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Over the past decade, debt-based solutions have been implemented as part of austerity policies to distribute public goods by the use of market forces, resulting in an increase in public and private indebtedness. This paper considers the terms of such solutions by developing the conceptual lens of market studies to rethink 'debt' and 'the market' as analytical categories that often reproduce the conditions of their conceptual boundaries. In so doing, it demonstrates how paying attention to particularities reveals the normative, economic and political circumstances that determine debt-based solutions. These do not simply sit peripheral to the market, but come to define debt obligations as part of market relations. In this respect, the paper takes an approach that accounts for obligation as an entanglement of debtors in market relations. The study builds on Michel Callon's rendition of 'problematization' to explore the implementation of the 2010 higher education fee loan regime in England, a result of austerity governance. A novel application of 'markets for collective concern' and 'accountability devices' is thus used to argue that understanding the ways debt-based solutions entangle market participants in the obligation to repay that reproduces the conditions of the intervention's conceptual boundaries, requires a market studies approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The skillsets of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates are widely recognised to be important for economic prosperity. At the same time, it is broadly accepted that in England there is a need to increase the number of people studying STEM degree courses and working in STEM. However, despite decades of interventions post-16, STEM participation rates remain lower than projected requirements. Some research reports suggest a lack of positive attitudes towards these subjects and aspirations amongst some social groups. As these debates continue, official reports such as those released by the Department for Education show these patterns from the labour market and higher education (HE) extend to both attainment and participation in science and math in school. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the authors summarise the authors' findings from the analysis of official reports, policy documents and major research reports focussing on attainment in school science and math and post-compulsory STEM participation. Findings: The authors identify the problematic ways in which STEM subject choices are made across the student life cycle and then discuss how the leaky pipeline metaphor can be ambiguous and needs to be used with caution. Research limitations/implications: Some aspects identified here warrant further research and will be of particular interest to researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Originality/value: In this new report, the authors identify the problematic ways in which STEM subject choices are made across the student life cycle in England and then discuss how the leaky pipeline metaphor can be ambiguous and needs to be used with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the experiences of a group of 16- to 18-year-old students in two publicly funded London schools who did not conform to expectations and rejected university as a post-school destination. The students' experiences offer insights into how current Higher Education (HE) policy in England combined with a competitive school market encouraged differentiated levels of support according to the 'status' of students' post-school aspirations. In both schools, progression to university was valorised with sixth-form (post-16) careers guidance focused on HE choosing. Students who did not conform to school expectations and sought alternatives to university were found to be most disadvantaged by a lack of independent and impartial careers guidance at sixth-form level. Characterised by creativity and resourcefulness, non-conforming students' dispositions influenced the ways they negotiated the HE discourses integral to the institutional habitus of their schools. Drawing on social and cultural capital beyond the school, they accessed advice and guidance for post-school destinations which had more meaning for them than university. The paper draws on student interviews which formed part of a larger ethnographic study of the influence of institutional habitus on students' HE and non-HE choosing. The discussion is informed by a Bourdieusian theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What impact did the 1988 Education Reform Act (1988 ERA) have on higher education from the perspectives of professors working in the sector at the time? How did it reshape the sector's structures? How did it contribute to the conditions that have unleashed the so called 'undergraduate monster'? These questions are addressed in this paper. I draw on semi-structured interviews with 14 professors working in universities in England to explore their perceptions of the changes from a system of polytechnics/universities to pre- and post-1992 universities. In doing so, this paper provides unique insights into second order policy effects created by the 1988 ERA for the sector. The data lead me to argue that the 1988 ERA made the introduction and increases in higher education tuition fees possible, further entrenching inequality in the composition of the student body in different types of Higher Education Institution (HEI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a Foucauldian theorisation and an in-depth study with eight disabled student activists in England, this paper explores how persistent marginalisation and ableism in higher education has triggered a wave of activism among disabled students, who, just before the advent of the pandemic, had organised a structured movement, Disabled Students UK. We employ Foucault's ideas of the care of the self and others to discuss the formation of disabled students as activist subjects fighting discrimination in English higher education, in a moment in which the intersection between inclusive policies and austerity measures exposed the ableism rooted in academic practices. This paper promotes discussion on the nurturing relationship that exists between the individual and the community in constituting disability activism and disabled activists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social & Cultural Geography is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper aims to understand how an institution responds to a major disruption such as the Covid-19 pandemic by focusing in detail on one university in England. The study collected data from a range of levels, including survey data from students and staff as well as recruitment data, degree outcomes and financial impact to explore how academic continuity, academic rigour and student experience can be maintained. Using a systems-based approach and drawing on an organisational resilience framework, findings demonstrated that the case study university had made a positive adjustment to the pandemic. It managed to maintain academic continuity, rigour, and the student experience. What was less clear were the longer-term impacts and the extent of that resilience as defined in the organisational resilience literature which focuses on adversity as an opportunity to learn and land in an overall better place after adversity rather