Student Remediation Programmes in Higher Education

By Georgie Crewdson

Updated May 28, 2026

Remediation is often discussed as an intervention for students who are already in difficulty. Winston, Van der Vleuten and Scherpbier's study shows that the design of the programme matters, but the teacher-student relationship may matter just as much.

The paper focuses on at-risk medical students. That setting is specific, but the underlying challenge is wider. Universities need ways to identify students who are struggling, diagnose the barriers and provide support that students are willing to engage with before failure becomes inevitable.

What the study shows

Students in the study repeatedly valued teachers who were encouraging, honest, approachable and personally invested in their progress. The effective teacher was not only a subject expert. They were also a facilitator, mentor, diagnostician, disciplinarian and role model.

The diagnostician role is especially important. Struggling students rarely need generic encouragement alone. They need someone to work out what is going wrong: study strategy, confidence, prior knowledge, motivation, language, assessment technique or something outside the course. The support then has to match the barrier.

The mentoring role matters because remediation can carry stigma. Students who are already anxious about performance may disengage if the intervention feels punitive. A trusted teacher can challenge students while still keeping them connected to the process.

The paper also suggests that experienced teachers may be better placed to do this work. Experience helps staff balance academic challenge with emotional support. That does not mean newer tutors cannot contribute, but at-risk students should not be handed to the least experienced staff simply because the work is seen as remedial or low status.

What universities can do with this

Effective remediation starts early. Institutions need signals that show when students are drifting: missed assessments, weak early marks, low attendance, repeated confusion in feedback or comments about support. The earlier the signal, the more constructive the intervention can feel.

The next step is diagnosis. A standard study-skills workshop may help some students, but others will need subject-specific support, assessment guidance, confidence building or clearer communication with the course team. The first conversation should identify the barrier before prescribing the fix.

Staff selection matters. Remediation should be led or supervised by experienced teachers who want to do the work and know how to combine clarity with care. Students need honesty about their performance, but they also need to believe the institution has not given up on them.

Student voice data can help target the system-level issues behind individual difficulty. If many students describe unclear feedback, inconsistent support or confusion about expectations, remediation should not be framed only as a student deficit. The course design may also need attention.

Limits of the evidence

The evidence comes from medical education and a relatively specialised remediation context. A full mandatory programme may not translate neatly into every UK higher education setting. The transferable lesson is narrower but important: support for at-risk students works better when it is relational, diagnostic and structured.

FAQ

Q: Is remediation only for students who are failing?

A: No. The principle is early academic recovery. Intervening when warning signs first appear is usually more useful than waiting until failure is confirmed.

Q: What makes the teacher role different in remediation?

A: The teacher has to diagnose barriers, challenge weak habits and maintain trust. Subject expertise matters, but it is not enough on its own.

Q: How should institutions use student feedback here?

A: Look for repeated comments about support, clarity, confidence and expectations. Those patterns can show whether the difficulty sits with individual students, course design or both.

References

[Source Paper] Kalman A. Winston, Cees P.M. Van Der Vleuten & Albert J.J.A. Scherpbier (2012) The role of the teacher in remediating at-risk medical students, Medical Teacher, 34:11, e732-e742
DOI: 10.3109/0142159x.2012.689447

[1] Winston KA, Van der Vleuten CPM, Scherpbier AJJA. 2010a. An investigation into the design and effectiveness of a mandatory cognitive skills programme for at-risk medical students. Med Teach 32(3):236–243.
DOI: 10.3109/01421590903197035

[2] Stoyanova N, Kennedy D. 2010. Between chaos and entropy: Community of inquiry from a systems perspective. Complicity: Int J Complexity Educ 7(2):1–15.
DOI: 10.29173/cmplct8917

[3] Sayama H, Farrell DL, Dionne SD. 2011. The effects of mental model formation on group decision making: An agent-based simulation. Complexity 16(3):49–57.
DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20329

[4] Field JC, Latta MM. 2001. What constitutes becoming experienced in teaching and learning? Teach Teach Educ 17(8):885–895.
DOI: 10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00038-5

[5] Ben-Peretz M. 2011. Teacher knowledge: What is it? How do we uncover it? What are its implications for schooling? Teach Teach Educ 27(1):3–9.
DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2010.07.015

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