Table Of ContentWidening Participation in Post-Compulsory Education
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WIDENING
PARTICIPATION IN
POST-COMPULSORY
EDUCATION
Liz Thomas
CONTINUUM
London and New York
Also available from Continuum:
Jim Smith and Andrea Spurling, Lifelong Learning
Richard Teare, David Davies and Eric Sandelands, The Virtual
University
Linda Evans and Ian Abbott, Teaching and Learning in Higher
Education
Lovemore Nyatanga, Dawn Forman and Jane Fox, Good Practice in the
Accreditation of Prior Learning
Stewart Ranson, Inside the Learning Society
Kangmin Zeng, Dragon Gate: Competitive Examinations and their
Consequences
Continuum
The Tower Building 370 Lexington Avenue
11 York Road New York
London SE1 7NX NY 10017–6503
© 2001 Elizabeth Thomas
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
First published 2001
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 0-8264-7908-1 (paperback)
Typeset by YHT Ltd, London
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddies, Guildford and King's Lynn
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
1. An Introduction to Widening Participation in
Post-compulsory Education 1
2. Modernizers and the Economic Drive for Expansion 14
3. Progressives and the Personal and Social Benefits of
Post-compulsory Education 30
4. Access to Post-compulsory Education by 'Non-Traditional'
Students 43
5. Identifying Assumptions and Barriers to Participation 65
6. Schools and Progression: Barriers Created by the
Compulsory Education System 73
7. Barriers and Opportunities Created by the Post-compulsory
Education System 83
8. The Labour Market and Participation in Post-compulsory
Education and Training 106
9. The Influence of Social and Cultural Factors on
Participation in Post-compulsory Education 118
10. Individualizing the Problem, or Problematizing the
Individual? 130
11. A Strategic Approach - But Whose Strategy? 139
12. Case Study 1: Regional Distance Learning Scheme 153
13. Case Study 2: Community Outreach Partnership 169
14. Case Study 3: A Tailor-made Programme of Courses 188
15. This Approach to Widening Participation 206
Appendix 1: Key Questions 211
Appendix 2: Further Case Studies 215
Bibliography 219
Index 237
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Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the help and
support of a number of people without whom this book would not
have been possible. First, I would like to thank Professor Christine
King, Vice-chancellor of Staffordshire University, and Professor
David Jary, formerly Dean of the Graduate School, for initiating the
Institute for Access Studies and for providing me with the opportunity
to work in this field. Second, I would like to thank Jan Thomas for
assisting with the typing, and Peter Thomas, Robert Jones and Kim
Slack for reading and commenting on my manuscript, without whose
guidance this would be a far less eloquent read. I would also like to
thank everybody who has assisted with, or participated in, the research
that informs much of this book. Finally, I would like to thank
Anthony Haynes of Continuum for encouraging me throughout the
process of writing.
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CHAPTER 1
An Introduction to Widening
Participation in Post-compulsory
Education
Introduction
This book is written at a time when widening participation in post-
compulsory education seems to be undergoing something of a
renaissance. It is therefore necessary to seize this opportunity to
ensure that the nature of post-16 learning opportunities is radically
changed to overcome elitism and exclusion. Similar sentiments are
shared by others, including for example Dick Taylor (2000) who calls
for the development of a 'transformed higher education system
emerging from the concepts and practices of continuing education
and lifelong learning' (p. 14; see also Watson and Taylor, 1998).
I am not claiming that this book should serve as a blueprint for
change. This is, for me, primarily because a single, detailed agenda for
reform cannot hope to meet the diverse needs of a broader
constituency of learners. Such groups must be involved in the
processes of change. Rather, this book has three primary aims: first, to
examine some of the reasons underpinning the renewed interest in
access, widening participation and lifelong learning; second, to
categorize and explore the barriers to wider participation in formal
learning by so-called 'non-traditional' students; and third, to promote
a strategic approach to widening participation that involves potential
students in addressing the various barriers to access and progression.
This will promote genuine institutional and social change.
Expansion and participation
The first part of the book (Chapters 2 to 4) examines expansion and
participation in post-compulsory education in the latter part of the
twentieth century. This is attempted partly through the consideration
of contemporary research, policy and practice, and also by reference to
