'Detours, dead-ends and blocked
roads': inner-city, working-class
adults' access to higher education
Louise Archer, University of North London, UK
Paper presented at SCUTREA, 31st Annual Conference, 3-5 July 2001, University of
East London
W
IDENING participation remains a key concern within British higher educational policy. The
transformation from an 'elite' to a 'mass' HE system has done little to effect low participation levels
among particular, disadvantaged social groups, and recruitment of 'working class' students is especially
low. These concerns have intertwined with drives to increase the numbers of mature students in HE.
Indeed, proportions of mature students have increased dramatically, but, it has been argued, these
figures do not necessarily imply diversification because they represent the aggregation of different
populations (Webb, 1997). The often assumed synchrony between 'mature' and 'working class' students
is not borne out, with middle class mature students vastly outnumbering their working class counterparts
in universities (Connor et al., 1999) and within access routes (Wakeford, 1993).
The relationship between 'mature' and 'working class' learners has gained further prominence through
recent government emphasis on 'lifelong learning' and the 'learning society', within which HE is
positioned as a key means for achieving social inclusion. This paper raises critical issues for such
policies, drawing on data from working class respondents, including mature students and adults who
could be said to occupy various positions within/outside the 'learning society'. Attention is drawn to
respondents' non-linear, diverse educational 'journeys' and routes.
The data are taken from a larger study that explored educational experiences and constructions of HE
among working class groups. This paper draws only upon discussion group and interview data collected
from 118 'non participants' and 85 HE students, but focuses in detail on the stories of eight selected
adult respondents (detailed below). Four were first year students at a post-1992 university and four were
not then undertaking any form of education. All respondents lived in London. Pseudonyms are used.
Men 'Non-participants 'Students Darius (black Caribbean) Fela (black African) Dererk (white British) Neil
(white British) Women Joan (black Caribbean) Violet (black Carib.) Jodie (white British) Sarah (white
British)
Diverse routes, diverse positions
'Social Exclusion' has been a central concern embraced by New Labour, but the way it has been
conceptualised has been criticised in numerous ways. For example, 'social exclusion' rhetoric can tend
to naturalise unjust practices, emphasising working class 'failure' whilst ignoring middle class selfexclusions (e.g. from mainstream education into elite private education). Notions of social exclusion also
normalise middle class values and trajectories through assumptions about what Others 'should' be
doing, and the focus upon 'culture' (exclusion from social norms) detracts from analysis of inequalities.
'Social exclusion' can also appear to reflect a static, homogenised position, ignoring multiple inequalities
and relationships, positions and forms of participation. Respondents' stories in this research pointed to a
diversity of routes in and out of educational sites and showed clearly that there were few who could be
unambiguously positioned as either permanently 'included' or 'excluded' from education. All, except
Jodie, appeared to move/have moved in and out of forms of post-compulsory education.
Derek is a labourer in his thirties. He left school unqualified before the age of 16. Following time spent at
a young offenders' institute, he has moved between periods of casual employment and unemployment.
This initial description might place Derek in the category of the socially 'excluded' working class men that
government and others are aiming initiatives at (McGivney, 1999). However, his biography also reveals
movement in and out of adult learning and training. Derek's educational participation might better be
classed as opportunistic/circumstantial and occasional, as it largely derives from courses offered by his
job centre whilst claiming benefits.
Similarly, Joan stated that she had 'done all her studying a long time ago' but revealed a strategy of
'keeping herself in education': At school, she achieved four CSEs and O Level Art. She stayed on (but
called it a 'waste of time') to get a couple more CSEs. After school she took a secretarial course, but
said she did not get much advice about going to college.
She did not actually want to be a secretary and while doing the secretarial course she also studied for A
level Art, her real passion. She started an Art foundation course, but could not afford to continue, which
suggests that her 'exclusion' from learning relates more to structural issues than a problem of 'attitude',
value or lack of aspiration. Through her current administrative job with the council she participates on
other courses, paid for by the LEA. Although these are often not subjects she wants to study, she uses
them as a way to keep herself in education, echoing Mirza's (1992) findings regarding young black
women's use of strategic 'back door' routes into education.
