All Outputs (30)

Higher education, social class and the mobilisation of capitals: recognising and playing the game (2013)
Journal Article

Strategies employed by middle-class families to ensure successful educational outcomes for their children have long been the focus of theoretical and empirical analysis in the United Kingdom and beyond. In austerity England, the issue of middle-class... Read More about Higher education, social class and the mobilisation of capitals: recognising and playing the game.

Parents, partners and peers: Bearing the hidden costs of lifelong learning (2011)
Journal Article

This paper examines data from three projects to explore the 'hidden costs' of participating in lifelong learning. Whilst other potential risks (financial for instance) are anticipated, those around family and friendship ties are usually not. Adult re... Read More about Parents, partners and peers: Bearing the hidden costs of lifelong learning.

We blame the parents! A response to 'cultural capital as an explanation of variation in participation in higher education' by John Noble and Peter Davies (British Journal of Sociology of Education 30, no. 5) (2010)
Journal Article

This paper offers a response to a recent article where the authors argue cultural capital is the only determinant of the propensity of young people to seek to enter higher education, dismissing other indicators such as social class. This response que... Read More about We blame the parents! A response to 'cultural capital as an explanation of variation in participation in higher education' by John Noble and Peter Davies (British Journal of Sociology of Education 30, no. 5).

‘i don’t feel like ‘a student’, i feel like ‘me’!’: The over‐simplification of mature learners’ experience(s) (2006)
Journal Article

Many studies of mature students within further and higher education portray them as a distinct social category with particular shared characteristics. Such representations are sometimes sub‐divided further along lines of social division. For instance... Read More about ‘i don’t feel like ‘a student’, i feel like ‘me’!’: The over‐simplification of mature learners’ experience(s).

I call myself a mature student. That one word makes all the difference. Reflections on adult learners' experiences (2005)
Journal Article

Working-class women on an Access course: Risk, opportunity and (re)constructing identities (2004)
Journal Article

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... Read More about Working-class women on an Access course: Risk, opportunity and (re)constructing identities.

‘I really hated school, and couldn’t wait to get out!’: Reflections on ‘a wasted opportunity’ amongst access to HE students. (2004)
Journal Article

In constructing a narrative account of our lives, we may recall experiences of schooling with a mixture of resentment and regret, and perhaps a sense of ‘wasted opportunities’. This is particularly true if school has left us with a fragile academic s... Read More about ‘I really hated school, and couldn’t wait to get out!’: Reflections on ‘a wasted opportunity’ amongst access to HE students..

“Everybody gets one or two chances in life, this is my second!”: Risk and the construction of (mature) students’ biographies (2002)
Journal Article

This article presents preliminary findings from a PhD study that began in September 2001. It seeks to outline provisional thoughts as to how the notion of risk influences the construction of biographies for mature students on an Access course at a Fu... Read More about “Everybody gets one or two chances in life, this is my second!”: Risk and the construction of (mature) students’ biographies.

'I want to prove to myself that I can do this!': Risk and uncertainty in the construction of personal biographies for access students (2002)
Journal Article

This paper is a preliminary discussion of research findings from a PhD study that began within UWE’s Education Faculty in September 2001. It will seek to outline provisional thoughts as to how notions of risk and uncertainty are employed in the const... Read More about 'I want to prove to myself that I can do this!': Risk and uncertainty in the construction of personal biographies for access students.

Undergraduates’ memories of school-based work experience and the role of class and gender in placement choices
Journal Article