition, the unequal distribution of social resources and implicit exclusion of culture also play an important role.

3. Heterogeneity

The performance of "students with learning difficulties" is diverse: some students only have problems in certain subjects (e.g., English), while others are normal; Some students' difficulties are related to external factors such as homework procrastination and low class participation. Another group of students "pretended to work hard" under high anxiety and eventually gave up trying due to learned helplessness, exposing hidden learning difficulties.

(2) Types of students with academic difficulties

Through the summary and analysis of the interview records of 68 specialized nursing students with academic difficulties and the elimination of duplicate contents, 30 students with academic difficulties in the first and second years of junior high school were finally selected as the case subjects. According to the level of academic early warning, representative cases were selected from the first and second level early warning students, and several types of students with academic difficulties were summarized:

Table 1 Characteristics of students with academic difficulties in colleges and universities

These students exhibit specific cognitive deficiencies and weak logical reasoning skills, resulting in poor comprehension of classroom content and easy distraction. In addition, the student source structure is complex, and students generally have prior knowledge disconnections and cognitive confusion, as well as a lack of clear academic planning. Due to the imperfect intellectual development of some students, it is difficult to establish an effective connection with the external knowledge system.

2. Lack of motivation

Due to the lack of sufficient interest in their majors, some students tend to judge the pros and cons of knowledge from a utilitarian perspective. Others make a simplistic judgment about their professional prospects based on their monthly salary after graduation and focus on short-term benefits, thus weakening their intrinsic motivation to continue their efforts. In addition, some students have attribution bias and tend to attribute failure to "lack of talent" and ignore internal factors such as insufficient effort or unclear goals.

3. Mood disorder type

Semi-structured interviews with 68 students showed that psychological problems were an important cause of learning difficulties. Studies have shown that learning difficulties are mainly caused by a variety of psychological disorders, such as abnormal learning psychological status, social development disorders, mental health problems, and neuropsychological disorders. ^[6] In the interview, some students had problems such as depression, extreme personality, irritability, autism, and poor speech, which were generally manifested in low attention and metacognitive ability, and it was difficult to summarize and organize information. At the same time, they have low self-efficacy, which often manifests as self-indulgence, broken jars, and obvious difficulties in language comprehension and problem handling.

4. Behavioral problem type

These students are not intellectually or psychologically challenged to learn, but have low willpower, low class participation, and poor learning attitude. People who bow their heads in class, are addicted to mobile phones, run away when they encounter difficulties, and even often skip class, and have a serious mentality of messing around.

5. Environmental constraints

There are obvious deficiencies in family education for some students: some parents divorce at a young age or experience multiple marriages, resulting in insufficient family discipline; In addition, due to the limited level of education, some parents lack scientific parenting methods, and fail to effectively shape their children's correct world view, outlook on life and values. In addition, some families adopt extreme parenting styles, which lead to rebellious, cognitive biases and laissez-faire tendencies in their children. Some students are distracted by the high income obtained by off-campus part-time jobs, and it is difficult to balance their studies, which eventually leads to academic difficulties.

6. Compound cross type

In the digital age, the complexity and uncertainty of educational reform have led to the emergence of various new types of academic risks, and learners, as key subjects with both subjective initiative and uncertainty, have a direct impact on the formation and transmission of academic inducements and risks in the process of interacting with the environment, such as knowledge and skills, technological environment, and social relationships[^7].。 In addition, in addition to macro environmental factors, some students have cognitive deficits and emotional disorders at the same time, and intellectual and non-intellectual factors are intertwined, and various complex factors work together to lead to the problem of learning difficulties.

In view of the diversity of individual students, the causes of the problems involve a variety of factors, and there are crossover phenomena among the various types. When studying the strategies for helping students with academic difficulties, it is necessary to systematically explore the relevant multiple factors and formulate precise interventions according to the specific situation.

