Reappraising learning support in higher education

Abstract

With the increasing number of disabled students entering the higher education sector, much research work has focused on the support services arena and the elimination of barriers that the disabled students have encountered. While producing useful advice on meeting the needs of disabled students, this line of research has done little to locate disability issues within the mainstream learning and teaching debate. By adopting a socio-educational model of ‘learning difficulty’, the study upon which this article draws examined through a survey the issue of ‘learning support’ for the whole student population of one university. The survey employed the Learning for All Questionnaire (LfAQ), a newly developed instrument that aimed to operationalise a holistic view of learning support. The analysis of the collected data provided directions for developing university policies and practices through a significant reformulation of the existing support provision. The article concludes by exploring the concept of ‘institutional habitus’ as a tool for understanding institutional practices, and effecting change to enhance learning and promote inclusion. The implications of current funding arrangements (the Disabled Students’ Allowance) for a mainstream model of learning support are also discussed.