Navigating between anger and enjoyment: A control-value theory perspective of collaborative learning in a business school

Collaborative learning may present particular cognitive and social challenges to individuals. The issue of how students learn collectively has generated much research, and its attendant emotional context is recognised through the literature on control-value theory. However, there is a gap in the published research on students enrolled on Foundation Programmes (FPs), which are designed to prepare students for undergraduate study. This paper reports on students’ experiences of collaborative learning and academic emotions on an FP in business and management at a business school in the north of England. This paper was underpinned by two research questions: What do students tell us about how they control their social-emotional reactions in group work? And, how do the findings contribute to the further theorisation of collaborative learning with reference to gender and academic ability? This research exercise adopted a mixed methods approach that involved the analysis of two highly-structured questionnaires and discussions with focus groups. The findings were categorised according to gender and ability and suggest that although there is a high degree of consensus about group work, this is not a socially-shared process. In addition, in some respects less-well qualified female students express concerns about how they perceive student-student interaction.