than return to a 'business as before' place. This is applicable to other universities that made similar adjustments in response to the pandemic. A better understanding of organisational resilience in higher education institutions is important in order to enable them to plan for other such disruptions that are part of a modern, connected and global world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 80,000 children in England were being looked after in Local Authority care in 2020 and a further 40,000 people were defined as 'care leavers'. Although a significant body of research highlights the prevalence of educational low achievement in the care experienced population, official government figures show that around 13% of care experienced pupils progress to higher education by the age of 19. In a climate of 'widening participation' in which universities encourage inclusion and student diversity, this research invited students with a care background to discuss their experiences of settling into university life. Data was collected using in-depth interviews with 42 students from four universities and an online survey completed by 192 students in 29 universities in England and Wales. Findings revealed that although care experienced students overcome significant challenges to progress to higher education, over half considered dropping out. Others reported feeling isolated and inadequately supported, both financially and pastorally, by their institution. This paper uses a lens of resilience to consider the environmental factors that impact upon student transitions, and concludes that universities must act to balance inequalities in order to appropriately welcome and appreciate care leavers for the skills and experience they bring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the colleges and institutes of higher education (CIHEs), major providers of HE, almost sixty of which existed in England and Wales between the 1970s and the early twenty-first century. Its central argument is that a failure to develop the CIHEs as specialist institutions of advanced professional learning along the lines of the German Berufsakademien (rather than being recast as universities of moderate standing) was a significant error, especially in terms of failing to provide a viable alternative to university-based higher education in England and Wales. This alternative trajectory would, I argue, have been beneficial both for the CIHEs as institutions and for those sections of the labour market most associated with them, especially in terms of resolving some of the long-standing tensions between academic and work-related learning in preparing aspiring professionals for employment in a range of people-centred occupations. The paper traces the historical development of the CIHEs and critically considers how they might have been alternatively fostered following the 1978 Oakes Report, a possibility, which, it is argued, was effectively extinguished following the neoliberal turn, which took place from the end of the 1970s onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the Colleges of Advanced Technology (CATs), specialist providers of advance science and technology which existed in England and Wales for ten years after the 1956 White Paper Technical Education. Its central argument is that recasting the CATs as broader-based universities following the 1963 Robbins Report was a significant error which attenuated the progress of science and technology, and prevented the Colleges' development as viable providers of higher education (HE) outside the university sector. This decision, it is argued, was shaped by typically English views about the relative value of different forms of learning, the nature and purpose of HE, and particular beliefs about the primacy of the university. It also conflated the general desire to increase participation in higher education with the wish to promote science and technology in particular. A bolder option, it is proposed, would have been to build the CATs up as prestigious institutes of technology, along the lines of those found in the USA and continental Europe – although this, it is recognised, would have entailed a substantial shift in the role of the state and reduced the individual and collective autonomy of HE institutions in England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presenting the results from a mixed methods case-study, this paper draws together insight from the fields of 'BME attainment' and 'student transition' to explore how differential levels of degree attainment might be experienced within the context of a higher tariff university in England. Across a five-year period (2010/11–2014/2015) it compares the levels of degree attainment between UK-domiciled White and Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students in relation to prior attainment, qualification type, and socioeconomic group (POLAR 3). A range of qualitative data then outlines a series of dynamic factors that can, when compounded, serve to constrain BME students' capability to negotiate their way through very particular university landscapes. These include: academic expectation and preparedness; the pedagogic terrain; pastoral engagement and sense of belonging finance; and, the lived experience of diversity and 'othering'. The paper argues that attainment gaps should not be viewed in terms of an individual deficit that needs to be 'fixed' or 'filled'. Instead, greater attention needs to be directed toward enhancing the capacity of higher tariff universities to respond positively to the needs of a changing demographic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Higher Education Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the prevalence, motivations and support for student sex work within North East higher education institutions. With limited existing research in this area, this study fills a crucial gap in understanding student sex work in the UK and its specific manifestation in the North East region. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve its objectives, this study adopted an exploratory, cross-sectional design conducted entirely online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A mixed-methodology approach was used, inspired by previous research, gathering quantitative data through a semi-structured questionnaire and qualitative data through open-ended survey questions. Findings: The study revealed that 11.4% of students engaged in sex work, primarily in indirect and online-based forms. