Opening Doors to Higher Education:
Access Students’ Learning Transitions
Final Project Report - Phase 1
November 2012
Hugh Busher
Nalita James
Beth Suttill
University of Leicester, November 2012
ii
Acknowledgements
The project team would like to thank the following people for their support and
involvement throughout the Phase 1 project:



The steering group: Jean Baxter (University of Leicester), Val Blundell
(University of Derby), Marj Hammon (AimAwards), Dr Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith
(University of Nottingham), Dr Barbara Merrill (University of Warwick), Steve
O’Connor (University of Leicester), Professor Lorna Unwin (Institute of
Education)
The Centre for Labour Market Studies and the School of Education at the
University of Leicester for funding this project
All the Access staff and students from the Further Education Colleges who
took part in the study – without them this project could not have happened.
The project team were:
Dr Hugh Busher, Senior Lecturer in Education, School of Education, University of
Leicester
Dr Nalita James, Lecturer in Employment Studies, Centre for Labour Market Studies,
School of Management, University of Leicester
Beth Suttill, Project Research Intern, University of Leicester
iii
Executive Summary
This report documents the development of, and findings from, a 12 month pilot
project jointly funded by the Centre for Labour Market Studies and the School of
Education at the University of Leicester. The project examined the importance of
Access to HE courses for non traditional adult learners at a time when shifting
education policy is emphasising the need for higher education (HE) to recruit and
retain students to deliver future economic growth and social mobility, rather than
creating opportunities for students to 'participate' in HE. Access to HE courses tend
to attract adult learners who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and may
otherwise have not had the opportunity to enter HE. Although, there is anecdotal
evidence that Access courses create successful learning there is a lack of up-to-date
empirical research on the processes of transition and transformation that they
experience, particularly in the Midlands. The research will provide evidence about
the impact of Access to HE on adult learners' transitions and identities, and of the
changes in HE policy on adult learners' chances to participate.
The project is situated within the current policy context, in which non traditional adult
learners aged over 24 years are not fairing well despite growing pressure on
universities to widen access, and the fact that mature applicants can help to meet
widening participation targets and attract additional funding. The new funding system
(Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), 2010) means that such
learners will either have to pay for the Access course in full up front or take out loans
to cover them. In addition, in further education, the issue of why FE students fail to
complete Access courses (thereby dissipating college funding), has often meant that
FE policy tends to focus on why students drop out rather than examining the
importance of Access to HE in allowing such learners to return to education.
The project team worked with Access students and tutors in three FE Colleges in the
East Midlands. A central element of the project was to capture the learning
experiences of adults on Access to HE courses and generate new insights and
understandings into the students' learning transitions and transformations; generate
rich data that illustrates the unfolding trajectories of participants and provide
evidence of their learning transitions.
Preliminary findings suggest that educational access, personal circumstances and
school experiences are a key part of the students’ learning transitions. Institutional
practices and structural circumstances influence their learning transitions. Students
claimed that reasons for joining Access courses reflect a growing uncertainty in the
current economic climate and a search for new or more rewarding careers than they
currently had. Findings have been disseminated through presentations at
conferences: ‘Identities within Contemporary Education’ (Brunel University, April
2012); British Educational Research Association Annual Conference (September
2012), the European Conference on Educational Research (September 2012), the
Society for Research in Higher Education (December 2012); this project report,
which locates the findings in local, national and European contexts. Journal articles
are in preparation/submitted to high quality journals such as the British Journal of
Sociology of Education; Journal of Further and Higher Education; Studies in Higher
Education; International Journal of Lifelong Education;
iv
Contents
Page
Acknowledgements
iii
Executive Summary
iv
Introduction and overview of Phase 1 of
the study
1
Background and policy contexts of the
study
2
Conceptual
review
3
framework
and
literature
Methodology
6
Findings from Access students in the
three Colleges
7
Findings from Access tutors in the three
Colleges
15
Emerging Themes and Conclusions
21
Recommendations
23
Future Research
24
References
25
v
Introduction and overview of Phase 1 of the study
In 2011/2012, a pilot study entitled ‘Opening Doors to Higher Education: Access
Students’ Learning Transitions’ was undertaken by researchers in the School of
Education and Centre for Labour Market Studies at the University of Leicester to
investigate how non-traditional adult learners participate in Access to HE courses at
three FE Colleges in the East Midlands of England. Working with students and tutors
on Access courses in these colleges, the study explored why these students, who
generally are mature students with few formal qualifications, wished to gain entry to
Higher Education (HE) via the Access course route, their perceptions of themselves
as learners, and their educational participation in relation to access policy.
Definitions of terms such as 'adult', 'mature', and 'non-traditional' students are
problematic since they are context bound. For the purposes of university entry, and
in policy discourse, students aged less than 21 years are not classified as ‘mature
students.’ However, in the literature there is not a standard definition of mature
students and writers have defined this group through a myriad of differing traits such
as ethnicity, gender, social class, age and family background (e.g. Leathwood and
O’Connell, 2003, Hinsliff-Smith, 2010). In this study all the participants saw
themselves as mature students because of their non-traditional backgrounds and
differential life experiences, whatever their age, and in an ethic of respect for the
Access students, they will be defined as such (Waller, 2005).
The main research questions for the study were:
(i) Why do some people seek access to HE after leaving school?
(ii) How are Access students’ perceptions of HE and Access courses affected by
changing government policies?
(iii) How do Access students’ views on learning and on themselves as learners
change through their experiences on Access courses?
(iv) What are Access students’ views of their courses as preparation for HE?
(v) What senses of community are constructed amongst students and tutors on
Access to HE courses and how these affect students’ engagement with learning?
The study is significant because of current policy debates in the UK, both nationally
and locally, about educational access and widening participation, and because little
previous research has been carried out on the learning experiences of marginalised
adult learners. Current discourses in UK educational policy emphasise the need for
HE to recruit and retain students to deliver future economic growth and social
mobility, rather than creating opportunities for students to 'participate' in HE. The
area of Access to HE has been of national concern for a number of years, which
successive governments have tried to address. Across Europe, HE institutions are
being encouraged by policy interventions to create mass HE that will satisfy the need
of European economies for high-skilled labour (Field et al., 2010) in a global market.
In the UK, access courses are designed to help this process by providing people
who lack the necessary formal qualifications an opportunity to gain entry to
university. However, a shift in government policy (HMG, 2011) has meant that
educational priorities focus on encouraging young people into HE because of high
unemployment and advantages to the national economy. With the increase in tuition
fees in 2012, latest figures from UCAS show that the number of mature students
1
applying to university has fallen (Vasagar, 2012). The rhetoric is that the
Government remains committed to widening participation and claims that the
introduction of further education loans for those aged 24 years and over from
2013/14 supports this (BIS 2012).
