Jacky Brine
Working-class women on an Access course: Risk, opportunity and (re)constructing identities
Brine, Jacky; Waller, Richard
Abstract
Framed by discourses of lifelong learning and widening participation, further education Access to University courses attract mature students from a range of social backgrounds. This paper focuses on eight women students who, to varying degrees, share educational and occupational histories and aspirations. We explore their experiences of the Access programme by referring to developing learner and class identities and related femininities. This transitional phase is not a straightforward one of simply shedding old identities and donning unproblematic new ones, but is instead a period of reflexivity and risk, confusion and contradiction. Based on interviews held on termly basis throughout the one-year course, we draw on an analysis of risk to examine the gendered complexities of transitional class and learner identities and developing educational histories. In so doing, we challenge the assumption that a changing learner identity necessitates a corresponding shifting class identity.
Citation
Brine, J., & Waller, R. (2004). Working-class women on an Access course: Risk, opportunity and (re)constructing identities. Gender and Education, 16(1), 97-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/0954025032000170363
Journal Article Type | Article |
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Publication Date | Mar 1, 2004 |
Journal | Gender and Education |
Print ISSN | 0954-0253 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
Peer Reviewed | Not Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 16 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 97-113 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/0954025032000170363 |
Keywords | working-class women, access course, risk, opportunity, (re)constructing identities |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1062391 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0954025032000170363 |