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ)+ students were more likely to participate in sex work compared to heterosexual students. Financial difficulties and lifestyle preferences were identified as significant motivations for student sex work. Research limitations/implications: A limitation of the study was the lack of diversity in the sample, with predominantly young, white, heterosexual and cis-gender females, potentially neglecting other demographics' struggles. Future research should include larger and more diverse samples to ensure representative findings. Practical implications: The research highlights the need for greater awareness and support for student sex workers within North East universities. Policies and services should consider the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ student sex workers to reduce stigma and potential dangers. Social implications: Understanding the prevalence of student sex work sheds light on the need to challenge societal assumptions and stigmas surrounding sex work, particularly concerning gender and sexuality. Originality/value: This study breaks new ground by providing novel insights into an understudied research area – the prevalence of student sex work in North East England. The findings lay the foundation for future research and can inform policies and support systems to improve the safety and well-being of student sex workers. Furthermore, the study contributes to broader discussions on gender, sexuality and sex work in academic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ofsted, the inspection authority in England, has told schools to ensure that all students have access to cultural capital, taken as a canon of music, literature and art. In this paper, we trouble this guidance by analysing conversations with 1447 senior secondary students. The students reported that the arts offered considerable personal benefits, as well as creative self-expression (visual art) and vocational and networking skills (performing arts). By bringing Bourdieu to the dataset we offer a field analysis that shows how arts cultural capitals might follow the logics of the education field. We speculate that, despite the likelihood that these elite cultural capitals were not of equal value to all students, arts capitals and dispositions might support wider resistances to logics of practice in other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of threats to their financial sustainability, this paper uses Resource Dependency Theory to explore the challenges being faced by a sample of 10 small new public universities in England. It discusses the responses being taken and prospects for the future in this segment of the sector. It concludes that some of the most important elements of income and expenditure are also areas where institutions have amongst the lowest levels of autonomy, including tuition fees, staff salaries and pension costs. It suggests that institutions are proactively seeking ways to both adapt their strategy and influence the environment in which they operate, including the introduction of new organisational forms, models for employing staff, the diversification into new programmes and markets, and greater use of domestic and international partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a longitudinal study in the North of England with 13 educators in schools, colleges and universities during two lockdowns. The project was designed to 'unlock' education by providing spaces to co‐create new ways of thinking about education in light of the Covid‐19 pandemic. Focus groups were conducted with school and college teachers as well as university staff at the end of the first and second English lockdowns, in summer 2020 and spring 2021. An initial analysis identified issues with expectations and communication between educators and executive management as well as a lack of agency of educators, and how participants framed them as impacting on their identity as educators. Therefore, the framework of tactics of intersubjectivity was adopted to explore how educators discursively positioned themselves and others through constructions of similarity and difference, realness and power, and how their professional identities were affected by the experience of working through the pandemic and by those around them. Whilst educators took opportunities to authenticate their identity and reimagine education, their agency was undermined by top‐down governing involving little successful communication, leading to denaturalising and illegitimising experiences for educators. Executive management were perceived as lacking engagement with staff and understanding of the implications of their decisions on them. The findings call for relationship building and recognition of educators' voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the value of diary methods in the context of a qualitative, longitudinal narrative inquiry exploring the higher education decision-making of further education students in England. Event-based diaries were used alongside interviews and focus groups over a 14-month period to gain in-depth insights into the reasons and influences informing their decision-making trajectories. I explore the challenges, successful approaches and advantages of employing diary methods with young people in this context. Challenges consisted of maintaining participant engagement, which was overcome by combining methods and incorporating a reactive co-participatory element. Yet, a number of advantages emerged from participants' engagement with diary keeping which enhanced the richness of the data; this inspired deeper reflections on decision-making and influences and provided a private space for participants to disclose personal difficulties that could not be obtained via interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities might aspire to teaching excellence, but do they enable academic teachers to make good teaching decisions? Using a critical realist perspective, a qualitative interview study in England and Australia explored academics' experiences of teaching decisions and their responses to strategic, institutional and departmental teaching policy and planning. Complex and contradictory conditions that challenged academics' experiences of teaching and prevented effective decision-making were found. The paper identifies aspects of university functioning that act to prevent the achievement of teaching excellence. It argues that excellence in teaching requires coherent and integrated approaches and commitment right across the institution. For this to happen, universities need to consider how stated strategic learning and teaching ambitions are communicated, implemented, supported and, importantly, how they are understood and enacted throughout all levels and areas of the organisation, including many that hitherto do not consider they have a role in learning and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children who spend time in the care of their local authority, usually due to neglect or abuse within the birth family, tend to experience significant educational disruption and have lower educational outcomes, on average, than other young people. However, little is known about those subsequently participating in higher education, who comprise just under one percent of the student body in England. The paper synthesises three contrasting datasets to map participation patterns among care-experienced young people for the first time. Considerably more enter higher education than previously thought, but they remain significantly less likely to participate than other young people. Furthermore, they tend to enter later, with less prestigious qualifications and to lower status institutions. The paper concludes by discussing key differences between the datasets, reflecting on difficulties with identifying and recording care-experienced students which may account for an apparent lack of progress in encouraging their participation despite concerted policy efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two contrasting creative methods; a drawing task and a LEGO building task used in a study exploring the gap between policy and practice in widening participation to higher education across two different types of university in England. These creative methods were used within 16 semi-structured interviews in seven