Further, a review of the literature to date indicates that there is little research carried
out on Access course students’ perspectives on why they change their minds about
education after leaving school and try to gain access to university, or to investigate
their processes of transition and transformation as learners during their Access
courses. Only 12 studies on Access courses have been carried out in England and
Wales since the year 2000. In general, these studies focused on single Colleges in
urban areas and were related to nursing and social work pathways.
Access to HE courses have provided a unique route into higher education for many
non traditional adult learners, offering opportunities not only to those who may be
recognised as 'under-represented' in HE, but also to individuals who, from the
circumstances of their individual lives, are disadvantaged. They tend to attract adult
learners who might be hesitant about starting a degree having left school at the
earliest opportunity with poor qualifications, or have low self-esteem as learners.
While Access to HE has provided a valuable entry route into higher education for
many of these learners, what is less evident is the extent of the social and learning
transitions that take place when non traditional adult learners participate in Access to
HE courses.
Background and policy contexts of the study
Access to HE courses offer a one-year diploma qualification to prepare students for
study at university and are aimed at people who would like to study in HE but who
left school without the usual qualifications. It is intended to be a course of study
aimed at those ‘excluded, delayed or otherwise deterred by a need to qualify for
(university) entry in more conventional ways’ (Parry, 1996: 11). The first Access
Courses were established in the 1970s with many set up to encourage entry to
teacher training by people with a wider range of backgrounds than the traditional
types of student and who were mature students. Each year around 20,000 Access to
HE students apply to universities across the UK (QAA, 2007). 2010/2011 saw the
highest ever number of access student registrations with 45,000 students studying
on an Access to HE course (QAA, 2012).
Access Courses, often regarded as the “Cinderella of the education system”
(Franklin, 2006; 1), are largely taught within the context of the Further Education
(FE) sector in Britain, itself often perceived as having a “historical Cinderella like
image” (James and Biesta, 2007; 9). To limit the costs to the public purse of both, in
November 2010 a new report outlined a new further education funding system
including full funding for young adults aged 19-24 undertaking their first full level 2 or
level 3 qualification for the 2012/13 academic year, and government backed loans
from 2013/14 for learners aged 24 or over undertaking level 3 or higher qualifications
to replace grant funding (BIS, 2010; 7). This meant that Access Courses were no
longer eligible for funding for students over the age of 24. Yet these are the students
who are often in the most financially straitened circumstances because of family
2
commitments and /or lower paid employment which will make it difficult for them to
repay such loans if they fail the Access Course or decide, after taking it, not to go to
HE.
Across Europe, HE institutions are being transformed by policy interventions to
create mass HE that will satisfy the need of European economies for high-skilled
labour (Field et al., 2010) in a global market. Under the Lisbon agreement, the
European Union has set out to be ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledgebased economy in the world, sustaining economic growth and greater social
cohesion’ (European Commission, 2003: 2 in Brown et al., 2008). Like other
European governments, the current UK government remains committed to this
widening participation agenda recognising that ‘it is vital that all those with the ability
should have access to higher education’ (BIS, 2012: 4).
To facilitate widening participation in the UK, Access to HE courses have been
transformed. Begun in the early 1980s to give free access to HE for those people
from marginalised social groups who traditionally were under-represented in HE,
they have become fee charging courses targeting younger people to strengthen the
national economy and lessen the impact of high youth unemployment. The current
UK government ‘introduced a new National Scholarship Programme, which will begin
in the 2012/13 academic year, and will provide financial benefit to some of the least
well-off young people and adults as they enter higher education’ and they ‘are taking
action to strengthen the Office for Fair Access to ensure that it can provide support
and challenge to institutions on fair access’ (BIS, 2012: 4). These more recent policy
approaches raise questions about the extent to which marginalised social groups will
now be further hindered from enhancing their cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986)
through gaining entry to HE to accredit their learning. Social and political changes in
Europe since 2000 are constructing dichotomies between economic competitiveness
and social cohesion and the nature of citizenship which are now emerging in
discussions on the nature of higher education (Zgaga, 2009).
Conceptual Framework and literature review
Opportunities for learners who are in the most financially straitened circumstances
because of family commitments and /or lower paid employment to participate in
Access education is now under threat because of the shifting educational
discourses and policies that have recently emerged on how Access to HE students’
are supported through their studies financially. It also raises questions about the
ways that Access students are viewed and how they view themselves in terms of
their sense of identity and belonging as they are constructed as being of 'less value'
than traditional students. The Hughes Report on Access to Higher Education (2011)
stated that the Government should see how it can reclassify Access Courses in FE
colleges so that they will be eligible for funding for students over the age of 24 years
to ensure the maximum amount of people have the chance to go into higher
education (Hughes, 2011; 33). This raises questions about the extent to which
Access courses can redress educational exclusion amongst non-traditional adult
learners.
3
Access courses act as a site of transition between the students’ current position
(present identities) and their future position (identity trajectories) (O’Donnell and
Tobbell, 2007). How Access courses are run can support Access learners, and the
complex processes that shape their demand for learning. However, there are very
few studies that have examined these issues in any great depth in relation to Access
students’ learner identities and transitions to HE, although there is a literature that
has examined the concept of learner identities and participation in adult learning, and
adult learners’ transitions to HE (O’Donnell and Tobbell, 2007; Cieslik, 2006;
Crossan et al, 2003).
The role of learning in (re)shaping identities has made an important contribution to
research on engagement in adult education (Field and Malcolm 2006), and there is
recognition that adult learning can have a significant role in ‘the formation and reformation of the identities of learners and consequently of their ability to persist in
reaching their learning goals’ (Crowther et al, 2010:654). Learners’ identities go
through a series of transitions and transformations, always being in a state of
becoming. Transitions can occur between types, forms or levels of learning, and also
occur in other life spheres as a consequence of their learning (Field, 2006:6). This is
discussed more fully below.
Central to understanding Access students’ learning transitions is the interplay
between individual agency and identity, circumstance and social structure (Wyn and
White, 1998). The construction of identities continues through life (Giddens, 1991) as
a social project linked to people's memberships of various communities (Lave and
Wenger, 1991). These identities are grounded in people’s individual histories,
personalities and work-related experiences (Busher, 2005).
Access students are confronted by powerful organisational and cultural structures
which challenge their existing personal and work-related identities. Bloomer and
Hodkinson (2000) developed notions of learning identity (dispositions) and learning
career (positions) which can be used to theorise how Access students’ formative
experiences (such as education) can inform their identities and the dispositions they
hold towards learning as they move through different social contexts and statuses
and, therefore, the transitions that Access students experience through participation
in access education. Dispositions not only provide a framework through which
individuals can make sense of the world, but can provide opportunities for learners to
make sense of their previous experiences, in the present, and inform the
development of future action, identity and learning (Lawy, 2000).
