Working with/in institutions: how policy enactment in widening participation is shaped through practitioners’ experience

Abstract

Widening participation in higher education is driven by policy that is then enacted by individual practitioners. Practitioners bring with them a wealth of personal and employment experiences which shape their interpretations and enactments. Drawing on 16 in-depth semi structured interviews with practitioners across seven universities in England, a classification is developed in order to conceptualise their orientations to policy enactment. Whilst nationally focused, this study has international resonance especially in marketised higher education systems where policies are similarly enacted. The model developed within the article proposes that personal and professional experience can cause practitioners to orient towards the interests of the institution or the individuals they work with. This orientation can be in compliance with institutional policy or adopt a more transgressive stance. Through deeper theorisation of practitioner positions, we can better understand how to ensure work in this area better serves the individuals whom it is targeted at.

Keywords:

• Widening participation
• higher education
• inequalities
• policy

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the practitioners who contributed to this study and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions in the development of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 These were institutionally produced documents outlining plans to address issues of access, success and progression and submitted to the Office for Fair Access.

2 In 1992, a significant change to higher education allowed polytechnics (vocational institutions) to gain university status. Pre-1992 institutions who pre-date this expansion are often more research-intensive with higher entry requirements. In contrast, post-1992 universities tend to have lower academic entry requirements and are more vocationally focused.