The relationship between learning styles, attendance and academic performance of Pharmacy undergraduates

This paper reports a mixed methods study of academic performance of Pharmacy undergraduates in the University of Manchester. The study examines the relationship between learning styles, as defined by Honey and Mumford (1992), with attendance and academic performance at university. It uses data gathered from questionnaires, supplemented by administrative records. We present evidence that students with a tendency towards the “activist” style of learning have less favourable attendance records than their peers. The study also suggests a relationship between learning style and examination marks. The implications of these relationships with respect to curriculum design and learning support are discussed.