University Students in Canada and Contextual Considerations: A Rapid Scoping Review
Date
2025-09
Authors
Long, Rachel P.
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mount Saint Vincent University
Abstract
The complex needs of university students are (and have been) present across the (globalized) Canadian landscape and continue to rapidly evolve with conditions and dynamic contextual settings in which students (and instructors) are situated. Although the importance of context is widely accepted and commonly emphasized across education literature (e.g., in bridging theory and practice), the complexity of context as a concept is evident through fragmented contextual discourse and understanding. Considering the complexities of context and its interrelated nature with other variables, a fragmented literature landscape and clarity issues surrounding terminology, distinct landscape in which university students in Canada are situated, along with diverse and evolving student needs: the aim of this study is to provide a preliminary exploration into what is known (and what is not known) about the concept of contextual considerations relating to students enrolled in Canadian public university institutions, and the practical application of these considerations in university teaching practice.
This review was modified from the standard scoping review process with the implementation of a rapid approach and structure which caters to a master’s thesis project. The theoretical framework critical social theory and conceptual frameworks (1) adult education and lifelong learning discipline and (2) Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory (process-person-context-time [PPCT] model) has been utilized. Scholarly literature has been primarily considered for this review (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles), those of which were available in English and published between 2015 to 2025. Included sources offer discourse surrounding ideas of context and university students in public universities across the Canadian provinces. With only one reviewer for this study, a few consultations were made with the project supervisor and a research librarian to support the project. A broad Novanet catalogue search was conducted and titles, abstracts, and full-text sources were screened. Data from included sources were extracted utilizing an extraction form in Excel. Data analysis was conducted through descriptive statistical analysis and descriptive content analysis, presented in tables added to the appendices. The PRISMA-ScR reporting criteria with updated guidance by Peters et al. (2020) supported in the structure of the following thesis.