Being and becoming a student is a process of struggle, resistance and
reconstruction (Busher, 2012). The construction of identities continues through life
(Giddens, 1991) as a social project linked to people's memberships of various
communities through which they learn what constitutes successful technical and
membership practice (Wenger, 1998, Andrews and Lewis 2007), in this case as
potential learners in HE. These identities are grounded in people’s individual
histories, personalities and work-related experiences (Goodson and Numan, 2002).
However, in developing as learners, students are confronted by powerful policy
contexts and organisational processes and cultural structures some of which
challenge their existing personal and work-related identities and some of which
enhance them.
4
Learning identities are complex and do not develop in any predictable or linear way
because learners’ identities are fragile and contingent, vulnerable to external
changes and pressures as well as to internal revisions (Crossan et al 2003). They
can be affected by a number of key personal, interactional and institutional factors
(Johnston and Merrill 2009). Consequently learning careers are always in a state of
flux under constant (re) construction (Bloomer and Hodkinson 2000). Returning to
education is not the start of a person’s learning identity, or even a return to a
previous one based on formal, compulsory education, but involves a process of its
(re)construction (Brine and Waller, 2004).
Previous research on learning identities and participation in adult learning offers
important insights into the transitions of non-traditional adult learners’ or mature
students’, particularly into higher education, and how individuals’ experience such
transitions (Burke, 2004; Waller, 2005; Cieslik, 2006; Askham, 2008). Studies of
mature students have highlighted the centrality of identity to their learning
experiences in HE highlighting themes such as mature students’ understandings of
HE as an investment in their future (Davies and Williams, 2001); the impact of their
formal engagement in learning (Hodkinson et al, 2006); and the extent of their
participation in the HE learning community (O’Donnell and Tobbell, 2007). Yet the
term, ‘learning identity’ is useful in acknowledging the complex and irregular
interrelationship of learning and identity. In particular for non traditional adult learners
‘learning identities co-exist with and influence and are in turn influenced by other
adult identities’ (Johnston and Merrill, 2009:130).
The ways in which individual learners construct their identities and how these
identities are constructed by others are significant for understanding the motivations,
barriers to learning and the support needs of adult returners (Askham, 2008).
‘Non-traditional learners becoming involved in formal learning are often (if not
always) initially tentative about engaging in this process. Their previous life
experiences have often given them little confidence about engaging in the
process of learning, and indeed in some cases will have resulted in hostility
towards educational institutions. If they do become involved, their commitment
to the process may well be tentative, and engagement, if it does develop, will
only emerge over time’ Crossnan et al, (2003:58)
The construction of learning identities can be as much influenced by historic
experience as by present practice (O’Donnell and Tobbell, 2007:313).
Mature learners are potentially vulnerable to difficulties in the management of their
learning identities because they may have little recent experience of formal
education, as well as have additional life pressures. For many adult students, HE is
viewed as a way to maximize and fulfill their potential, but this can present a conflict
for those of lower socioeconomic status who may consequently experience feelings
of being an ‘impostor’ (Reay, 2002). This highlights the difficulties that non-traditional
adults face in not only adopting a ‘student’ identity but the peripheral participation
that such individuals experience as learners (O’Donnell and Tobbell; 2007; Johnston
and Merrill 2009).
While mature students have generally received quite a lot of attention through HE
research, Access courses, and their students have not. Those studies that have
5
focused on mature students taking Access to HE courses, have tended to discern a
homogenous group of learners who are socio-economically and culturally
disadvantaged (Warmington, 2003); for whom earlier compulsory education has
been a failure, or they hold negative memories of school and formal education
generally (Brine and Waller 2004; Jones 2006), and for which the fear of academic
failure is greater because of the high risk investment involved (Davis and Williams,
2001). In this sense they tend to carry a negative learner identity prior to enrolling on
the course.
Consequently, not only are Access students often automatically characterised as
‘non-standard students’, but it raises questions about how they perceive their
dispositions and learner identities in educational spaces. Amongst adults generally
there is ‘a grounded sense in which adults see themselves as increasingly distant
from the formalised status of learner; they do not easily perceive themselves as
‘student’ (Crosnan et al, 2003:57). In part this is because adult’s identities as
learners are interfaced with other identities such as a parent, father, worker, carer
which are affected by a number of key personal, interactional and institutional
factors (Johnston and Merrill 2009). Further, for Access students their identities as
learners may also be informed by possible antipathy towards education and learning
arising from their previous experiences of it. This underscores the need to explore
the complex interplay between the social and economic structures which shape
Access students’ lives, the educational institutions which determine the processes of
engagement with learning, and the learners themselves.
Methodology
This multi-site case study used a social interactionist framework to investigate
mature adult students' perspectives of their changing learning identities through their
developing relationships with their tutors and with each other during their
participation in Access to HE courses. The main research questions investigated in
the study were:
(i) Why do some people seek access to HE after leaving school?
(ii) How are Access students’ perceptions of HE and Access courses affected by
changing government policies?
(iii) How do Access students’ views on learning and on themselves as learners
change through their experiences on Access courses?
(iv) What are Access students’ views of their courses as preparation for HE?
(v) What senses of community are constructed amongst students and tutors on
Access to HE courses and how these affect students’ engagement with learning?
The study was based in three urban Further Education (FE) Colleges in the East
Midlands of England. In each of these Colleges there are about 70 full-time Access
students and tutors who supervised them. On each of the Social Science /
Humanities courses in this study there were about 20 students at the start of the
year. The 12 previous studies carried out in England and Wales since the year 2000
focused on Nurse Education or Social Work Access courses.
The study followed the Access students’ progress on each course over an academic
year. Following initial meetings with each of the Colleges, Access course tutors and
6
Access students were introduced to the research project. The researchers visited
each College on three occasions (December, March and May) to conduct a series of
focus group interviews with the students. The focus groups provided a useful means
of eliciting issues which the participants thought were relevant and capturing the
dialectics of agency and structure in their learning experiences. Each focus group
comprised of between 5-6 self-selecting participants, although they were often fluid
with individuals not always attending the interviews, or dropping out because of the
pressure of coursework. Each focus group interview lasted approximately 45 minutes
and was digitally recorded. During the interviews students and tutors were
questioned about: Why Access students after leaving school change their views on
learning and themselves as learners; the nature and importance of the learning
relationships constructed on Access courses; and how Access students’ perceptions
of Access courses and Higher Education are affected by changing policy contexts.
