The Politics Of Widening Participation And University Access For Young People

Young people with tenuous relationships to schooling and education are an enduring challenge when it comes to addressing social inclusion, yet their experiences remain overlooked in efforts to widen participation in higher education. The Politics of Widening Participation and University Access for Young People examines the existing knowledges and feelings these young people have about higher education, and, through the authors’ empirical research, demonstrates how sustained connections to educational futures can be created for them. Drawing from an empirical study with nearly three hundred young people who have precarious relationships to schooling and live in disadvantaged communities, this book offers new insights into their subjects’ experiences of educational disadvantages. It explains the different ways the university is constructed as impossible, undesirable, or even risky, by young people experiencing educational disadvantage. The book brings their stories into focus to offer new ways of thinking about the educational consequences of alienation from school. It shows how our understanding of the politics of experience of these young people has an important impact on our ability to develop appropriate means through which to engage them in higher education. This book challenges and significantly advances the popular frames for international debate on widening participation and the ethical right to educational participation in contemporary society. As such, it will be of be of key interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of higher education, sociology of education, anthropology of education, cultural studies of education, sociology as well as to those concerned by the impact of disadvantage on young people’s understandings of, and aspirations towards, education and attending university.

Governments have introduced policies to widen the participation of disadvantaged students in higher education. Widening participation policies are also introduced to ensure that higher education contributes to social and economic outcomes. This book includes important insights from 23 leading scholars across 11 countries on a wide range of topics that focus on government policies, institutional structures and the social and economic impacts of widening participation. While widening participation policies and outcomes in developed countries are more widely documented, the policies, achievements, and challenges in other countries such as Brazil, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Palestine are not so widely disseminated. Therefore, the ‘untold stories’ of policies and outcomes of widening participation are a key part of this book. The chapters are organised according to three overarching themes, which include national and transnational studies of the history of widening participation and current policies; inclusive learning and academic outcomes; and socioeconomic structures, concepts and theories. engages prominent academics, earlier career researchers, and research students provides a wide range of topics related to widening participation explores social and economic impact of widening student participation presents untold stories of widening participation in developing countries experiencing growth in youth population

The landscape of higher education has undergone change and transformation in recent years, partly as a result of diversification and massification. However, persistent patterns of under-representation continue to perplex policy-makers and practitioners, raising questions about current strategies, policies and approaches to widening participation. Presenting a comprehensive review and critique of contemporary widening participation policy and practice, Penny Jane Burke interrogates the underpinning assumptions, values and perspectives shaping current concepts and understandings of widening participation. She draws on a range of perspectives within the field of the sociology of education – including feminist post-structuralism, critical pedagogy and policy sociology – to examine the ways in which wider societal inequalities and misrecognitions, which are related to difference and diversity, present particular challenges for the project to widen participation in higher education. In particular, the book: focuses on the themes of difference and diversity to shed light on the operations of inequalities and the politics of access and participation both in terms of national and institutional policy and at the level of student and practitioner experience. draws on the insights of the sociology of education to consider not only the patterns of under-representation in higher education but also the politics of mis-representation, critiquing key discourses of widening participation. interrogates assumptions behind WP policy and practice, including assumptions about education being an unassailable good provides an analysis of the accounts and perspectives of students, practitioners and policy-makers through in-depth interviews, observations and reflective journal entries. offers insights for future developments in the policy, practice and strategies for widening participation The book will be of great use to all those working in and researching Higher Education.

Australian Universities: A conversation about public good highlights contemporary challenges facing Australian universities and offers new ideas for expanding public good. More than 20 experts take up the debate about our public universities: who they are for; what their mission is (or should be); what strong higher education policy entails; and how to cultivate a robust and constructive relationship between government and Australian universities. Issues covered include: – How to change a culture of exclusion to ensure all are welcome in universities, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students as well as those from low socio-economic backgrounds. – How "educational disadvantage" in Australia often begins in school and is still the major barrier to full university participation. – The reality that funding for research and major infrastructure requires significant additional funds from non-government sources (e.g. international student fees). – A lack of policy recognition that international university students increase Australia’s social, cultural and economic capital. – Pathways to making policy decisions wide-ranging, consultative, inclusive and inspired rather than politically partisan and ideologically driven. – The impact of COVID-19 on universities, and particularly how the pandemic and governmental responses exacerbated extant and emerging issues. Australian Universities rekindles a much-needed conversation about the vital role of public universities in our society, arguing for initiatives informed by the realities of university life and offering a way forward for government, communities, students and public universities – together – to advance public good.

Drawing on the perspectives of scholars and researchers from around the world, this book challenges dominant constructions of higher education students. Given the increasing number and diversity of such students, the book offers a timely discussion of the implicit and sometimes subtle ways that they are characterised or defined. Topics vary from the ways that curriculum designers ‘imagine’ learners, the complex and evolving nature of student identity work, through to newspaper and TV representations of university attendees. Reimagining the Higher Education Student seeks to question the accepted or unquestioned nature of ‘being a student’ and instead foreground the contradictions and ‘messiness’ of such ideation. Offering timely insights into the nature of the student experience and providing an understanding of what students may desire from their Higher Education participation, this book covers a range of issues, including: Impressions versus the reality of being a Higher Education student Portrayals of students in various media including newspapers, TV shows and online Generational perspectives on students, and students as family members It is a valuable resource for academics and students both researching and working in higher education, especially those with a focus on identities, their importance and their constructions.

This volume provokes conversations and reflections on the most appropriate methodologies to pursue Career Development Learning (CDL) research within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s. Drawing on studies with Australian students from diverse backgrounds, including low socioeconomic status, regional, rural and remote, with disability, etc., this volume uniquely highlights considerations for contextual and inclusive CDL research which advances multiple SDGs and quality futures across the globe. Although situated in Australian contexts, the case studies have international applicability. This volume provides support to researchers who intend to investigate the effectiveness of career development strategies which further sustainable development objectives. Specifically, the book highlights the importance of partnership and innovative methods in socially-just research methodologies as well as practical ways that these can be undertaken. It encourages readers to consider how they might frame their work in relation to the SDGs and create impactful research which furthers the agenda for sustainable development in localised ways.

Participation - and particularly widening participation to students from less-privileged social groups and those who have traditionally not entered HE - has been a major issue since at least the early 1950s. Widening participation has been an active policy of almost all UK governments over the past 40 years, but the issue is now reaching a possible impasse, with numbers at best static and key groups still effectively excluded from higher education. This is a major political issue as well as one of the most significant issues facing educational establishments. With issues such as student fees and high drop-out rates still political hot-potatoes, this book is a timely and important survey of the real issues behind participation, and non-participation, and is sure to be as controversial as it is useful. Contents is structured in two parts, looking at first the changing context of HE and secondly at issues behind how to develop strategies for widening participation. Contributors come from across the HE spectrum, from Colleges of HE to traditional universities.

This book introduces critical cultural social marketing and adapts these techniques for use in the promotion of educational futures in communities and places where there is educational disadvantage. An approach that builds on the discipline of social marketing, the authors describe the promotion of education as underpinned by a commitment to understanding the effects of difficult experiences with institutions such as schools, as well as the diversity of learning. Involving the critical in promoting education means it is possible to be alert to the impacts of institutional education, while involving the cultural means we are forced to appreciate and connect with learning in all its diversity. The authors draw upon examples from Lead My Learning, an education promotion campaign produced using a critical cultural social marketing approach. In doing so, they provide a detailed account of new ways to promote education.