Outputs (44)

Mature female learners activating agency after completion of an education foundation degree: professional progression and the teacher shortage crisis (2019)
Journal Article

This paper draws upon questionnaire data from 126 mature, female alumni students and interviews with a subset of 20 participants who completed education foundation degrees in three English universities in the South West. Three illustrative cases from... Read More about Mature female learners activating agency after completion of an education foundation degree: professional progression and the teacher shortage crisis.

Using the lens of 'possible selves' to explore access to higher education: A new conceptual model for practice, policy, and research (2018)
Journal Article

© 2018 by the authors. The concept of 'aspiration-raising' has been ubiquitous in the discussion of differential rates of participation in higher education in England for many years. Potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds are constructed a... Read More about Using the lens of 'possible selves' to explore access to higher education: A new conceptual model for practice, policy, and research.

Students-as-insurers: rethinking ‘risk’ for disadvantaged young people considering higher education in England (2018)
Journal Article

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The conventional view since the early 2000s has been that participation in higher education (HE) is a risky pathway for disadvantaged young people in England; the social risk of entering... Read More about Students-as-insurers: rethinking ‘risk’ for disadvantaged young people considering higher education in England.

Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education (2018)
Journal Article

© 2018 British Educational Research Association Raising the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds progressing to higher education has been a key policy objective for successive governments in the UK since the late 1990s. Often thi... Read More about Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education.

Access, participation and capabilities: Theorising the contribution of university bursaries to students’ well-being, flourishing and success (2018)
Journal Article

For the last 10 years, universities in England have been expected to offer financial support to low-income students alongside that provided by government. These bursaries were initially conceived in terms of improving access for under-represented gro... Read More about Access, participation and capabilities: Theorising the contribution of university bursaries to students’ well-being, flourishing and success.

Moving on up: Pathways of care leavers and care-experienced students into and through higher education (2017)
Report

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Success and impact in widening participation policy: What works and how do we know? (2017)
Journal Article

© 2016 International Association of Universities. Efforts to widen the participation in higher education for disadvantaged and under-represented groups are common to many countries. In England, higher education institutions are required by government... Read More about Success and impact in widening participation policy: What works and how do we know?.

Examining the epistemology of impact and success of educational interventions using a reflective case study of university bursaries (2017)
Journal Article

This paper engages with the continuing emphasis given to evidence-based policy and ‘what works’ approaches in educational research, highlighting some of the continuing epistemological challenges from a post-positivist perspective. To illustrate thes... Read More about Examining the epistemology of impact and success of educational interventions using a reflective case study of university bursaries.

Evaluating outreach activities: overcoming challenges through a realist ‘small steps’ approach (2016)
Journal Article

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Practitioners are being placed under increasing pressure to evaluate the success of their outreach activities, both by government and by their own universities. Based in a reductionist d... Read More about Evaluating outreach activities: overcoming challenges through a realist ‘small steps’ approach.

Access to higher education: Theoretical perspectives and contemporary challenges (2016)
Book

How do we understand and explain who has access to higher education? How do we make sense of persisting and new forms of inequality? How can global, national and institutional policymakers and practitioners make higher education more inclusive? Acces... Read More about Access to higher education: Theoretical perspectives and contemporary challenges.