Enhancing student success: Taking the classroom success seriously

Professor Vincent Tinto opens this issue of the International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education by highlighting the importance of paying attention to students' experiences in the classroom. With the classroom experience of students in the United States college system firmly in mind, Tinto draws attention to what he calls the "attributes of effective classrooms". The classroom attributes he describes, such as clear expectations, timely support, feedback on assessment, engaging pedagogies and enhancing teaching skills, though drawn from the United States experience, are universal and as such are transferrable across national boundaries and applicable to higher education educators, leaders and policy makers globally. You can assess this universality by relating Tinto's criteria to your teaching environment.