universities to attempt to explore deeper understandings of everyday policy and what they mean in practice and to make comparisons across types of institutions. This paper examines the role that creative confidence played in the effectiveness of both methods through exploring the successes and failures of each arguing that understanding these barriers can improve the successful use of these methods, especially with adults. When these barriers are overcome, the paper also demonstrates how creative methods encouraged more reflective discussion of everyday issues, increased levels of rapport, and shared engagement in the interview process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of research evaluation policies and their interpretation on academics’ writing practices in three different higher education institutions and across three different disciplines. Specifically, the paper discusses how England’s national research excellence framework (REF) and institutional responses to it shape the decisions academics make about their writing.Design/methodology/approach In total, 49 academics at three English universities were interviewed. The academics were from one Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics discipline (mathematics), one humanities discipline (history) and one applied discipline (marketing). Repeated semi-structured interviews focussed on different aspects of academics’ writing practices. Heads of departments and administrative staff were also interviewed. Data were coded using the qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS.ti.Findings Academics’ ability to succeed in their career was closely tied to their ability to meet quantitative and qualitative targets driven by research evaluation systems, but these were predicated on an unrealistic understanding of knowledge creation. Research evaluation systems limited the epistemic choices available to academics, partly because they pushed academics’ writing towards genres and publication venues that conflicted with disciplinary traditions and partly because they were evenly distributed across institutions and age groups.Originality/value This work fills a gap in the literature by offering empirical and qualitative findings on the effects of research evaluation systems in context. It is also one of the only papers to focus on the ways in which individuals’ academic writing practices in particular are shaped by such systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a reflective piece on the thought processes individuals and teams have when engaging in decoloniality work in Teacher Training/Education. We argue that until the self is decolonized, the process of decolonialization becomes rhetoric. We also question how much we can decolonize whilst working in the academy whose very culture, symbols and practices are borne out of colonialism and the period of enlightenment; whose very raison d'être is to elevate some knowledge over others and to claim cultural and academic superiority. The current political landscape in England approaches anti-racism as a political ideology that must be avoided in schools and education and this ideological battlefield is evident in teacher education. We aim to recognize the tensions and resistance to decolonialize, which demonstrates the messy and contingent process of moving between shifting positions and subjectivities. It confronts the challenge of the teacher–practitioner who must balance their own moral and philosophical grounding whilst attending the political imperatives of the work. This can take the form of according with the policies and procedures of the institutions in which they are situated which can often be balkanizing and debilitating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings of a study exploring educator and student experiences of teaching and learning trauma-material. Two participant samples were recruited. Sample one included seven educators teaching trauma-material across two Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) delivering Social Work Programmes approved by Social Work England. Sample two included eight student social workers enrolled at the HEIs. Methods included educator semi-structured interviews and a student survey. Analysis used a deductive-inductive thematic approach. Highest frequency of comparable statements within data were coded into five themes indicative of trauma-informed teaching principles identified within literature including: (1) ensuring safety (2) maximising choice (3) encouraging collaboration (4) establishing trustworthiness and (5) prioritising empowerment. A sixth theme (6) promoting resilience was identified. Findings highlight educators' understanding of vicarious trauma and relevance for risk of (re)traumatisation in the classroom of students' experience of childhood adversity. This understanding was embedded in educators' pedagogical practice(s) and how trauma-informed teaching principles were implicitly applied was identified. Experiences of receiving teaching in a trauma-informed way were shared by students. Findings indicate essential to 'best practice' is educators' need to enhance awareness of trauma-informed teaching to help moderate risks to students and themselves associated with exposure to trauma-material in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the impact of tuition fee increases in England on the full‐degree mobility of undergraduate students from the European Union. First, we investigated whether the increase in tuition fees reduced the number of EU students in English higher education institutions. Our analysis shows that, on average, English universities suffered a sudden drop in EU enrolments in 2012/13 but recovered and then expanded their pre‐2012 enrolment levels in subsequent academic years. We observe that those English universities regarded as less prestigious experienced the sharpest decline and took longer to recover their pre‐2012 numbers. Second, we examined how changes in enrolment are associated with EU countries' macro‐level characteristics, using the push‐pull model framework. While there was a significant decrease in the number of students from Northern and Western European countries attending English universities after 2012, the tuition fee increase did not impact the number of students coming from Southern Europe. We found an association between EU countries' youth employment rates and higher education system characteristics with changes in enrolment in English universities. By examining the effect of changes in the tuition fee policy on international student mobility, our research provides new evidence on how tuition fee policies might change the behaviour of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical interrogation of government-led reform of higher education (HE) in England. Its focus is marketisation, and in particular, the concepts of 'value for money' (VFM), teaching excellence, and students as educational consumers. Hitherto, research on VFM in HE has been largely quantitative in nature and primarily focussed on student perceptions. This qualitative research study contributes to existing knowledge, by comparing the perceptions of students and university lecturers in the social sciences. Undertaken at a Northern university between 2017 and 2019, it highlights key concerns around changing student expectations, managerialism and the potential instrumentalisation of learning and teaching. The issues