The qualitative data was audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed manually using a
form of thematic analysis which also tried to take account of participants own
constructs of themselves and their experiences in particular contexts to shape the
interpretation of the data.
The Access students gave voluntary informed consent to participate and were aware
they could leave the project at any time, which some chose to do because of the
tensions between the demands of work, studying and relationships. The Access
students and their names, as well as the names of the Colleges (e.g. Coll A), have
been anonymised. The names of the Colleges and people from this study that are
cited in this report are all fictional.
To construct trustworthiness in the study, students' views were triangulated with
interview data collected from their Access course tutors, other students, and the
institutional and national policy contexts of their FE Colleges as presented through
relevant institutional and national documents and interviews with senior managers in
their FE Colleges. This triangulation of method and participant perspective
acknowledges that processes of perception and appreciation can alter the stability of
a primary habitus (Reed-Danahay, 2005) possibly indicating a change in identity.
Although the findings from the study cannot be generalised to a wider population
than its participants, the themes that emerge raise questions that need to be
considered in other similar institutions and courses nationally.
Project Findings
Findings from the Access students in the three Colleges
The findings discussed below are based on a relatively small group of non-traditional
learners. The findings therefore cannot be generalised to a wider population than its
participants. Nonetheless, research that is based on depth rather than breadth can
add to our understanding of the ‘diversity and complexity of learning and the
importance of both context and identity as two elements shaping the nature of
learning’ (Askham 2008: 94).
The findings are divided into two sections: the Access students and the Tutors.
7
The first section reports the views of Access to HE course students on their courses
as sites of transition and trans/formation of their identities as learners in particular
policy contexts. They draw predominantly on the student focus groups carried out in
December 2011, March 2012 and May 2012, as is shown by the dating of the
quotations.
Why some people seek access to HE after leaving school
Students gave many reasons for wanting to return to HE after leaving school:
Interest in a subject area/ specific career; Family peer ‘pressure’; Dislike of current
job (opportunities); Had to choose the Access route
Those interested in pursuing a particular subject area or career had often wanted to
choose this at an earlier age, but for some reason had not done so. They now
wanted to take that path before it was too late:
When I was at secondary school I always wanted to go into psychology, but
left sixth form. [Did] hairdressing but I still was interested in psychology. I’ve
always wanted to do it. So why not just do it? I’m not getting any younger
(Coll B Dec)
Family reasons for trying to get in to Higher Education appeared regularly in
students’ comments particularly among women with older children. These reasons
sometimes overlapped with desires for self-fulfilment now their children were
beginning to become self-established. However family pressures also worked
against the interests of some older women students (see below):
There [are] three reasons I’m going into higher education… to fulfil my own
potential and to provide my daughter with stability and [get] a greater pay grade
(Coll A Dec)
I want to get a degree. Like all my family’s done it and whatnot and I don’t want
to be the one who’s not gone to uni, who’s not done all that (Coll A Dec)
Many students disliked their current jobs and in some cases thought they had ‘hit a
concrete ceiling’ (Coll B, Dec) because they did not have the qualifications to get a
more interesting job. In some cases students were or had been in quite responsible
jobs but no longer found these satisfying:
I’ve chosen to study now because I feel like those jobs are just dead-end jobs
really. So I thought maybe it’s about time I started educating now (Coll A Dec)
I hit a level where I couldn’t go any further which is why I left because I’d got
to supervisor and then you can’t get any further without a degree (Coll C Dec)
For some students the Access route was the only way to achieve their goals:
[For] a lot of stuff, you need GCSE in Maths and I haven’t. Well I got an E.
And I took this by chance (Coll B Dec)
8
No qualifications…Leaving school at fourteen (Coll C Dec)
How Access students’ perceptions of HE and Access courses are affected by
changing government policies
By and large students took a sanguine view of the costs they incurred in undertaking
Access courses because they saw them as an investment to gain access to a
satisfying job that they wanted and which, in due course, would either pay them
sufficiently well to cover their costs or not remunerate them sufficiently highly to
trigger the threshold at which they had to repay government loans:
Now I’m quite happy to say that it [Access course]’s been worth five hundred
and whatever quid was, six hundred and twenty (Coll B March)
I know it[university fees]’s nine grand a year which is a fortune, but I mean
you don’t have to pay it back till you’re earning £21k or more. So there have
been a lot of people say doing social work or something, might not ever pay it
back. So they’ve [government] only helped us in a bad way (Coll C March)
However they also pointed out the financial hardships they were experiencing while
trying to study on Access courses. In many cases this was without being able to
depend on any financial safety net:
I think putting [fees] up, especially when people on the Access Course probably
don’t live with their parents and have to sort of earn money. They’ve got other
people to provide for. I think it’s a really bad idea (Coll B March)
I think it was really rubbish to cut the Adult Learning Grant because all of us have
had to cut our hours at work. Although it’s only thirty pound a week, that … could
pay towards a bill or even pay for the phone bill (Coll B March)
But the problem with access course is [although] it’s aimed for mature students,
but there’s no financial help (Coll B Dec)
The students in this study worked very hard indeed not only to study successfully on
their course but also pay their way in the world:
Very difficult to juggle working as well as studying. You’re literally working nights
…didn’t realise how rough it was going to be (Coll C March)
there is no day off in our working week, whether it’s paid work or work at home,
we are all working seven days a week (Coll C March)
Not the least of their reasons for this assiduity was their fear of unemployment:
There is work, absolutely. [but] very difficult to find (Coll C March)
9
I thought it’d be easier for me [to find work] because I’ve held down jobs …no big
gaps in employment. I mean since about sixteen I’ve been working (Coll C
March)
About a year ago I was like, ‘Oh I’m not going to university. Why pay that much
for an education?’ But … I didn’t want to be on the dole because there are less
jobs, especially in comparison to other cities. Most of the jobs is menial (Coll C
June)
Access students’ changing views on learning and on themselves as learners
Some students acknowledged what an important step they were taking in taking the
risk of joining another learning course after these experiences:
It’s a big deal to come out of your comfort zone isn’t it? (Coll B May)
This was particularly remarkable given the poor learning experiences many of them
had had at school:
I failed all my GCSEs. So I don’t have no school qualifications. So I never
learnt basic study skills (Coll A Dec)
No qualifications…Leaving school at fourteen (Coll C Dec)
The thing that sort of messed me up was my school, after GCSEs, didn’t
really give you any other options apart from staying there to do you’re Alevels. So by the time I’d finished my first year of A-levels, I was sick of the
people that I was with cos I’d been with them for the last eight years (Coll B
Dec)
The teachers treated you the same [after GCSE] like when you were in year
seven (Coll B Dec)
However as some Access students intimated (see below) some of the difficulties they
experienced in learning at school were possibly due to their own attitudes:
When I was younger I never used to listen. I just used to sit at the back of the
class and just mess around (Coll A Dec)
Students’ poor views of themselves as learners, in some cases, was magnified by
having left formal schooling may years before joining their Access course and not
