Who Goes to College via Access Routes? A Comparative Study of Widening Participation Admission in Selective Universities in Ireland and England

an article by Katriona O’Sullivan and Delma Byrne (Maynooth University, Ireland) and James Robson and Niall Winters (University of Oxford, UK) published in Social Inclusion Volume 7 Issue 1 (2019)

Abstract

This article explores changing national widening participation (WP) policy and responses from Higher Education institutions (HEIs) from a cross-national perspective. Specifically, the use of contextualised admissions and the provision of foundation year programmes in selective universities in Ireland and England are the key foci of interest.

Using data gathered from WP students in two selective universities in Ireland and England, we explore how student characteristics differ according to the WP route undertaken.

In an attempt to generate more knowledge of how HEIs enact WP policy, we draw on interviews conducted with staff involved in admission decision-making to explore how those with responsibility for admission within each institutional context perceive the WP pathways and their aims. The findings highlight how important it is for selective universities to adopt multiple WP pathways given that the use of contextualised admission and the provision of foundation years attract quite diverse student intakes.

In both contexts, those entering through foundation years have experienced greater levels of disadvantage in terms of family history of education and family occupation compared to their contextualised admission counterparts. The qualitative findings reveal that those with responsibility for admission perceive the WP admission routes in different ways, highlighting a clash between institutional culture and the goals of WP.

Full text (PDF 14pp)

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Participation and equity in higher education: are we going back to the future?

an article by Linda Leach (Massey University, New Zealand) published in Oxford Review of Education Volume 39 Issue 2 (April 2013)

Abstract

This article provides an overview of policy developments related to participation and equity in higher education in New Zealand, England and Australia from the 1960s to 2011. It explores these developments in four sections.

First, it sets the scene by tracing the shift from elite universities to massification.

Second, it summarises key participation and equity policy developments between the 1960s and 2008 in the three countries to set the context for the post-global financial crisis developments.

It then traces the different policy responses to the financial crisis, identifying Australia’s pathway as different from those taken in New Zealand and England.

Fourth, it explores the success of these policies, identifies a change in the equity discourse and considers some strategic institutional responses to the changing policies in each country and the likely effects of those.

It argues that the austerity approaches taken by New Zealand and England are likely to take them back to a future of selective, elite universities but that Australia may continue its counter-cyclical policies to support equity objectives – unless there is a change of government and/or pressures from rapidly increasing enrolments produce policy change.

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Reframing basic education to deliver education for all: flexible provision and enabling frameworks

an article by Ros Morpeth and Charlotte Creed (National Extension College, The Michael Young Centre, Cambridge, UK) published in Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning Volume 27 Issue 3 (November 2012)

Abstract

Inclusion has traditionally been conceptualised as integrating children into the formal schooling system. Recent research conducted in South Asia, however, adds to evidence that the huge number of children out of school and the diversity of their needs can only be met by a diversity of provision, formal and non-formal; that because many state education systems cannot meet the demands in quantity and quality, governments must continue to reform, improve and expand the public system, but also consider reconceptualising their role away from being the exclusive provider and towards encouraging a more diversified and equitable educational system.

This paper sets out six challenges for reaching marginalised children through such change, highlighting the political commitment needed to embed into national education policy framework a rights-based approach, with quality assurance and greater links between the formal and non-formal.

It provides examples of non-formal providers, using open learning principles, which offer models of how a more flexible and equitable system could be delivered for marginalised children, with progression routes and accreditation equivalent to or the same as the formal system.

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Élite destinations: ...

pathways to attending an Ivy League university

an article by Ann L Mullen (Department of Sociology, University of Toronto) in British Journal of Sociology of Education Volume 30 Issue 1 (January 2009)

Abstract
As higher education expands and becomes more differentiated, patterns of class stratification remain deeply entrenched, in part due to class-based differences in college choice. A qualitative study of 50 Yale students shows the effects of social class, high schools and peers on students’ pathways to college. For students from wealthy and highly educated families, the choice of an Ivy League institution becomes normalised through the inculcated expectations of families, the explicit positioning of schools, and the peer culture. Without these advantages, less-privileged students more often place élite institutions outside the realm of the possible – in part because of concerns of élitism. These findings suggest that even low socioeconomic-status students with exceptional academic credentials must overcome substantial hurdles to arrive at an Ivy League university.

Hazel’s comment:
It's not just in the UK that the economically deprived find it difficult to break down the barriers to entry into the institutions of the economically advantaged.

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