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Life outcomes for people who spent time in the care of the state as children (‘care-experienced’) are known to be significantly lower, on average, than for the general population. The reasons for this are complex and multidimensional, relating to social upheaval, disrupted schooling, mental and physical health issues and societal stigmatisation. Previous studies across several countries have demonstrated that they are significantly less likely to participate in higher education and more likely to withdraw early. However, little is currently known about their outcomes after graduation. This paper therefore explores the initial outcomes for the 1,010 full-time students identified as care-experienced within the cohort graduating from an undergraduate degree programme in the UK in 2016/17—the most recent year for which data are available. They were found to be slightly more likely to be unemployed and less likely to be in work (and particularly professional work) than their peers, but, conversely, more likely to be studying. These differences largely disappeared once background educational and demographic factors were controlled. The paper discusses the relationship between care-experience and other sites of inequality, concluding that care-experienced graduates are crucially over-represented in groups that are disadvantaged in the graduate labour market—e.g. by ethnicity, disability or educational history. This intersectional inequality largely explains their lower graduate outcomes. While there are important limitations with the data available, this speaks for the transformational potential of higher education in enabling care-experienced graduates to transcend childhood adversity. Recommendations for national policy and local practices conclude the paper.

Editorial

Little is known about the importance of family to international students, whether closely connected to their families or not. Problematically this means that those tasked with supporting the retention and success of international students may be doing so with an insufficient awareness of the risks to their social and academic resilience as well as their academic, or other, support needs. This, in turn, has significant implications for retention and success. In order to fill this gap the research set out to evidence the (variable) importance of family support to international students, highlight the points at which family support is of greatest importance, and draw attention to the implications for those who do not have access to family support. The objective of the research is to help inform practice and enhance international students' retention and success.

Young Muslims face the 'broken promise of social mobility': compared to other groups, their improved success in education at all levels does not translate into good labour market outcomes. Despite their educational gains, Muslims experience the greatest economic disadvantages of any group in UK society. They are more likely than non-Muslims to experience neighbourhood deprivation, housing, educational and health disadvantage, and unemployment. This qualitative report explores the attitudes and reasons behind this situation. It offers an account of young Muslims’ perceptions of growing up and seeking work in the UK. The report is designed to contribute to a better understanding of the causes of low social mobility for young Muslims.\ud Drawing on the perceptions of young Muslims (through focus groups and interviews) and of key stakeholders (through a three-stage Delphi survey) the research sought evidence on:\ud • The barriers young Muslims see to social mobility in the UK – in particular, why educational gains are not translating into employment gains for young Muslims.\ud • How these perceptions differ depending on gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background and different forms of educational participation.

Higher education experiences are increasingly intensified by competing imperatives of study, work, and personal commitments. However, despite significant change, the assumption persists that time is a neutral and linear framework in which all students are equally positioned. \ud This report documents our research into how experiences of ‘time’, as well as dominant discourses about ‘time management’, impact on the attraction, retention, and performance of students in higher education. The study engaged 46 students from undergraduate programs at three regional universities, one in Australia and two a small regional town in the United Kingdom, where the student population includes significant cohorts of equity groups including students from regional and rural backgrounds.

This report discusses the development of a statistical model for the evaluation of the effectiveness of institution's financial support packages (bursaries, scholarships and discounts). The model can:\ud track recipients from enrolment to graduate outcomes through student records data\ud compare outcomes of bursary recipients with those slightly and significantly better off (by household income)\ud evaluate the performance of recipients over time and in relation to changes in bursary support levels/conditions\ud be used collaboratively for institutional comparative purposes\ud link (via student records data) with the survey instrument developed as part of this project

This paper discusses how dominant discourses of neoliberalism intersect with teaching and learning practices, and considers the implications of this for both widening participation goals and for social equity agendas in higher education. Drawing on the concept of ‘pedagogic stratification’ we examine the discourses of ‘teaching excellence’, as these are enacted in interviews with senior academics across 11 universities in England. We describe how the pervasive discourses of neoliberalism prioritise market-oriented objectives, inciting university leaders to evidence ‘world-class’ teaching through rigid assessment frameworks. Engaging a Foucauldian analysis, we discuss how a discourse of ’teaching excellence’ can function as a ‘regime of truth’ that operates to discipline (institutional and individual) practices and subjectivities, restricting conceptions of teaching, and limiting opportunities for critical pedagogies. We argue that the neoliberal discourses of teaching excellence identified in our analysis resonate across an increasingly globalised and marketised international higher education landscape and are enacted in tension with widening participation and equity goals not only in England but also more widely.