explored here lend themselves to a broader based study across different types of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and different cognate areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how highly selective universities in England have responded to the Office for Students' call to make faster progress on widening access by 'rethinking how merit is judged in admissions' (OfS 2019: 8). Our analysis of the Access and Participation Plans (APPs) for 2020/21 to 2024/25 submitted to the Office for Students shows that England's most academically selective universities have committed to much more ambitious widening access targets than ever before. We also find that these universities have begun to articulate more structural explanations of socioeconomic inequalities in prior attainment; are making greater use of contextualised approaches to admissions; and are beginning to acknowledge the role they must play in supporting disadvantaged students to succeed at university. We argue that this represents the fragile beginnings of an important shift away from the traditional meritocratic model of admissions, in which university places go to the most highly qualified applicants irrespective of socioeconomic background, towards a more progressive model of admissions that seeks a greater degree of distributive fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparatively few young white males from poorer backgrounds progress to university. This paper considers evidence gathered from a study that explores the educational ambitions of these young men from five areas of educational disadvantage in North West England, at two stages in their learner journeys. The first stage relates to school year 10 (14–15 year olds), as pupils work towards their level 2 qualifications. The second focuses on year 12 (16–17 year olds), as post-16 options are embarked upon and attention is turned to longer-term plans. What emerges from this study are a number of shared concerns over higher education as a destination. In supporting claims made in various other studies that have considered learners from widening participation backgrounds more generally, it is argued that these can be expressed in terms of costs. For this group, the potential benefits of HE must be weighed against a range of consequences that, in scale and extent, are unlikely to be encountered by their more affluent peers, and that may not be so acutely felt by those from some other under-represented populations. The study concludes by arguing that practitioners should acknowledge these consequences when developing outreach interventions for this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Concept maps have been used extensively for developing higher order thinking skills and are considered significant artefacts in constructing understanding in educational contexts. Increasingly, they are being used as a tool to chart a way towards ‘new understanding’ rather than recording ‘accepted knowledge’. This study is set in an academic development department in a UK higher education institution in which previous research projects have utilised concept map-mediated interviews as a tool in data collection. This paper reports on the relationship between the process of the concept map-mediated interview and the resulting concept map and focuses on the talk during the interview process. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the co-constructed nature of the concept map which resulted from the concept map interview. The research question was: how is the concept map accomplished through and in the interview talk? Sample: The three researchers and authors of this paper are colleagues in an Academic Development department in a UK higher education institution. The focus of the interview was to probe the research perspective underpinning the practice of one of the authors. Design and methods: The study used a qualitative, unstructured concept map interview. The aim of the interview was to elicit an understanding of one of the authors’ research frame and how it influenced her work with staff. The interviewer noted labels on post-it notes during the interview which both participants then arranged on a sheet of paper. The interview lasted 36 minutes and was transcribed verbatim. Sociocultural discourse analysis was used to examine the trajectory of concepts in the interview talk. Results: The results highlight the collaborative nature of the interview and how the concept map is co-constructed through the interview talk. We demonstrate how the concept map is co-constructed through and in the dialogue between interviewer and interviewee, not as a result of the interview. Results also reveal how the context of acquaintance interviews impacts on the co-construction and thus the resulting concept map. Conclusions: A concept map which results from such an interview is co-constructed with the interviewer playing a pivotal role in the talk and the mapping. The implications are that the interview as research tool needs to be recognised as a site for the co-construction of ideas and perspectives. Concept maps resulting from interviews need to be recognised as co-constructed. A further implication for research methods is that the transcripts from the interview itself can be used as data to provide a richer understanding of the concept map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how academic support prepares undergraduate students for their workplace experience, involving cohorts of students from two universities in England, who offer an undergraduate level, three-year, Early Childhood Studies (ECS) degree. By adopting an interpretive approach, questionnaires were administered to the students concerned (n = 65), to seek their views and opinions on the placement experience. These were administered prior to them attending their first placement and then again on their return. The study found that students were more prepared than they originally perceived themselves to be when undertaking placement, and that a lack of confidence derived from fearing the unknown. The findings indicated that tutor and peer support were most valued as preparation tools and it is suggested that this support is a major factor in the confidence levels of students. This paper argues that the explicit knowledge gained from studying a degree course, and the tacit knowledge and skills that are gained through placement should be viewed as a combined approach rather than two separate entities which should, in turn, aid in confidence building. This is of significance both nationally and internationally for those who may be considering including a workplace experience within their programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how nursing education both exemplifies the contradictions of neoliberalism alongside its seemingly all-encompassing influence. We conduct a feminist critical policy analysis to trace the histories of nursing as a feminised vocation located outside the academy, and how this is reflected in recent policy. We then critically explore widening participation and social mobility in relation to nursing education, and demonstrate how a discourse of fairness is used to justify market solutions. The 'special case' of nursing is considered through an analysis of how 'the nurse' as subject is constituted in education policy discourse. Our discussion focuses on the effects of these reforms and demonstrates how historical