The four students (Sarah, Fela, Violet and Neil) reported educational histories that appeared to be
geared towards 'navigating/finding a way' into formal education, often meeting dead ends and switching
tracks, which will be explored in greater detail in the rest of the paper. The following sections of analyses
discuss data from the respondents and propose that their relationships to postcompulsory education can
be better understood using notions of 'risk', inequalities and identities.
Barriers to participation
(i): Risks
As Beck (1992) argues, risks are unevenly distributed within society and this uneven distribution works
to reproduce and perpetuate class inequalities. Positions of privilege enable the purchasing of protection
from risk, whereas disadvantaged positions carry the greatest threats and risks.
In this research, respondents' stories reinforce the argument that working class groups occupy a
structurally more 'risky' position and are more prone to experiencing disadvantages that restrict ability to
participate in education. For example, after leaving school before the age of 16, Darius enrolled in an FE
college to take his GCSEs, but faced difficulties when having to work full-time and when he was forced
to leave home. Similarly Derek reported having a 'bad time' at home that affected his schooling, with the
result that he was often 'not able' to go and unable to concentrate when he did attend. Darius also felt
that institutional racisms within the education system would place him at greater risk of failure in FE
and/or HE. As argued elsewhere (Archer & Hutchings, 2000), the(economic, social and personal) costs
of failure are higher for working class students. Thus Jodie's, Darius' and Derek's strong motivation to
avoid potential failure (by not attempting participation) can be read as pragmatic risk management
strategies operating within contexts of multiple inequalities, rather than a lack of 'aspiration'.
Derek felt that although anyone 'could' go to university, participation is dependent upon having 'direction'
and 'plans' that he personally never experienced. Other respondents referred to the 'middle class plan'
as effective for enabling participation but which was alien to their own experiences.
'Planning ahead' can be read as a middle class privilege because these families are not negotiating the
same unstable structural inequalities and demands as working class families.
(ii) 'Irrational' resistances?
Government rhetoric suggests that educational participation is rational, desirable and valuable in a
number of ways (e.g.
at national, social and personal levels) and can bring about desirable and positive changes for
disadvantaged social groups. This implies that resistance to participation may be 'irrational', but
respondents in this study voiced a range of 'rational' reasons for non-participation that were grounded in
discourses of identity and emotion. Non-participants in particular framed their resistance to postcompulsory educational participation in terms of earlier negative experiences of school. For example,
Darius and Derek both 'did not survive' school and said 'thank God it's over'. Jodie also clearly resisted
returning to any form of adult education because of her school experiences when she was severely
bullied. She was adamant that she would not return to education for 'fear of it happening again'.
Gendered identities also provided a key site for resistance, particularly amongst male respondents,
where education was not valued as a 'manly' option, as Derek said 'if you've got to be there sweating
over a book you can't be out grafting can you?'. Darius and Derek both talked about the competing
demands of masculinity, although the content of these constructions was different, being grounded
within specifically racialised discourses (see Archer et al., 2001).
Several respondent identified a risk of 'changing' identity as a result of participation in HE. Fela said 'I
think there is a chance of it changing you if you allow it' but suggested a positive strategy among his
friends was 'they go through university and university doesn't go through them'. This position echoes
earlier suggestions that working class respondents often felt able to take advantage of the benefits of
university but they do not have a sense of ownership (Archer & Hutchings, 2000). Many respondents did
not 'buy into' the middle class transformative ideal of HE, and instead embraced potential economic
mobility but resisted social class identity change. Several students expressed ambiguity about possible
identity changes and, as Lawler (2000) found, a tension appears between 'escape' from, and 'holding on'
to, authentic classed identities. In this study, students and non-participants alike emphasised the value
of retaining working class values of 'common sense' and 'experience' over the middle class obsession
with 'paperwork' and 'head knowledge'.