This report presents research funded by the Higher Education Academy as part of its open call that looks at ‘The impact of the shifting UK HE landscape on learning and teaching’.

Although not new, the concept of internationalisation, the inclusion of intercultural perspectives and the development of cross-cultural understanding, has gained particular currency and support across the United Kingdom (UK) higher education sector over the last decade. However, within the academic literature, as well as within institutional policy and practice, there has been little disaggregation of the concept of ‘culture’; rather there appears to be a tacit belief that all aspects of students’ cultures should be valued and ‘celebrated’ on campus. Through the stories told by fifteen Sikh, Muslim, Jewish and Christian students studying at a UK post-1992 university the paper highlights the ways in which religion, a fundamental aspect of the cultural identity, values and practices of many students, is rarely recognised or valorised on campus. This lack of recognition can act to ‘other’, marginalise and isolate students and thus undermine the aims of internationalisation, in particular cross-cultural understanding. The paper concludes by arguing that religion should be considered within debates around internationalisation so that all students are represented within a multicultural institutional ethos and to ensure meaningful cross-cultural engagement for all students.

The theoretical-methodological approach taken to this research was at the interface of ideas drawn from feminist research, life history, practice architectures (Kemmis et al, 2014) and time. This approach enabled an understanding of the lives of an under-heard, and under-represented, group of women in the teaching profession to be developed and theorised in a new way, thereby resulting in an original contribution to knowledge.\ud This approach enabled the rigorous and transparent gathering of new and rich data from the women's perspectives of how and why a part-time pattern of working in secondary schools has limited their career progression. This type of data has, to my knowledge, not been previously gathered. Thematic analysis (Braun and Clark, 2006) was used as the interpretative framework. The three emergent themes: Practices, Perceptions and Tensions were subsequently analysed and theorised using a framework which was situated at the theoretical-methodological interface of ideas drawn from feminism, life history, practice architectures (Kemmis et al, 2014) and time.\ud This newly gathered and theorised life history data means that an understanding of the lives of a group of women and their relationships with career progression is now available. This contribution is available to inform debate and challenge assumptions of part-time working in secondary schools and of those who enact it. Furthermore, this research makes a contribution to knowledge by helping to explain why so few senior positions in schools are occupied by those following this pattern of working.\ud Findings emerged of the ways the participants navigated the competing and 'greedy' (Edwards, 1993) demands on their time across and within different timescapes (Adam, 1990, 2004). Inflexible school-based practices which assumed a continuous availability to work, situated within a patriarchal and linear model of time (Adam, 1990, 2004) contributed to the difficulties encountered by the participants. They navigated these practices at their own cost in terms of not having enough time to themselves, and by managing their time in highly efficient ways. Stress, guilt and anxiety emerged from the data and shaped the participants’ relationships with regard to their own career progression.\ud Glimpses of a disconnection emerged between school-based practices and wider socio-political policies and legislation which encourage equality of opportunity and the entitlement to request flexible working. A lack of transparency in procedure and policy in school contributed to this disconnection. The participants appeared to operate in the margins of the school system, in a liminal space where their professional contributions were not as valued as their full-time colleagues, their voices were not heard and their career progression was both unlikely and resisted.\ud These findings are significant with regard to wellbeing and the equality of opportunity for those occupying a flexible pattern of working in schools, particularly those who assume a role as a carer. The study also has wider implications for professional practice in schools around recruitment, the gender pay gap and phased retirement.