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This paper explores ways in which university students articulate understandings of their class positions and perceptions of opportunities for social mobility. The promise that participation in higher education (HE) would lead to social mobility for all has been central to the project of widening participation. However, in the twenty-first century, graduate employment opportunities have not kept up with high rates of HE participation, and class divisions have become more visible rather than being reduced. Based on a longitudinal study of undergraduates attending two universities in the city of Bristol, UK at the beginning of the 2010s, this paper uses Anthias' notion of narratives of location to focus on students' awareness of social class and their experience of the dynamics of social difference in HE. The narratives demonstrate ways in which taken-for-granted privileged middle-class entitlement is performed and seen to dominate the social space of the university, from which working-class and other fractions of the middle-classes distance themselves. [Anthias, F. (2004) Social stratification and social inequality: Models of intersectionality and identity. In F. Devine, M. Savage, J. Scott, & R. Crompton (Eds.), Rethinking class. Culture, identities and lifestyles (pp. 24–45). London: Palgrave Macmillan]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores young people's perceptions of vocational education and training (VET) in England. It draws on interview and focus-group data from a funded project. Parallel studies were carried out in The Netherlands, South Africa and England. This study reports on the English project. It found that serendipity, contingent events and influence of significant others are most influential in choice of vocational programme and that young peoples' understandings of possible career paths vary in sophistication, differentiated by age, programme level and subject area. Perceived attractiveness of VET was closely associated with societal perception of their programmes (which the young people considered to be negative). The paper considers the implications of these findings in the context of recent major policy initiatives in England. It concludes that, while some recent policy initiatives, such as the introduction of University Technical Colleges may be successful in raising the esteem of some forms of elite and specialized VET, broad vocational programmes at lower levels, and short courses associated with 'employability' and 're-engagement', will continue to be held in lower esteem and to confer little educational advantage on those young people, largely drawn from working-class backgrounds, who pursue them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]