A real rollercoaster of confidence and emotions': learning to be a university student, Studies in Higher Education, 33:5, 567-581, Accounts of emotion and affect have gained popularity in studies of learning. This article draws on qualitative research with a group of non-traditional students entering an elite university in the UK to illustrate how being and becoming a university student is an intrinsically emotional process. It argues that feelings of loss and dislocation are inherent to the students' experiences of entering university, and that 'coming to know' a new community of practice is an emotional process that can incorporate feelings of alienation and exclusion, as well as of excitement and exhilaration. A broader understanding of how students learn then depends not just upon the individual's emotional commitment to developing a new learning identity, but on the emotional interaction between the student and the learning environment of the university. IntroductionIndividuals entering higher education, particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds, often have to adapt to changed ways of learning in order to get the greatest benefit from their course. But universities too must adapt to the changing needs of the 'new' learners, and questions are being asked about the role of university culture in supporting or impeding learning. It is becoming clear that learning is a profoundly reflexive and emotional construct, that entails the undoing of earlier learning as students enter a new environment with different subjects, learning approaches and teaching styles. In addition, learning does not take place within the realm of individual cognition. The entire person, group or even organisation is part of the learning process, and universities can influence a student's learning through an environment that encourages an active learner approach (Zepke, Leach, and Prebble 2006). These accounts of learning open up the emotional dimensions of individual (and organisational) learning, and draw attention to the complex nature of the learning process. Some learning can involve upsetting experiences, leading to feelings of psychological vulnerability and insecurity. Other learning experiences are positive and can engender feelings of hopeful anticipation, exhilaration and discovery (Griffiths, Winstanley, and Gabriel 2005, 275).In this article we examine some of the theoretical and empirical issues surrounding the powerful emotional component of learning amongst higher education students, based on the experiences of a sample of non-traditional students who entered an 'elite' Scottish university directly from further education colleges.

This paper reports on a research study which explored the worries and problems of young carers in Edinburgh. Sixty‐one young carers took part in the study, conducted between April and June 2002. Findings indicate that young carers identify significant worries and problems in relation to their well‐being, and that these come over and above any ‘normal’ adolescent difficulties. It is suggested that these findings may have important implications for young carers’ mental health, now and in the future, and contain important lessons for child and family social work in general.

This paper identifies a number of significant gaps between the principles of good practice in research with children and the practical realities of conducting a research project with children. The context of the discussion is an ongoing research study of children and young people in Scotland with a parent or carer with HIV. The paper argues that conducting research with what is a hidden (and in many ways secret) population throws into sharp relief some difficulties and contradictions that are at the heart of the research process. The paper does not intend to present easy answers to the complex questions that it raises: the research project it describes is ongoing and not yet at the stage of disseminating findings in any definitive way. Moreover, it seems likely that there are no answers to the questions raised, but that the act of posing the questions may contribute to the development of better, more reflexive research with children.

The participation of service users in the planning and delivery of social work services has become a familiar objective in the UK. Policy injunctions, however, mask a lack of clarity around what is meant by terms such as 'participation' and 'engagement'. Moreover, since many service users do not engage with social workers voluntarily, the expectation that they become centrally involved in the planning and delivery of services highlights tensions and contradictions. This article explores social work engagement with involuntary clients, drawing on findings from a knowledge exchange project involving academics and local authority social workers. A review of the literature traces the background to user involvement and identifies its different stages and types. Data from small-scale practitioner research projects undertaken within the project is then drawn on to illuminate how social workers and clients negotiate mutual engagement in their everyday encounters. It is suggested that the 'roll out' of the user engagement agenda may be understood as an exercise in the problematics of government (Rose and Miller, 1992). More optimistically, the work of Michel De 2 Certeau is drawn on to propose that a practice of the everyday in such encounters rescues them from an ill-defined, abstract and undifferentiated policy agenda.

A key issue for the social work profession concerns the nature, quality and content of communicative encounters with children and families. This article introduces some findings from a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) that took place across the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2015, which explored how social workers communicate with children in their everyday practice.The Talking and Listening to Children (TLC) project had three phases: the first was ethnographic, involving observations of social workers in their workplace and during visits; the second used video-stimulated recall with a small number of children and their social workers; and the third developed online materials to support social workers. This paper discusses findings from the first phase. It highlights a diverse picture regarding the context and content of communicative processes; it is argued that attention to contextual issues is as important as focusing on individual practitioners' behaviours and outlines a model for so doing.

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This paper argues that transition is not a one-off event that occurs when students first enter universities but is an on-going process that is repeated over time. We draw on qualitative data from a longitudinal project on "non-traditional" students who entered a research-intensive university in Scotland direct from further education colleges. This cohort of 45 was asked about their views on college and university learning in a study that was conducted throughout their time at university; a sub-sample of 15 was then followed up 10 years later. Our data suggest that four significant transitions, or set of critical moments, can be identified: the loss of a sense of belonging on coming to university, learning to fit in by the end of the first year, changing approaches to learning and belonging in the final years of study and changing selves in the years following graduation. At each point, positive relationships with peers and staff made a significant difference to how these transitions were managed. Moreover, the changes experienced continued to have an impact on the personal and professional lives of the cohort.

This paper explores the transitions that a group of students, admitted from further education colleges as part of broader widening access initiative at a Scottish researchintensive university, made across the lifetime of their degrees. It investigates how they negotiate their learning careers beyond the first year, and how they (re)define their approaches to independent learning as they progress to the later years of their courses. Evidence is drawn from 20 students who were interviewed during each of their three or four years of study to provide a longitudinal account of their experiences of engagement and participation at the university. We draw attention to three ways in which the students made transitions across the course of their degrees: to increased knowledge of the conventions of academic writing; to enhanced critical skills; and to practical strategies to prioritise learning.