3. The generation mechanism of students with learning difficulties

(1) Structural imbalance between policy expansion and the educational environment

1. The heterogeneity of students under the adjustment of enrollment policy is highlighted

In the context of the popularization of higher education, higher vocational colleges have continuously lowered the admission threshold in order to increase the enrollment rate, resulting in a downward trend in standards. For social candidates, simple vocational adaptability assessment is mostly adopted, resulting in uneven basic abilities of students. Taking nursing as an example, secondary vocational students have basic nursing skills, while high school graduates mostly lack clear career cognition, which is easy to form "skill redundancy" and "knowledge disconnection" under the unified teaching system, which leads to cognitive frustration.

2. The adaptability of the curriculum system and the evaluation mechanism is insufficient

At present, higher vocational education still follows the traditional discipline framework, and there is a lack of differentiated stratification. The teaching design does not fully consider the misalignment between the practical advantages of secondary vocational students and the knowledge reserve of general high school students. However, the assessment system with language logic as the core ignores the differences in spatial and kinesthetic intelligence, which conceals the advantages of non-academic students and weakens their academic self-efficacy.

3. The conduction effect of family and social environment

In some families of students with academic difficulties, there are extreme parenting styles, such as parents divorce or remarriage, which lead to students' personality and psychological problems. At the same time, some families spread the theory that "college degree is useless" or "study is useless", so that students only pursue graduation certificates and lack internal motivation for learning. High-paid part-time jobs in society induce students to pursue short-term economic interests, which forms a cognitive bias of success and profit. In addition, before the college entrance examination, many teachers, parents and the public misled students into believing that "being admitted to university means that life is easy", causing some students to relax their vigilance after the college entrance examination. As an important stage in the transition of high school students to college, summer vacation is crucial for them to adapt to college life. According to a survey in the United States, two-thirds of students in four-year colleges "strongly agree" that if they learned about college life in high school, they would work harder and take more difficult courses^[8].

(2) The subjective mismatch between the structure of individual intelligence and the development needs

1. The disconnect between cognitive ability and knowledge structure

Some students have problems with insufficient logical reasoning and distraction, which makes it difficult to understand abstract theories. At the same time, there is an obvious fault line in the knowledge connection between different students: the secondary vocational non-nursing students lack the basic medical theory reserves, while the general high school students have shortcomings in the practical skills cognition, which leads to the obstruction of the connection between the old and new knowledge and the formation of cognitive ambiguity.

2. Deviation of learning motivation from attribution model

Lack of professional identity is the main trigger. Some learners are affected by realistic factors such as salary expectations, which weakens their interest in the profession and makes the learning process only passive. Attribution bias causes such students to attribute academic setbacks to innate ability limitations rather than insufficient reflective effort, and thus gradually develop learned helplessness.

3. A vicious circle of mood disorders and behavioral patterns

Studies have shown that psychological problems are closely related to academic difficulties: about 32% of students with academic difficulties show anxiety and depression, accompanied by classroom avoidance and negative self-evaluation. However, some students form a negative cycle due to excessive reliance on mobile devices and absenteeism, which gradually weakens their will to learn, and eventually solidifies into self-abandonment.

(3) The interaction mechanism of multidimensional factors

1. The synergistic mechanism of internal and external factors

The external pressure of difficult courses can easily induce avoidance behaviors such as anxiety and absenteeism before the test, which constitutes the transmission mechanism of environmental stress-psychological stress-behavior deviation. Taking economically disadvantaged students as an example, academic setbacks are more likely to lead to depression, reduce learning effectiveness, and eventually form a vicious circle of self-defeat.

2. The contradiction between the adaptability of intelligent structure and training mode

The theory of multiple intelligences suggests that individual abilities are multidimensionally distributed, but traditional education focuses on linguistic and logical intelligence. In nursing education, students with excellent clinical skills are easily classified as "academic difficulties" due to poor theoretical assessment, so their potential strengths are not explored, and negative self-perception is reinforced.

3. Composite mechanism of action of risk factors

Students with compound academic difficulties are usually in a state of intertwined multiple dilemmas: the superposition effect of cognitive deficits and lack of family supervision can easily lead to lax learning attitudes, and the coexistence of emotional disorders and financial burdens weakens their academic concentration ability. This kind of problem presents the characteristics of "multiple causes and effects", and it is difficult for the traditional single intervention model to effectively solve its systemic dilemma.

