By Helen Kirby-Hawkins
Introduction
January has long been a month of transition and new beginnings. Across the sector, over eighty institutions welcome new students through the January or winter intake, a pathway popular with international entrants or those who missed September. For returning students, January also marks the shift back into academic life after the Christmas break, as holiday rhythms give way to semester one assessments and the gearing up for semester two. Institutions must balance assessments, inductions, and a new teaching semester to revive and reinvigorate students’ engagement in the New Year after the disruption to routine caused by the Christmas break. Many people will also see the turn of a new year as an opportunity to reflect on 2025 and set new goals for 2026 with a renewed focus and commitment known as New Year’s resolutions.
The tradition of January resolutions dates back over 4,000 years to the Babylonians, who made promises to their gods at the start of the year. The Romans later linked resolutions to Janus — the two-faced god of beginnings — symbolising reflection on the past and anticipation of the future. Over centuries, this evolved into the modern practice of setting personal goals for self-improvement each January. Just as ancient cultures used the new year to reset commitments, today’s students use January to establish new academic routines for semester two.
Yet January is not always the optimal time for new beginnings and new routines — it is also cold, dark, and financially pressured. Short days and winter weather can affect motivation, energy, and mental health. Meanwhile, student loan instalments arrive in late January, offering some relief but also creating strain as rent, bills, and post-Christmas expenses come due. These seasonal and financial realities intensify the fragility of the post-Christmas reset and the January blues.
This fragile moment is therefore pivotal: students are discontinuing old habits and trying to establish new ones, often alongside orientation and fresh teaching. Both returning and new starters are at critical points for habit formation — and timetable stability can make or break their engagement.
Habits and their importance
Definition: Habits are behavioural tendencies tied to specific contexts — time, location, people, and routines. They are the invisible architecture of student life.
Importance: Stable habits help students manage their time, reduce stress, and improve academic performance. When routines are predictable, students can focus on learning rather than constantly re planning their days.
Contextual stability: As Louise et al. (2024) argues, habits require a stable context to form and maintain. Without consistency in schedules and environments, even well-intentioned routines collapse.
And here is a crucial insight: missing one day is not the end of a habit, but missing two days can be the start of a new one (Clear 2018). Behavioural science shows that a single lapse is recoverable, but repeated lapses begin to embed avoidance or disengagement as the new routine. For students, this means timetable disruptions or skipped classes do not just break momentum — they risk creating a new pattern of absence.
This is why the fitness industry has coined Quitters Day — falling on 9 January 2026 — the point when most people will abandon their New Year’s resolutions. Research shows that by day nine, enthusiasm wanes, routines have not yet stabilised, and lapses compound into disengagement. The lesson for universities is clear: the first two weeks of teaching are the most fragile. If students miss one class, they can recover; if they miss two, they risk embedding disengagement as the new habit. Timetable stability, supportive messaging, and early interventions are therefore critical to help students push past this day nine “Quitters Day” and sustain their academic habits throughout semester two.
Habit formation in practice
Findings from my recent study show that many students have developed consistent routines to manage their time effectively, often supported by technology. Online multi‑schedule calendaring, productivity tools, and digital note‑taking apps are now embedded in daily study practices. These tools rely on predictable cues — knowing when classes happen, where they take place, and how the week is organised.
These routines are reinforced not only by technology but also by the spaces students inhabit. Being on campus was reported to help students focus with fewer distractions and a stronger affinity to their “student identity.” Preferred study spaces provide regularity that supports productivity and habit formation. January can be a useful time to optimise these spaces. Returning to familiar environments from semester one helps reinforce contextual cues for revision or pre‑course reading. Equally, if certain spaces proved unproductive, January offers a chance to break those associations and move study materials into more conducive settings.
Timetabling issues
Timetable changes — especially day changes, cancellations, or room moves — disrupt routines and plans. Day changes are particularly problematic when they conflict with work or caring responsibilities, and students balancing complex lifeloads often prioritise family and employment over study.
Students expressed a preference for structured timetables with minimal gaps. While some value longer breaks for independent study, others find them disruptive. Back‑to‑back classes are efficient but can feel overwhelming when rapid context‑shifting is required.
The consistent takeaway: stability matters. Compound changes — shifts in day, room, and time together — are the most disruptive and most likely to cause disengagement.
What students tell us
One student explained: “I’d planned to go to the gym straight after my Tuesday lecture — it was the only time I could fit it in around work and childcare. When the lecture was moved to Thursday afternoon, I lost that routine. I stopped going to the gym, missed a few classes, and felt like I was constantly playing catch up.”
This example shows how timetable volatility can ripple into other routines and destabilise those, undermining both academic habit formation and the wider routines students are trying to build around the scaffolding of a consistent timetable.
Why stability matters
Stable timetables provide contextual cues that encourage participation. Predictability allows habits to embed and gives students a foundation on which to build other routines. Volatility undermines this foundation. For students with complex responsibilities — balancing work, caring duties, or commuting — instability disrupts not just attendance but the wider network of dependent habits.
When timetable changes collide with external pressures — the January blues, homesickness, exam stress, and financial strain — disruption is amplified. Students can feel as though they are failing before semester two has even begun. Unrealistic expectations from the “new year, new me” rhetoric intensify low mood, leaving students vulnerable to disappointment when routines falter. In this context, timetable stability is more than operational convenience: it is a safeguard against disengagement.
Recommendations
Prioritise stability in the first two weeks: This is when students are most likely to set new routines and when stress from settling in, homesickness, and exams peaks.
Recognise that not all changes are equal: Day and time changes are considered the most disruptive, and compound changes (day, time, and room together) risk disengagement and habit breakdown.
Early intervention to prevent disengagement and negative habit formation. Additional intervention following compound & highly disruptive timetable changes for students.
Conclusion
January is more than a new calendar year — it is a turning point in the academic cycle. Exams, new starters, graduations, the return from Christmas, “new year, new me” ambitions, enrichment weeks, and even Quitters Day collide. Stability in timetabling is not a luxury; it is a foundation for engagement.
Research shows habits take around 66 days to become automatic. Starting from 1 January, that takes us to 7 March 2026 — just as semester two is in full swing. If institutions can provide stability through January and February, students will reach March with routines embedded and confidence restored.
The principle is simple but powerful: missing one day is not going to break a habit but missing two risks embedding disengagement as the new habit. Quitters Day reminds us how quickly resolutions collapse without support. Timetable stability is the resolution that must last beyond Quitters Day — ensuring students sustain momentum into March and beyond.
How do institutions approach this challenge? What are your New Year’s resolutions for student engagement — around timetable changes, supporting habit formation, and helping students build sustainable study routines? And how will you stick to them, ensuring those commitments last into a stronger semester two and carry students past Quitters Day?
About the Author
Helen Kirby-Hawkins is the Assistant Director in Education Services at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her work focuses on the intersection of operations research, student engagement, and behavioural science. She specialises in timetabling, habit formation, and safeguarding, with a commitment to embedding human‑centric approaches into institutional policy and practice.
References
- Clear, J. (2018). Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. Penguin Random House.
- Fiorella, L. (2020). The Science of Habit Formation and Its Role in Learning. Educational Psychology Review.
- Kahu, E. R. (2013). Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(5), 758–773.
- Louise, A. et al. (2024). Contextual Stability and Habit Formation in Higher Education. Journal of Student Behaviour Studies.
- Verplanken, B., & Wood, W. (2006). Interventions to break and create consumer habits. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 25(1), 90–103.