There was also evidence of respondents' resistance to middle class hegemonic discourses and
government interventions that position educational progression as an only natural, normal and desirable
goal. For example, Derek spoke about being the target of a particular 'top-down' return to work strategy
that aimed to change him, not the system: I thought it was a liberty, the whole thing. It was like (you're) a
square peg and all of a sudden they bang you into a round hole and you fit Jodie was also insistent that
she should not feel 'forced' to return to education and resisted this pressure by 'staying out' of the
educational system. Life Long Learning discourses can end up positioning the uncredentialled as
'incomplete', individual failures against a middle class normative model of educational participation, and
our data suggests that such negative messages may be resisted by working class non participants.
(iii) Cultural factors
Many respondents talked about HE as outside their 'horizons of choice'. All of the students recounted
experiences of familial/cultural resistance to their potential participation. Women in particular met with
disapproval from their families, which has been explained elsewhere (see Hutchings et al., 2000) using
theories of class envy, mobility and resistance and notions of what is acceptable/ 'respectable' femininity
(Skeggs, 1997).For example, Sarah
said that university always seemed like 'a far-away option' because no one in her family had been.
Eventually she 'made the jump' but received strong discouragement from her entire family. Violet was
similarly dissuaded by friends and family who told her she would not be able to cope or understand
anything. For both women, discouragement centred around their motherhood, which rendered being a
student 'irresponsible' behaviour. Fela and Neil also faced discouragement from friends, colleagues
and/or family, but this seemed to relate more to negative views of students/study. Neil was strongly
discouraged by his brother who regards him as a '31 year old loser' about to spend three years 'dossing
around'.
(iv) Structural inequalities
Choices and options are classed, because opportunities are framed by structural locations and power
relations. The financial positions of non-participants such as Jodie mean that HE participation can be
simply impossible ('At the moment, how the hell is somebody in my position, on 54 pound a week, going
to ever get a chance to better themselves?').Joan found from her experiences that 'in terms of further
education you have to have money in the background'. She says this is because money 'gives you a
chance', it opens up the range of options and allows 'real' participation, such as not having to juggle paid
employment with studying.
Joan, Darius and Fela also brought up issues around racism as impacting upon 'choice' and opportunity
to study (and succeed). Like a number of other black women in the larger study, Joan drew attention to
her experience that many teachers had stereotypically lower expectations for black girls ('they brand
you'), discouraging girls from aspiring to higher/further education. Fela also suggested that in his
experience, higher education was not presented as a realistic aspiration ('they did advise that it would
be nice to go into uni but if you did get a job, go for it, because that's the whole idea').
The difficulties of accessing information and advice regarding HE was not restricted to school
experiences. Fela, Neil and Violet all talked about their problems in trying to obtain careers advice as an
older person who is 'outside' the educational system. As a result, both Neil and Violet had to change
tracks and switch courses at different stages of their post-compulsory journeys.
Facilitating factors
(i)Knowing someone
Most of the student respondents said that an important factor facilitating their participation was 'knowing
someone' had been to/was at university. As Ball &Vincent (1998) have argued, 'hot' or 'grapevine'
knowledge plays a central role in working class educational decision-making, because "the grapevine is
often seen as more reliable than other 'official' sources of information' (Ball & Vincent,1998; p.380). For
respondents in this study, 'knowing someone' who was/ had been a student encouraged access in
various ways. Sarah was encouraged by meeting students on an open day, because she realised that
they were 'like us'. Violet received practical help from her sister-in-law in choosing whereto apply. Fela
found out important information about university from friends who were studying. These personal
contacts were essential for navigating routes into HE; without them respondents suggested they had no
idea of 'what's going on' inside universities.
The importance of informal personal contact was also emphasised. Violet gained the courage to begin
her course from university staff who were friendly and reassuring when she repeatedly rang up
'panicking' during the application and pre-registration process. Derek also suggested that if he were to
think of going to university, it would be important to have contact with staff who could 'break it down' for
him, rather than relying on 'official' sources of information, such as brochures. Jodie suggested that it is
scary going into universities because she has 'no idea at all' what they are like. She wanted a nonintimidating place, like a shop, where she might go to ask for information, chat to people who
teach/study at university and consequently not feel like she was asking for something embarrassing like
a 'filthy book'!
