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ABSTRACT
Despite the shift from an elite to a mass higher education (HE) system in the UK, participation between students with Business Technology Education Council (BTEC) and Advanced-Level (A-level) qualifications remains unequal. The data presented here is taken from a longitudinal narrative inquiry funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The study aimed to understand the reasons, influences, experiences and enabling and constraining factors that informed further education (FE) students’ HE decision making and choices. Qualitative data was gathered using a combination of interviews, focus groups, paper and audio diaries with 13 FE students in England over an 18-month period, studying on either BTEC Level 3 or A-Level courses. Inequalities between the HE decisions and choices of BTEC and A-Level students emerged early on in their decision-making journeys. A-Level students had the advantage of being targeted and involved in national and local outreach initiatives, which allowed them to bypass financial constraints, and were provided with crucial opportunities to establish a sense of ‘place’ in higher education institutions (HEIs) as a result. The same financial constraints served to limit BTEC students’ choices, and restricted their opportunities to establish the same sense of ‘place’. Implications for policy as well as outreach and widening participation (WP) practices to work towards redressing these inequalities are proposed and discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. For a more comprehensive discussion of the political context and development behind the widening participation agenda, see Greenbank (Citation2006).
2. Key Information Sets are information documents based on data from the National Student Survey (NSS) and Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey (DLHE). They are made available online for each HE course (Unistats.gov Citation2012) and provide statistical information on student satisfaction, the destinations of graduates and expected future salaries.
3. The Teaching Excellence Framework awards gold, silver or bronze ratings to HE providers based on their ‘teaching, learning and student outcomes’ (HEFCE Citation2017).
4. Participants’ identities are protected by pseudonyms throughout.
5. A national widening participation initiative involving 14 research-intensive HEIs. Potential applicants who meet specific criteria are eligible to benefit from the scheme (Realising Opportunities 2017). Such benefits include alternative offers, support with UCAS applications and the provision of an e-mentor.
6. UCAS allows applicants a total of five course choices.
7. CUKAS is now known as ‘UCAS Conservatoires’.
8. The cost of a UCAS application is £24 when making more than one choice (UCAS Citation2015).
9. A contemporary dance company based in London.
10. The eight-point NS-SEC was employed when assigning such categories. Category V corresponds to lower-supervisory and technical occupations and category VI to semi-routine occupations.
11. Conservatoire schools offer an audition fee waiver scheme. However, only one participant had applied to a conservatoire. Outside of conservatoires, only one other institution mentioned by the Performing Arts participants offered an audition fee waiver.
12. This consists of applicants residing in a quintile 1 or 2 area in accordance with POLAR3, having a household income of less than £25,000 and being a UK resident who does not currently hold a degree.
13. The 16–19 Bursary Fund was introduced in 2011 to replace the Education Maintenance Allowance that was abolished during the same year (see Lloyd et al. Citation2015).
14. Discretionary bursaries are those created by individual schools or colleges, which determine their own provision and distribution criteria (for instance, as a cash bursary or in-kind).
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Z. Baker
Dr Z. Baker is currently a Researcher and Academic Skills Advisor at Sheffield Hallam University; she was formerly a Researcher in the Widening Participation Research and Evaluation Unit at the University of Sheffield. She completed her PhD in the School of Education at the University of Sheffield, which explored the higher education decision making and choices of further education students. Zoe’s research interests include widening participation, the sociology of education, youth studies and inclusive learning and teaching.