The CBHE Lecturer and Student

Leading undergraduate provision in further education colleges: the experiences of BA Education programme leaders

“…Specifically, through our research with this group, we have come to regard undergraduate programme leaders as a particularly distinctive and critical keystone species within the further education context. A range of authors have identified high-quality, personalised student support, based on strong interpersonal staff-student relationships, as a major asset of undergraduate provision within further education (Elliott, 2020;Griffiths and Lloyd, 2009;Keenan, 2020). Moreover, as Dhillon and Bentley (2016) note, it is the programme leaders and their teams who, by virtue of being 'on the ground' in such further education contexts, are often best placed to guide students' emerging self-identities as higher education-level learners.…”

“…The micro layer locates the learner 'in their most immediate setting -their home, community and working environments, family networks and peer relations, and relationships with education professionals' (Hodgson and Spours, 2009: 15). As noted by Keenan (2020), undergraduate courses offered in FE colleges are often reflective of the communities they serve, and cater for the considerable diversity of learners in those areas, including those from 'non-traditional' backgrounds. A desire to promote social justice through greater access and opportunities for non-traditional undergraduate learners offers a powerful motivation to many teaching in this sector (Avis and Orr, 2016).…”

“…Our study draws on the 'four levels of a lifelong learning ecology' outlined by Hodgson and Spours (2009: 15). This model has been used to inform other recent studies of undergraduate provision within further education (for example, Henderson, 2020;Keenan, 2020), and it provides a framework for our data analysis.…”