Access to Higher Education and Disadvantaged Young People

Abstract

This article will highlight the difficulties faced by qualified but disadvantaged young people in accessing higher education. This is an issue which has strong implications for education policy, economic efficiency and social justice. Over the past two decades, despite large increases in overall access to higher education, the gap in level of participation between the most affluent and most disadvantaged school‐leavers has remained intact. This article will examine patterns of educational attrition amongst less affluent young people, who gain sufficient qualifications to enter higher education. In other words, in order to redress the imbalance in the uptake of places in higher education, this article will distinguish between the factors which qualify young people to access university and those which predispose them to participate. A range of factors (barriers) which impacted upon levels of participation in higher education was found. Access to higher education was primarily dictated by level of school achievement, although this in turn was found to be a function of disadvantage. Furthermore, some qualified but disadvantaged young people forwent the opportunity to enter higher education on leaving school, while others enrolled in less advanced courses, for reasons other than academic ability.

Shifting the blame in higher education – social inclusion and deficit discourses

“…Forsyth and Furlong (2003) suggest for these students, difficulties of "fitting in" with the university culture are pronounced. CouvillionLandry (2002CouvillionLandry ( -2003 suggests that while most first year students undoubtedly experience feelings of "isolation and loneliness" (2), students who differ from the mainstream experience intensified feelings.…”

Learning from feedback? Mature students’ experiences of assessment in higher education

“…Engagement is defined by Hu and Kuh (2001, 3) as 'the quality of effort students themselves devote to educationally purposeful activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes'. Many students from disadvantaged backgrounds will experience significant culture shock on entering an institution whose practices and traditions are alien to them (Christie et al, 2008;Forsyth and Furlong, 2003) and therefore their engagement may be more difficult. In these circumstances 'higher education can have a serious impact on the learner's construction of the self, in that the opening up of new ways of thinking can break apart an apparently well-formed personal construct system' (Knight & Yorke, 2003: 141).…”

La experiencia de estudiantes de contextos vulnerables en diferentes Intituciones de Educación Superior Universitaria (IESU): Resultados de investigación

“…Por otro lado, en la mayoría de los estudios revisados, nacionales e internacionales, se observa un énfasis en la universalización de la tesis bourdiana (Bourdieu y Passeron, 2003), la cual postula que el funcionamiento del sistema educativo se encuentra asociado a los habitus 5 propios de las familias y estudiantes con altos capitales culturales (Canales y de los Ríos 2007, 2009Meneses et al, 2010;González y Uribe, 2005;Forsyth y Furlong, 2003;Lehmann, 2007;2009; Thomas y Quinn, 2007;Cooke, Barkham, Audin y Bradley, 2004;Koskinen, 2007;Stuber, 2011). Dicha perspectiva, si bien tiene una amplia aceptación basada en la evidencia empírica, obstaculiza el planteamiento de problemas orientados a reconocer y comparar las experiencias sociales y académicas en universidades con diferentes configuraciones socioinstitucionales, no necesariamente asociadas a los habitus de los estratos altos.…”