Non-traditional student attrition in higher education : a theoretical model of separation, disengagement then dropout

![CDATA[This presentation addresses a theoretical model that both synthesises and extends the features of the acclaimed Student Integration (Tinto, 1982) and the Student Attrition (Bean, 1980) models in order to theorise the causes of attrition specifically for the non-traditional student in higher education. The literature strongly suggests that non-persistence behaviour occurs at various critical points throughout the student career. For the non-traditional student in higher education, the critical attrition point that accounts for the largest single episode of attrition is the first 6 to 8 weeks of the new student study program (Kambouri & Francis, 1994; Malicky & Norman, 1994; Quigley, 1995; White & Mosely, 1995). The Theoretical Model of Non-traditional Student Attrition (Wylie, 2005) proposes that non-persistence decisions are a short-term cyclic process, where a student's poor adjustments in academic and social self-worth results in a re-evaluation of and separation from their course participation. On each occasion that the academic and social self-concepts of the student are negatively impacted, further re-evaluation of their participation in the course occurs in conjunction with the increase in separation behaviour patterns (i.e. sporadic attendance patterns). The process is theorised to be spiralling in nature and continues until disengagement from the study commitment is reached.]]