How and why do working-class women engage with the structures of (higher) education?

Bovill, Helen

Abstract

…I have lain awake at night contemplating all the mild and genteel methods by which working-class children are led to see – out of what kind and painful necessity it is done! – that, really, they aren’t very clever,… (Steedman, 1982: 7).


This research is driven by a personal and professional interest in class and its relationship to education and to the different ways that class is used to theorize about educational inequalities. The concept of class has become marginalized within educational theory, policy and practice in response to post-modern discourses of multiple, reflexive, and individualized identity formation. Equality of opportunity rhetoric, claims of meritocracy, movement toward a mass system of higher education (HE), and widening participation initiatives all contribute toward a discourse that obscures and denies the enduring impact of class upon educational attainment, and ultimately for this study, upon ‘how and why working-class women engage with the structures of (higher) education’.

This thesis repositions class as central to the distribution of, and access to educational resources. An emphasis upon social justice both in and from educational research (Griffiths, 1998) is reflected in the methodology and methods employed. Through the use of an auto/biographical approach and implementation of semi-structured in-depth life history interviews this research has made concerted attempts to challenge and reposition power differences between the researcher and researched.

The main findings of this research are: the development of ‘classed and gendered learner identities’; and processes of ‘embodiment of innate in/ability and/or inferiorization’ which can lead to a deep sense of ‘lack’ for some working-class women from early childhood onwards. Continuing emphasis upon discourses of deficiency, present in much widening participation literature, can contribute to this sense of ‘lack’ and may offer insights into the ‘…highly differentiated 16+ population’ (Brine, 2006: 444) which has endured. Through exploration of these areas this study seeks to demonstrate ‘…that participation in higher education is not an equal or possible ‘choice’ for everyone’ (Archer, 2003: 20). This study will offer suggestions through which ‘choice’ may be enhanced for working-class women within the post-compulsory educational sector.

Citation

Bovill, H. (2008). How and why do working-class women engage with the structures of (higher) education?. (Thesis). University of the West of England. Retrieved from https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1491341

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 26, 2019
• Keywords: Gender; Social Class; Participation; Inequality
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1491341