Fourth, the design of precise assistance strategies for students with academic difficulties

(1) Academic support and individualized tutoring

Each secondary college should attach importance to admission education and carefully design the "first lesson of the first semester", covering modules such as new students' adaptation, Q&A, academic guidance and professional introduction, so that new students can clarify their professional direction, employment planning and goals from the early stage of admission, and avoid lack of interest and motivation due to one-sided professional cognition. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of academic style and academic guidance in the lower grades. In view of the fact that some freshmen have not fully adapted to the changes in the environment, transitional management can be implemented, and strict management methods similar to those in high school can be adopted to help them smoothly adapt to university life, and systematic chemistry industry guidance can be provided through career planning, training plan interpretation and course selection guidance. ^[9]

Professional education plays an important role in cultivating students' professional interest, stimulating learning motivation, guiding learning methods, planning learning plans, and clarifying career development directions ^[10]. At present, there is a gap period in the sophomore year, so all grades should carry out professional education regularly to improve the quality of professional introduction courses. Stimulating students' interest at the right time helps them to actively explore and learn.

Sort out and clarify the division of labor between academic and educational management of college students. At the school level, a special system should be formulated for the transformation and assistance of students with learning difficulties, the responsibilities of various departments and educators should be clarified, and full-time teachers, teaching management departments, and counselors should work together to build a unified and efficient support mechanism to promote the effective transformation of students with learning difficulties.

(2) Psychological support and resilience improvement

Sukhomlinsky, an educator in the former Soviet Union, divided junior students into three categories: "unawakened thinking", "unmanifested hidden talents" and "intellectual disabilities". ^[11] Educators should accurately identify the root causes of the problem of students with learning difficulties and intervene in a categorical manner: for students with cognitive learning difficulties who are "unawakened in thinking", they should start with demand guidance and ability improvement; For those whose implicit talents are not revealed, they should make a breakthrough by improving their career planning. For students who have difficulty studying due to psychological factors, the "one policy for a lifetime" can be implemented to provide precise assistance.

Cultivating resilience is a hot topic in current psychological research, which refers to the ability of individuals to maintain or even enhance their psychological and social functioning in the face of significant stress and adversity ^[12]. Freshmen often face new adversity experiences as they transition from high school to college ^[13]. Therefore, colleges and universities should actively enhance college students' resilience and psychological positive energy through measures such as enriching campus activities, life skills training, emotional support, and conveying high expectations ^[14].

(3) Social support and multiple evaluations

Assign academic tutors to students with learning difficulties, and select teachers with rich teaching and clinical nursing experience to ensure that responsibilities are fulfilled and formalism is eliminated. Establish a one-to-one assistance system, write a ledger to record the process and effect, and regularly summarize and evaluate so that the strategy can be adjusted in a timely manner. According to the evaluation model of "fraction-only theory", other skills of students are evaluated according to the theory of multiple intelligences. Construct a scientific and reasonable academic early warning system, and divide the learning situation into first, second and third level early warning. According to the performance since admission, timely warnings will be issued and corresponding learning suggestions will be made to help students understand and adjust their learning status in a timely manner. ^[15]

(4) Families and schools work together to educate people

Talent training not only lies in the imparting of knowledge, but also includes the cultivation of ideological enlightenment, edification, and behavioral habits ^[16].。 Schools, families and societies all play a key role in this. However, higher vocational colleges generally regard the education work as the responsibility of counselors, which makes it difficult to implement the concept of all-staff education. Virtually all those who come into contact with and interact with students, including teaching, management, and service, have an impact on their growth. Therefore, schools should build a mechanism for cadres, teachers, staff and counselors to work together to educate people, strengthen home-school communication, regularly feedback students' performance in school, and assist parents to establish correct educational concepts and improve their educational literacy.

(5) Long-term mechanism safeguards

At present, the transformation strategy of students with learning difficulties mostly focuses on phased goals and lacks long-term guarantees. Due to the difficulty of short-term results in the problem of students with learning difficulties, long-term follow-up support is urgently needed. Each college should establish a transformation database to record the whole process from the beginning of assistance to successful cases, and regularly analyze and summarize it to form a replicable practice model.

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