having had much experience of education since then:
I haven’t been in education for over twenty years (Coll C Dec)
It’s been about four-five years since I’ve been working and not studying …
getting back into that routine is a bit hard sometimes (Coll A Dec)
I tried education after school three times I think it was and I always ended up
on the wrong course and left and went back to work (Coll A Dec)
10
However this was not the whole story because some of the Access students had
been successful learners:
I really enjoyed secondary school (Coll B Dec)
I’ve got a BA Honours degree. (Coll C Dec)
Access students were very keen to point out how being on an Access course differs
from being at school. Central to this was the quality of relationships they developed
with tutors (see also the section in this below). But as important, seems to have been
their own senses of mission in undertaking an Access course:
We actually listen now. That’s the difference [General laughter]. When I was
younger I never used to listen. But now you listen and everything makes
sense (Coll A Dec)
Everyone that’s here wants to be here. Everyone that’s here knows what they
want to do and there’s just a massive amount of focus in our class (Coll B
Dec)
being a mature student I was sort of determined to do well in this course
(Coll B March)
The teachers are great. They can sympathise with you and … respect you
more (Coll B Dec)
Access students drew some clear distinctions between how they had perceived
themselves as learners when they joined the Access course, perhaps for the reasons
outlined above, and how they came to perceive themselves during the course of their
year of study. At the start of the year some thought:
I was really rubbish. All my assignments were like really rubbish. I was
getting passes all the time. Now I can expect to get like merit or distinction
(Coll A March)
Not a very good [learner] … I hated school anyway. I wasn’t particularly
enjoying it the first couple of months we were doing it either just because it
was getting trying to (Coll B March)
After a few months, however, the views of the Access students in the focus groups
seemed to change, perhaps in part through the successes they had with their
assignments on the Access courses:
The course is going okay so far. I’m finding it a bit difficult in places but obviously
there’s help out there for me (Coll A Dec)
I really enjoy coming to college and I love learning (Coll B Dec)
I feel like I’ve just got better and more intelligent actually (Coll A March)
11
So now it’s like we understand a bit more, you know, the new ways, the way
everything works and stuff now. I was a bit rusty before (Coll A March)
Now we’re this side of the Christmas holiday, I’ve felt much better about it and I
enjoy it now (Coll B March)
Access tutors told us that about 85% of Access students were offered places at the
universities to which they applied, i.e. had achieved the range of passes, merits and
distinctions the universities required. This view of success was confirmed by
students in the focus groups in our last discussions with them in June and through
the closing questionnaire the study circulated amongst a wide range of Access
students in the three Colleges.
Making the difference: What Access students think of their courses
This contrast between how students perceived themselves as learners at the start of
their Access courses and at the end has to have some explanation. There seemed to
be several factors involved in students’ development. One of these was students’
growing confidence in their abilities as learners:
I’m a lot more confident like in my academic skills than what I was when I
started. Like I never really had much confidence in my writing but now I just
don’t worry about it (Coll B May)
This seems to have been largely due to the ways in which their Access tutors
supported their studies:
You get a mark but you also get comments at the bottom of your work pointing
you in the direction that maybe you should have gone down or things to try
and improve that grade (Coll B May)
They go through essay plans with us and they kind of weaned us off essay
plans and they stop marking drafts. I think that was really helpful to be honest
(Coll C May)
I think that in terms of planning essays and like study skills I think that I’ve got
better. Like I can now do smart plans and timetables (Coll C May)
These processes were intended to help Access students become more independent
learners in preparation for how they would be expected to study at university:
I feel pretty well prepared for university. Far more confident going forward than
I would have had I not done the Access Course I presume obviously (Coll B
May)
As some of the students noted this growth in their development as learners also led
to a change in their wider views of themselves:
12
I’ve got a better understanding of society. So it’s sort of taken the blinkers off
a little bit. Well it’s changed me as a person (Coll B May)
Some Access students also contrasted their experiences on the Access courses with
their experiences of studying for ‘A’ levels. A major theme here was the importance of
course work in helping students to develop their expertise as learners:
More about learning than remembering [un]like ‘A’-levels. Have to remember it
all for one exam [there], whereas here you build on it (Coll B May)
It does teach you a lot better. ‘A’-levels, despite they say it’s independent
learning, you get spoon-fed a lot more than on this course (Coll C May)
I suppose the plus point of the Access course because it does all the study
skills and essay plans … that ‘A’-levels don’t give you because you just have
your subjects and there’s very actually little coursework to do at A-level
[compared with] here. [Access course] makes you more prepared for
university work but ‘A’-levels have the benefit of exams (Coll C May)
Whereas ‘A’-levels, [assignment] deadlines don’t mean anything. You’re not
penalised at ‘A’-level, whereas here you learn the consequences [late
assignments] are capped at a pass [laughter] (Coll C May)
Constructing community on Access courses?
Students gave very clear indications of the importance of supportive and respectful
relationships on their Access courses, not only with their tutors but also with their
colleagues. With tutors the Access students celebrated the way they were treated
respectfully by them:
The thing is, we’re all adults and they tell us we’re going to treat you like that
and they do treat us like that. They’re adults. We’re adults with adult lives
(Coll A Dec)
You respect your teacher and she gives us the same respect back. She treats
you as an individual on the same level as her almost. There’s none of that I’m
your teacher (Coll B Dec)
There’s no sort of barriers between teacher and student, although there’s
mutual respect (Coll B March)
However this was linked to a robust relationship around learning as well as to tutors
endeavouring to make learning enjoyable:
[What makes him a good teacher?] Cos he just tells you straight (Coll A Dec)
He’s one of the teachers that we can learn lots from (Coll A Dec)
And it’s kind of like you can have your laugh and your joke with him, but he’s
got this tone about him which is a serious tone (Coll A Dec)
13
Another aspect of this respectful relationship seems to have been the amount of time
and care tutors were willing to give their Access students to help them develop their
learning:
Anything you need. Like he’ll manage to answer everyone’s questions and
help everyone out (Coll A Dec)
The teachers help us out as much as they can (Coll B Dec)
I see [tutor] as a teacher, but she’s there for a lot more support than previous
teachers have been (Coll B March)
Some student’s perceived this sense of care as a belief in the students’ ability to
succeed:
[Here they think] we’re able to succeed. [They] want you to succeed in your
goal as much as you want to succeed (Coll B Dec)
With other students the emphasis was generally on collaborative working
relationships rather than developing new friendships, although students across all
three Colleges acknowledged the friendship groups that grew amongst their
colleagues, often shaped by common life experiences:
Like everyone gets on with each other now. So it’s so much more nicer. I
think relationships have grown naturally (Coll A March)
It’s good ‘cos you’re all in the same boat. So you can pull together and help
each other out (Coll B Dec)
it’s nice to be able to talk to some people and as a mother of two kids, you
don’t get that at school (Coll B Dec)
Like obviously loads of people have got like kids in the class and stuff and,
you know, it’s like it’s nice though cos I don’t feel like left out or anything. So I
feel a part of the group (Coll A Dec)
These social networks for learning were perceived as very important in two ways.