discourses that centre on women as carers are assimilated into the 'neoliberal social imaginary'. The paper's scope is both local – the gendered history of nursing education in England – and global – the force of neoliberal globalisation in education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's experience while attending the annual conference of the Institute of British Geographers at University of Leeds, Leeds, England. The modest accommodation provided to the participants came as a shock to the comfortable systems of academics cushioned by years of softer living. In conferences, most participant's interest is limited to one paper, one module or one session. On the second day of the conference, the author found that all interesting sessions seem to be running concurrently, and she was tempted to hop from one to another, trying to catch the most interesting papers. In the evening, the author took some time out to look round the publishers' exhibition and was tempted to buy some tattered books by the kilo. There was a session on the future demand for higher education provision as population projections to 2011 produce an encouraging-looking upsurge in British 18-year-olds in the early years of next century. According to the author, conferences are not primarily seen as learning experiences. However, the passive participants of conferences benefit from the social interaction, the renewal of academic contacts and the exploration of new ideas.

People have been raising the alarm about a language education crisis in the UK, particularly in England, for twenty years. Yet the crisis continues: the number of young people studying languages at school is low, especially in socioeconomically less-privileged areas. University programmes – particularly in universities with below average entry tariffs – are closing, but we do not understand the regional impact of this decline. This paper fills that gap by identifying 'cold spots': areas of the country where no universities offer language degrees. The programming language R was used to analyse the location of universities at various entry tariffs, and areas of the country further than a commutable distance of 60 km were identified. Large cold spots were found in the North, East and South West of England for universities offering languages at below average entry tariff, with the cold spot in the South West also present at higher entry tariffs. This is a social justice issue, since most students attend university close to home, with students from less-privileged socioeconomic backgrounds and some ethnic minority backgrounds more likely to commute. This leads to a key strategic recommendation: to open language degree programmes at one lower tariff university in each cold spot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This action research study aimed to ascertain the usefulness of a modified version of the reflective approach to teaching practicum debriefing (MVRATPD) strategy in ascertaining the degree to which students in a United Kingdom university faculty of education achieved module learning outcomes (LOCs). Using purposeful convenient sampling, twenty-seven(n = 27) students on the education studies pathway at the university, studying the module entitled international and comparative education, participated. The usefulness of the MVRATPD is revealed in several ways. It is primarily a reflective assessment instrument as purported by Minott. It revealed a direct fulfilment of several module objectives linked to several LOCs. However, for this study, it was not useful in capturing data about all 4 LOCs. Specifically, it captured no data related to LOC 2. The conclusion is that the MVRATPD, in its present form should not be the sole determinant of the degree to which LOCs are achieved. It is however, a complementary indirect reflective instrument for assessing LOCs and a user-friendly, practical and uncomplicated data collection tool i.e. using three reflective questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing efforts to improve their access, students facing socio-economic disadvantages are still underrepresented in UK higher education. In this paper, we study whether behavioural nudging with information provision through text messages, embedded within a larger programme of widening participation activities, can be effective at increasing higher education application rates. We conducted two randomised control trials in which final year students in schools and further education colleges in areas with low higher education participation rates in the East of England region received a series of text messages that prompted thinking and/or action regarding the process of applying to higher education. We find null and statistically insignificant effects on application outcomes, suggesting that behavioural nudging in a setting where it is implemented as part of a more intensive widening participation programme is not effective at increasing higher education application rates. These results add to recent evidence regarding the potential impact of nudging in education by studying such interventions within a busy intervention space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Browne (2010) renewed debate regarding minimum tariff registration to higher education (HE) in England. This was proposed to be linked to HE finance and was a way of imposing number controls. The White Paper: 'Students at the Heart of the System' (DBIS, 2011) has not fully implemented this but nevertheless has placed a renewed focus upon higher academic qualifications and re-positioned students with alternative and lower entry criteria as marginal to much HE provision. This paper seeks to demonstrate that work-based students (WBS) who often enter HE on lower and vocational tariffs may offer a 'good deal' or 'safe bet' to universities. As part of their Access Agreements, English universities charging maximum fees of £9,000 must demonstrate they are working to attract underrepresented students and WBS tend to contribute well to widening participation (WP) statistics. Universities are also reviewing their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), to determine competitiveness in the marketplace, such as percentage of students who achieve 'good honours'. WBS generally contribute as well as their 'traditional' counterparts to overall figures of retention, attainment and progression (RAP). This paper argues that university Access Agreements would be well served to maintain academic freedom upon tariff for some programmes of study and to prioritise financial support for these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first quantitative analysis on 'first in family' (FiF) university graduates in the UK. Using a nationally representative dataset that covers a recent cohort in England, we identify the proportion of FiF young people at age 25 as 18%, comprising nearly two-thirds of university graduates. Comparing groups with no parental higher education we find that ethnic minorities and those with higher levels of prior attainment are more likely to become a FiF, while those who are FiF are more likely to study Law, Economics and Management and less likely to study other Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities than students whose parents are graduated. We also find evidence that FiF students are less likely to graduate from elite universities and are at greater risk of dropout in general, even