Good students, bad pupils: constructions of “aspiration”, “disadvantage” and social class in undergraduate‐led widening participation work

Abstract

This C‐SAP funded research explores undergraduate student involvement in widening participation initiatives at a traditional university and the ways that students promote and market their university and higher education more generally. It seeks to explore the widening participation messages disseminated by students in their work with pupils and teachers, the ways that these are taken up and/or resisted, and the interactions between university students and “local” school pupils. The idea of peer led discussion, whereby “sameness” is encouraged and endorsed, is positively promoted within student tutoring programmes. However, this study found a sharpening of notions of “us” and “them” amongst many student participants and a vocalization of educational success stories versus educational “failures”. While involvement in such programmes may be a way that students can contribute to their locality and foster career skills, this study interrogates the scope of “all round benefits” in widening participation and suggests that social class is mobilized in constructions of the “good student” as against the “bad pupil”. Widening participation initiatives need to engage with – and beyond – such interpersonal positioning in order to erode continued structured inequalities.

Keywords:

• class
• education
• widening participation

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank C‐SAP for funding the research project “All round benefits? Student involvement in widening participation programmes”.

Notes

1. This research was conducted in an established, research‐intensive university, one of the members of the Russell group, often referred to as “elite” universities (Smith 2002) – widening participation issues may be very different in “new” post‐1992 universities.

2. Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).