One was in helping with instrumental knowledge about skills or topics on the course:
If anyone wants my help … then I don’t mind. I would like their help as well in
return. If we work together, like if there’s an assignment that needs to be done
… it’ll all get done much quicker than one person struggling on their own (Coll
A Dec)
Occasionally [use a mobile phone]. If I’ve missed a day and I’m not sure
about something (Coll B Dec)
14
And, you know, we all work together. We all help each other out and the
teachers help us out as much as they can. It’s nice to be in a learning
environment where everyone wants to be there (Coll B Dec)
The second was for sustaining and developing confidence as learners:
Advice. Guidance. Moral support (Coll B March)
There’s a lady in IT that was really upset one day and I’d already done the
work. So I just sat with her and went through everything (Coll C Dec)
There’s definitely a sense of camaraderie (Coll B March)
Actually it’s been the best learning experience I’ve had … Because of the
support, the focus, the group (Coll B March)
However some students were sceptical about how far they really developed a sense
of community with their colleagues on their Access course partly because many of
them were so focused individually in their goals and partly because many of them
were so busy out of College with other aspects of their lives:
We do support each other, but I think like there [are] a few individuals who like
to just get on with it themselves, like … not interact with the group. They’re
just really like bothered about themselves. So I don’t think they really help
their like classmates (Coll A Dec)
I think we’re all here for a reason to get a job done. We’ve all got outside
pressures. So when you’re here it’s nice (Coll C Dec)
It’s difficult, it’s developing…In the sense that everybody’s got, you know, their
own responsibilities out of school. So again, time pressure (Coll C Dec)
None the less in some Colleges there seemed to be some nascent sense of
community even if only amongst some members of the Access course rather than
amongst all members of it:
I like to think there’ll be some kind of social event organised before we all go
our separate ways (Coll B March)
Findings from Access tutors of Access courses in the three Colleges
Interviews with the tutors were conducted in December 2011 and May 2012 in each
of the three colleges. They highlighted the Access tutors views of the course, the
students and the current policy context surrounding Access. The second interviews
gave tutors a chance to reflect on how the course had gone that year. This section
refers to general findings from the three colleges rather than focusing upon single
findings from specific colleges.
15
Views of the Access course
Many of the tutors were experienced and had been teaching Access for a number of
years. Their route into teaching on an Access course generally seemed to be
accidental although some of them had been Access students themselves:
I don’t know how I ended up teaching. They needed someone urgently here
to help on access (Coll B Dec)
When I first looked at the job I didn’t really know what an Access Course was.
I’d just seen English lecturers wanted (Coll A Dec)
Other tutors saw teaching Access as a natural progression from teaching A Levels.
Whatever their routes into teaching Access, the tutors were passionate about the
course and felt that it was a rewarding experience to teach on it. This was mainly
down to the change they saw in the students:
It really is a life-changing experience for a lot of people. So when you see
students at the beginning of the course when they’re quite frankly terrified, to
the end of the course when they’ve achieved their qualifications and they’re
going on to university, that journey which is probably about thirty weeks rather
than a year, it is a really rewarding experience to be involved in (Coll B Dec)
I think it’s rewarding because I think you want to feel that education is going to
change people’s lives and take them out of what they are and put them in
something different and it’s never more evident than in access where they
literally come, you know, knowing nothing and go perhaps with a university
place (Coll C Dec)
I think the big thing is you’ve got… people who were in relatively dead end
jobs, not really going anywhere, and those… people are going to degrees with
much more confidence, with a future that a year ago they didn’t have (Coll A
May)
The Access course was seen as valuable by the tutors. One tutor described how the
course was about equality and equality of opportunity for people with the potential to
go to university:
I think it’s such a valuable, potentially valuable and … potentially fantastic
course and what it does to the person on that course over the period of time is
immeasurable in some ways. It’s just...It’s not about getting into HE. It’s about
developing all the other confidence and everything else (Coll A May)
It was viewed by others as a second chance for students who had struggled in
education earlier in their lives:
Because as a society we’ve been so used to this idea that education is
something that stops at school or college. Stops at eighteen and then off you
go to university and if you miss the sixteen to eighteen boat you’ve had it. It’s
the second chance (Coll B Dec)
16
Well I think it’s brilliant for people who for whatever reason have missed out
earlier in their life (Coll C Dec)
I think if they don’t do well on the access course, they won’t go on to do
another course. I think this is it really for them (Coll C Dec)
In some cases tutors highlighted the Access courses strengths and the benefits the
students gained from it compared to the traditional A Level route:
Well it gives them the opportunity of studying in one academic year and
getting up to the standard required for university entry... The other main thing
is that they’re studying with other mature students. So there are lots of other
people in the group who would have the same problems that they have,
they’ve got the same family commitments; they’ve tried to work alongside
studying (Coll B Dec)
I think the Access Course can prepare a student better for university than the
A-level courses, simply because the emphasis is on skills required to survive
independent learning as opposed to simply filling their heads with lots of
factual stuff (Coll B May)
The Access course was seen to prepare the students well for life at university as it
helped them to develop into independent learners with referencing, academic writing
and research skills.
Sense of community and their role
The development of a sense of community between the students was seen as
important by the tutors:
It almost becomes, for a while, your focus and your family. Probably more so
than the support from your partners because you’re with these people with a
common cause and so community is majorly important to them and it carries
on after access too (Coll B Dec)
They meet people on the course that have got similar problems to them. So
they mutually support each other (Coll C Dec)
Even if this support was not there in the early stages of the course it seemed to
develop around difficult times as students grouped together to get through the tough
periods:
And it’s a bit like a surge. They’ll come together as a group at different times
of the year. So sometimes when it starts to get tough, you find they group
together more and they are more kind of supportive of each other, and then at
the end when it’s all over, everyone’s sort of, you know, bosom buddies (Coll
A Dec)
This did not mean that all students worked together and there were comments made
about individualism and the competition between students for places on university
courses.