after prior educational attainment and socioeconomic status are taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a story of transformation at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. It describes the progress and thinking along the path to introducing the university's vision of sustainability since the conclusion of EMSU 1999.It describes how sustainable practice has been incorporated within the formal democratic structures of the university, and describes the results of the initial environmental review and the early experiences and outcomes of target setting. The paper does not ignore those areas where there has not been success. It considers the involvement of the university in the UK Higher Education Programme for Sustainability (HEPS) directed by the Forum for the Future, and the advantages of engagement with the student community. The paper considers the early introduction of corporate social responsibility. It concludes with an aide memoir (currently in development) to assist all managers at the university in considering the impact of their planned actions on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the support provided by extended family members to university students has recently been more investigated, it is rarely considered as an element worthy of analysis in its own right. Situated in an international context, this literature review provides a map of research on the support of extended family members to university students and links research to university practitioners and policy makers as a way to promote diversity. The argument is that by facilitating students' support networks, more effective diversity policies can be implemented at the institutional level. Employing the concepts of extended family, funds of knowledge and social support, the review identifies social support that achieves positive outcomes and support which outcomes are less effective. Selected articles (22) were classified, synthesised and analysed by the author. The paper discusses the role of extended families in relation to four sub-groups of students: traditional; non-traditional; international and dropout. The review shows that: a) social support is a cultural-based practice; b) research emphasises positive effects of social support; c) research tends to focus on ethnic minorities, and d) there is an unclear separation between parental and the support provided by extended family members. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for further research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, in England, there is widespread concern that careers education (information, advice and guidance) is relatively poorly resourced in schools and there is much debate about its current effectiveness. In this paper, we investigate students' views on careers education provision and their satisfaction with this provision. The work draws on data collected via a national survey of over 13,000 Year 11 students aged 15/16 years and in-depth longitudinal interviews conducted with 70 students from this cohort (aged from 10 to 16 years). Our findings show that there is clear student demand for 'more and better' careers education and we conclude that some schools may not be meeting the statutory requirement to provide impartial careers support for all students. Moreover, our quantitative analyses indicate that provision of careers education in England is currently patterned in ways that may be working to promote inequalities relating to gender, ethnicity and social class. Findings from our interview data offer insight into possible influencing factors and suggest that the majority of careers support is provided via a 'self-referral' system, which disadvantages those who, arguably, might benefit most. We conclude by discussing the implications of these patterns and suggest some potential, more equitable, ways forward for schools and teachers. Specifically, we recommend that targeted resourcing is needed for schools and teachers to engage and support disadvantaged students, and suggest greater monitoring of participation (not just provision). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share the ways in which student and learning support at the University of Sunderland has embedded and matured a new outcome-centered performance model – the Quality Model – in order to create an agile evidence-base of value, outcome and impact evidence. The authors will also share how, having established the fundamental principles regarding value and impact capture in our library setting, the concepts and approaches have also been developed and applied successfully within the context of multi-converged service delivery across the wider student and learning support service, using the AMOSSHE Value and Impact Toolkit.Design/methodology/approach The authors’ approach will be illustrated with two case studies, the first focusing on the university library services and the second on the student counseling service.Findings The findings will reveal that by establishing an outcome-focused model, the authors have been able to apply it across a converged service in order to generate the evidence required to articulate the value and impact of our key service objectives.Originality/value As a performance approach, the Quality Model is an original concept in that it is a self-formed model designed to meet the strategic needs of the University of Sunderland. It differs from many performance models in that it is founded on a holistic approach to service culture and customer-relationship management and is based upon strategic marketing principles. The AMOSSHE Toolkit is a pre-existing toolkit which is fully referenced in the paper. The Quality Model and AMOSSHE Toolkit are of particular relevance as many higher education services are increasingly challenged to demonstrate their value and impact and the outcomes their services deliver. This calls for a strategic approach to managing qualitative evidence. Therefore, although bespoke, the approach is transferable to the strategic priorities of other HE settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Student borrowing is a major higher education public policy issue, with students in both England and the United States increasingly relying on loans to finance postsecondary education. Our paper examines prospective higher education students' attitudes towards debt in England and the United States. It exploits a unique dataset which allows us to compare students' responses to similar surveys conducted in both countries during the same time period. Our study is the first of its kind to explore how students' borrowing attitudes differ across the two countries. It confirms widespread loan aversion among prospective higher education students in both countries. But students in the United States are more debt averse than their peers in England. These debt averse attitudes also predict lower intentions to pursue higher education, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities in access. We consider how these attitudes to borrowing are likely shaped by each country's distinctive student loan system. We conclude that the design of loans matters. England's income‐contingent loan repayments, in contrast to North America's mortgage style repayments, make borrowing less risky and reduce the impact of loan aversion on participation decisions, while borrowing is more common, and the system less complicated, in England. Thus, there are lessons for other countries considering introducing student loans or reforming their provision. We contribute to the extant literature on the determinants of, and socioeconomic differences in, higher education participation and the overlooked role of student debt aversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on papers related to higher education published in the October 2003 issue of the journal "Higher Education Quarterly." Separately the papers trace the recent history and development of college-based higher education in each territory, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The papers were presented at an invitation seminar held at The British Academy on June 12, 2002. Apart from the growing interest in home international studies and comparisons, especially in the post-devolution period, there were a number of contemporary policy reasons for focusing on this theme.