(ii) Student composition
Student respondents talked about how the 'cultures' or student mix in an institution could facilitate
access by enabling them to feel more relaxed by being around people from similar backgrounds.
Students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds can be disadvantaged by institutional cultures that position
them as 'Other' and such cultures may discourage a conception of oneself as a potential university
student (Tett, 1996). Neil suggested that 'polytechnics' are working class, and are specifically for people
like himself, although this view was ambiguous and threaded with an awareness of inequalities and
painful self-deprecation ('I come here because I live locally and I'm stupid basically').
As Reay et al., (2001) recognise, the status of an institution is increasingly defined by its student intake,
and Neil's comment exposes the psychological dilemma this may create for 'non-traditional' students in
less prestigious institutions.
Fela also emphasised the importance of ethnic mix('I didn't want to go to a place where I would be the
only speck') and suggested the importance of 'getting a feel' for an institution in facilitating the decision
to apply. But as Reay et al. suggest, similar processes of disidentification may be evident among ethnic
minority and working class students, who are aware of the lower status of those institutions which are
most accessible for 'people like them'.
(iii)Alternative entry routes
The student respondents had all entered university through 'alternative' entry routes such as Access
(Sarah, Violet, Neil) and direct entry with accreditation for prior learning/ experience (Fela). These routes
were important not only for 'short-cutting' the potential 'traditional' long GCSE/A Level routes into HE, but
were valuable in their own right.
Sarah talked about her Access course as providing a stepping stone between FE and HE. It provided
information, support and a certain amount of demystification of university culture and processes and
made the whole procedure 'less daunting'.
She was certain that she would never have applied directly to university on her own.
Barriers to retention
(i) Money and time
All student respondents emphasised that financial problems constitute the main barrier to retention.
Sarah said that when she worked out the details of taking out the student
loan 'it was a bit of a blow', but there was no other choice.
Various respondents found that the amount of loan available was insufficient and would mean 'living on
the breadline' for years. Mothers, such as Sarah, worried that their children would suffer materially and
emotionally as a result of the decision to do a degree, particularly when paid employment would be
impossible. Various respondents recounted examples of people dropping out from university because of
financial problems. All students were very clear about the importance of money as threat to retention.
Both Violet and Fela were uncomfortable with the loan situation and found that, as Fela put it, 'one of the
chief, chief distractions is finances'. Neil was similarly struggling financially, having come to university
with a 'bad credit history', and was finding that his loan payments only cleared his overdraft temporarily.
The immense pressure upon parents was emphasised in Sarah's and Violet's accounts of their immense
daily routine demands, but Sarah also talked about how support between the mothers was important in
encouraging retention, as was contact with current 2nd-years who were successfully managing to 'do it
all'.
(ii) HE Culture
Respondents suggested that although they were attending a post-1992 university, as 'non-traditional'
students they felt 'lost' in an alien culture and more likely to fail (see Read et al., forthcoming). Violet felt
academically 'lost' and unable to understand some of the taken-for-granted language and procedures
within the university. These feelings were underpinned by a sense of 'unworthiness' or 'deficit' ('It's like
I'm just trying to look in'). Neil also reported feeling lonely and isolated as a mature student, which may
relate more to the modular system and lack of time available to socialise with other students (due to
pressures of employment, family life) than 'actually' being in a numerical minority.
Conclusion
As Wong (1994: 147) suggests, the 'metaphor of travel' has become popular in recent years because it
emphasises 'celebratory notions of occupying multiple contradictory positions of spaces and the need
for commuting across/ within spaces'. Such a metaphor can help highlight the multiple, fluid nature of
inequalities and in this paper, it has been used to reveal non-linear educational routes, structural
constraints and multiple barriers to participation.
It is suggested that policy initiatives should primarily address multiple structural problems if they are to
make an impact because working class adults are currently disproportionately disadvantaged within HE
and face high risks of non-completion.
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