17
The tutors often felt like part of the group although they were aware that they had to
maintain a certain distance:
We’re all equals in that room. It's just one of us is tutor (Col B Dec)
The relationship I have with them and another team member is that we are
not their friends and that’s the boundary you can’t cross, but we are people
that they can trust or people who will be honest with them (Coll A Dec)
I would never go out with them socially despite them saying, ‘Oh, you know,
come out at Christmas for a meal’ I wouldn’t do that because… Because I feel
that whilst they’re on the course, you need to maintain some distance
because I’m marking their work (Col B Dec)
However this distance was bridged a little by those tutors who had been on the
Access course as felt they could share their experiences and had an understanding
of how difficult it is for the students:
I respect their individual circumstances and I understand the journey that they
had to kind of undertake to get where they are. And so there’s an acceptance
I think. I know how hard it is. I have done an access course. So I do know
how hard it all is (Col B Dec)
I feel from a personal point of view I can offer the students something
because I know what they’re going through. I know what it feels like to do the
things that they’re doing. I know the dilemmas they have in terms of shall I do
that pile of ironing or shall I write that essay. That kind of thing. Students
often say to me that they feel inspired because I’ve come a similar route to the
one that they’ve come down (Col A Dec)
This understanding of the difficulties students face did not just come from those
tutors who had done an Access course. Generally the tutors understood that Access
students had different things going on in their lives outside the course:
They’re more interesting in terms of their life experiences. They’re, how do I
put it, they teach me quite a lot about life which I don’t really know about cos
I’ve been quite fortunate. I realise they’re very brave. They’re very
courageous. They’re very different to me (Coll A Dec)
Due to the problems the students faced, the tutors tried to be a bit flexible and also
offered a lot of time and support:
It’s kind of an open door. If you want the help and you want to learn, we’re
accessible (Coll A Dec)
They’ve got open access more or less to us, but they don’t appreciate it. So
one of them just asked me what I was doing at lunch time... I said well I’m
having lunch. And she looked at me as if to say well how could you? (Coll C
Dec)
18
They felt that they had to build up the student’s confidence, especially during the
early stages of the course. This meant they offered more support to students at the
start of the year and gradually got them to work more independently to prepare them
for university.
The problems students faced meant that there was inevitable drop out on the course.
The tutors highlighted a number of reasons why students leave the course early.
Most of these were personal however financial issues were highlighted as a major
problem:
The reason why students will stop in the first few month is the financial side of
it (Coll C Dec)
There were also reported cases of students dropping out as they failed to get a place
at university.
Views of the Access students
Generally the tutors enjoyed working with the students on the Access course. One
tutor even claimed that 'It is not a job to me this. Not with the people I teach'. They
saw them as mature and motivated in contrast to the younger students they had
experience of teaching:
For me teaching highly motivated adults, they just have so much more...
We’re all geared up to be working for success, whereas sometimes with
sixteen, seventeen year olds, there’s still that them and us (Coll B Dec)
It’s like, you know, when you talk in class they’re writing everything down and
‘A’-level students just don’t have that level of… Well mine didn’t have that
level of commitment (Coll C Dec)
The Access students’ attitudes to their education were seen as different to their
younger counterparts by the tutors due to struggles and hurdles they had to get past
to be there:
Generally they’re really committed, really dedicated and really appreciate the
opportunity ‘cos it’s the second time round (Coll A Dec)
However, tutors described a change in the profile of the Access students, with
cohorts getting younger. This was not generally seen as a good thing:
We do get some sort of nineteen-twenty year olds. Less successful with
them I think because they’re often people who’ve sort of, they’ve lurched
unsuccessfully through a post-16 programme and then they think well they’ll
try an access (Coll B Dec)
On the whole people who are perhaps in their late thirties or something like
that, I find extremely committed. And the people who I know perhaps aren’t
quite as or people who are perhaps twenty who maybe didn’t do very well at
19
‘A’-level and kind of dropped out and they’re just thinking, ‘oh what can I do
now?’ (Coll C Dec)
I don’t think access courses are about failed ‘A’-level students. For me that’s
not what Access courses are about... It’s not I messed my ‘A’-levels up in
June and I’ll come back on an access course in September because it’s an
easy way to get a qualification. I don’t agree with that (Coll A Dec)
Tutors felt that the students were not valued as much as they should be, especially
by universities who were seen as still viewing the ‘A’ Level student as the academic
‘gold standard’:
Pressure is being put on access students to prove themselves to be as good
as ‘A’-level students. And I sometimes wish that more university admissions
tutors come in and see how access works because they might actually realise
that sometimes the access students are a better bet than the ‘A’-level
students. (Coll B Dec)
There’s still this kind of feeling that ‘A’-levels are the gold standard and that
‘A’-level students, if they’ve got good grades, are going to be a better bet than
a mature student who’s come from, if you like, a bit of an unusual background.
(Col B May)
I don’t think the universities are, and again I’m not saying all universities or all
departments within universities, but I don’t think they’re as supportive as I
would like them to be. I still think they prefer an eighteen year old. They
understand an eighteen year old’s qualifications. They don’t really understand
Access qualifications (Coll A Dec)
There seemed to be a feeling that there were questions about the academic
credibility of the Access course from some universities, although others did have a
good grasp of what the course entailed.
Policy and Institutional Context
Tutors talked about a number of issues which were having an impact upon the
Access course. The most recent of these is the introduction of loans for students
over the age of 24. This move was generally not supported by the tutors who were
interviewed. They saw it as a step back and as something that would exclude those
who really needed Access:
There’s talk, I think from 2013, of a loan coming in to do the access course.
So at the moment some of them don’t pay anything. So the idea is
presumably we charge three thousand and then they’ll have to get a loan to
do the access course, which I think is a very retrograde step (Coll C Dec)
To me it seems very short-sighted. The impact I think is that it will reduce
numbers and it will change significantly the make-up of the cohorts that we
have (Coll A Dec)
20
The introduction of loans also raised questions about value for money and how this
would impact student motivation and what they expected from the course. However
others argued that the loan would have little impact due to the amount of money
students now have to pay to go to university.