The Richard Review of the United Kingdoms (UK) Apprenticeships in 2012 proposed degree apprenticeships (DA) as a new model for the unification of academic and vocational learning. Apprenticeships have long been acknowledged as a practical vehicle to develop the vocational skills and educational achievements of the UK employee resource. The UK Government set a target of 3 million apprenticeship starts between 2015 and 2020. In order for higher education institutions (HEI) to participate in the new apprenticeship marketplace, they need to consider distinct factors that do not surface in traditional Bachelors programmes. Cognizant of these challenges this paper evaluates the development of the new degree apprenticeship programmes for built environment education through the research lens of HEI. This paper evaluates extant literature and primary data collected from qualitative interviews carried out across the UK HEI sector during 2017. Research findings are presented following analysis using NVivo. Narratives on the barriers, benefits, and opportunities, of degree apprenticeships, including academic quality assurance, governance, and pedagogic dimensions are presented. The findings include industry designed curriculum producing a different graduate output, redefining the purpose of HE, restructuring governance and resource, additional contractual obligations for stakeholders and the embedding of work-based learning strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of how teachers are being prepared is seen as a priority in the twenty-first century and engagement with research is often considered a crucial element of initial teacher education programmes. Institutional and national contexts have an impact in the way research is valued. This paper investigates the perspectives of Portuguese and English teacher educators towards the value given to research in initial teacher education. Interviews were completed with teacher educators working within different kinds of higher education institutions—university, polytechnic and teaching-led university. Results suggest that research has a significant presence and relevance in all cases but is valued differently [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work education in England will have a new regulator from 2019. According to official sources, this is 'as part of wider reforms to improve confidence in social work and raise the status of the profession'. In the background of any changes to social work education are the reports by Croisdale-Appleby (2014) and Narey (2014). Both reported that the existing regulatory regime was inadequate and made a combined total of 40 recommendations for improvement. Specifically, on the subject of social work teaching in higher education institutions, Narey expressed concern about both the content and quality and recommended that the teaching should be observed. If the incoming regulator were to introduce direct observations of teaching in inspections it would represent a new development. Previous regulators have not adopted this method. This discussion paper reviews selected literature on what teaching observation can and cannot achieve as an inspection method. It reflects on how social work education might gain if inspectors observed teaching. However, it also argues that to be a meaningful and credible process teaching observations need to take heed of a range of interrelated issues which, if not thought through properly, will invalidate the whole exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, four colleagues working in teacher education reflect on a conversation. The conversation in question was a tangible discussion documented through frequent and purposeful email exchange, exploring traditionalist school art curricula through reference to lived experience, academic theory, and professional anecdote. The primary objective of this dialogic self‐enquiry was informal critical analysis of the cultural diversity and positioning of art objects that populate classroom curricula in English schools, starting with the 'African mask'. The secondary objective of our conversation was exploration of how complex talk on culture and curriculum might be modelled for schoolteachers yet to initiate similar conversations in their own professional contexts. We each provide reflections on the success of our conversation against these objectives and find that while email exchange provided some formal advantages for the structure of our discourse, this was not as we might have expected. The dialogue facilitated a rhizomatic deepening of our individual questioning of culturality in the classroom, which while nourishing was arguably unproductive in instrumental terms. Collectively, our reflections suggest that dialogue may be a critical catalyst for the latter, inherently private work of decolonising one's own critical teaching praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the diversity of higher education (HE) systems is a widely debated topic in literature, this has been rarely examined considering multiple levels of analysis. This article adopts both a multilevel and longitudinal perspective to study which dimensions of horizontal diversity diversified the English HE system most. Diversity, and how this has changed over time, is investigated at the level of the HE system (macro-level) at the level of homogeneous groups of universities, i.e. mission groups (meso-level), and at the level of individual universities (micro-level). The comprehensive multivariate quantitative analysis performed across the three levels of analysis shows the polarization between research and teaching orientation emerges as the dimension on which the HE system and universities horizontally diversify most together with the internationalization of the student body. The analysis furtherly suggests that mission groups well represent the diversity of the English HE system and universities' membership in one of these groups emerged as an element that restrains distinctive institutional positioning patterns of universities. Younger universities and those not affiliated to any mission groups are indeed those that present changes in their strategic positioning paths over time, and thus affect more the diversity of the HE system. However, while the horizontal diversity of the HE system has slightly increased over time, this paper also suggests that competition has concurrently contributed to reinforcing the hierarchical stratification of English universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]