Apprentice to Graduate: A narrative study into the progression experience of Advanced Apprentice

Rouncefield-Swales, Alison

Abstract

This thesis explores the biographical journey into and through HE of a small group of former Advanced Apprentices. It explores how early educational experiences relate to pathways into and through the Apprenticeship system and how former Apprentices experiencing HE to develop an understanding of how HE impacts on their lives, experiences, and identities. The changing landscape of both Apprenticeships and higher education means we need to capture these accounts becoming a HE student to understand better the lived, biographical experience of individuals in increasingly credentialised learning and work settings. This study utilises a narrative, longitudinal approach to explore the experiences of Apprentices who have embarked on higher education, drawing upon data from several semi-structured narrative interviews with sixteen former Apprentices as they progress through their higher education programme. The final phase of the study engaged with the broader social network of six participants, illuminating how education and career decision-making and experiences are deeply embedded within family, friendship and peer networks. Analysing learning experiences, educational transitions, and learner identity highlight the process of becoming a higher education student is relational, situational, and part of a web of complex interactions. The study has drawn on communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) and modes of reflexivity (Archer, 2003, 2007, 2012) as useful frameworks to understand the learning experiences of former Apprentices and how reflexivity guides how people navigate constellations of education and career possibilities. Insights from the social networks suggest that individuals adapt their approach to reflexivity according to the social situation, aspects of and stages in their lives.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2019
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/862729
• Award Date: Aug 22, 2018