A further issue which the tutors raised was the impact of the introduction of grading
on the Access course. University offers were seen to be putting pressure on students
from early on in their studies and was creating a stressful environment on the
course:
And now the access course is graded, universities are asking for distinctions,
and if they’re asking for all distinctions and the pressure is on to get a
distinction for your very first assignment and that’s really tough. Whereas
before the grading, they could ease in a little bit (Coll B Dec)
A good number of excellent students have been under enormous pressure
because they’ve got to get a large number of distinctions to be able to take up
their place. So they would probably get distinctions anyway but it’s much
more stressful if you know you’ve got to get distinctions (Coll B May)
Grading was in turn having an impact on student/tutor relations as pressure was put
on tutors to give students the grades they needed to get into university:
When the students know they’ve got to get a certain amount of distinctions,
from what some of the other staff are saying the students will then will put
pressure onto the member of staff saying, ‘I need a distinction’ (Coll C Dec)
We’ve become more distant because of it... We used to have a very, almost
too open, policy with that staffroom where students were in and always
buzzing around in that staffroom. And since grading’s come in, actually
they’re no longer admitted in the staffroom because we were getting hassled
about grades constantly (Coll A Dec)
Emerging Themes and Conclusions
This section aims to summarise and overview the key findings from the interviews. It
is evident that the study has raised a number of points for further investigation
beyond the immediate context that need to be considered in other FE institutions and
Access courses nationally.
Access to HE Courses
Access courses for students are sites of transition. Preliminary findings suggest that
educational access, personal circumstances and school experiences are a key part
of the students’ learning transitions. Institutional practices and structural
circumstances also influence their learning transitions. Students claimed that
reasons for joining Access courses reflected a growing uncertainty in the economic
climate and a search for new or more rewarding careers than they currently had. In
the project the Access students achieved entry to university through raising their
21
qualification levels despite previous depressing experiences as learners. Social
processes between students in Access courses were mainly thought valuable when
helping to achieve this, reflecting the findings of Lave and Wenger (1991) on the
processes of learning communities.
The findings highlighted how the Access courses constituted a different culture within
which not only teaching and learning took place but in which the role of the Access
tutors was fundamental in providing a supportive and distinctive academic
environment. This included offering an academic environment that situates learning
in the wider life course of the Access students. In particular, this points to the need
for both Access students and those responsible for Access courses to develop ways
of understanding how formative life course experiences can inform engagement with
formal learning (Cieslik, 2006).
Access students’ learning transitions and transformations
Access courses are sites of students’ transformations. What was particularly evident
in the study was the way in which the Access students inter-connected with prior
learning experiences and other identities. Initially many had little confidence in
themselves as learners and had evidence of poor prior achievement particularly in
examinations. When they finished their courses they had had experiences of
learning success, with a range of offers of university places, and beliefs that they
were becoming competent independent learners able to tackle the next stage in their
learning journey.
Access students reframed their learning identities as a result of their engagement in
Access education. Students in the project thought it was an enriching experience,
allowing them to instigate their own actions, thereby achieving a sense of agency.
However, it is not simply that participation in learning is something that can be
predicted and controlled (Crossnan et al, 2003). As the findings show, engagement
with learning, particularly for mature students, is a subjective experience bound up
with other life events and experiences.
Access students have complex needs when they re-enter education which are often
less to do with their ability to learn and more to do with aspects of confidence and
levels of self-belief about achieving or feeling ‘good enough’ to participate (Canning,
2010). The Access students in the study had worked through many of their negative
past experiences of education and were able to see themselves as potentially
successful learners. Although the creation of a negative learner identity had very
different origins for each of them, its significance cannot be overemphasized. In
particular, their past experiences of poor learning at school, being unemployed or in
a low paid job, personal loss or a combination of events influenced their disposition
towards engaging in learning.
Although the task of overcoming such negativity was huge for many of the students,
and their dispositions to learning were initially very tentative, these dispositions
became more positive through significant learning experiences during their studies
on the Access course. Transitions have long been recognized as significant triggers
to engagement in learning (Crowther et al, 2010) and the Access students’ learning
enabled them to negotiate their transitions and assume a different identity; to come
22
closer to being the person they aspired to be – this transition was further reinforced
by gaining a place at university.
Participating in Access to HE also served as a strategy for coping with the risks
associated with contemporary career trajectories. Yet it also risked further instability
and fragmentation of established occupational and social structures around the
Access students in this study. In the early sessions of the Access courses, students
tentatively entered into a process whereby they understood the need to commit
themselves in terms of sharing their life and practice experiences with others, but
self-consciousness or a fear of failing sometimes stopped them from fully engaging
in the process.
Access tutors’ perceptions of Access students and courses
Access tutors are highly dedicated and committed to Access to HE even in Colleges
where staff resources are stretched, student numbers are high, or student cohorts
are challenging. The findings show that Access tutors understand that the barriers to
learning encountered by Access students are associated with their positions in social
and economic structures. The processes through which the Access students become
engaged in learning are often less to do with their ability to learn and more to do with
aspects of confidence and levels of self-belief about achieving or feeling ‘good
enough’ to participate (Canning, 2010). In the study the Access students had worked
through many of their negative past experiences of education and were able to see
themselves as potentially successful learners. Such transitions were facilitated by
their Access tutors who constructed cultures and relationships of support and respect
and course structures of frequent assignments to promote incremental achievement
(Wyn and White, 1998).
Access to HE and the HE Policy Context
Access tutors are aware of the implications of the shifting policy context and the
impact that this will have on the nature of the Access student population, in terms of
age and social economic backgrounds, and this challenges the notion of the purpose
of Access to HE and its key principles. The emphasis on completion rates in Access
education puts Access tutors under great pressure to ensure that students achieve
high marks, complete their studies and enter HE. However, current policy on HE
admissions means that universities will effectively be incentivised to keep their entry
requirements high, making it less appealing for universities to give lower offers to
those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This has the potential to cut across the
requirements on higher education institutions to improve access for those from less
advantaged backgrounds.
Recommendations
The impacts and conclusions that have arisen as a consequence of the pilot project
have led to the following policy and practice recommendations.
23
Developing Access to HE

Access to HE provides learning opportunities that are more sympathetic to the
lives of non traditional adult learners. Such provision points to the need for both
students and practitioners to develop ways of understanding how formative life
course experiences and modes of reflexivity can inform engagement with formal
learning.

Participating in formal learning as an adult serves as a strategy for coping with
the risks associated with contemporary career trajectories and at the same time,
by enabling greater mobility, it gives rise to further instability. This suggests a
need to develop Access provision that is more attuned to the individual needs of
these learners and the complex processes that shape the demand for learning.
Preparing Access students’ for HE

Access to HE courses are specifically designed to facilitate the transition to HE
for non-traditional adults by developing their skills in learning and their confidence
as learners, shifting the adults’ current identities as learners along an identity
trajectory of growing confidence (Crossnan et al, 2009). Access courses
acknowledge the considerable ambiguity and volatility in Access learner
identities, understanding them as contingent, while seeking to understand their
development through time (Reay, 2002). In turn, FE tutors and Colleges better
understand the impact of Access courses on adult learners’ preparations for HE
and what students think constitutes successful pedagogic practice on Access
courses

Academic practices are an important part of Access students’ transition into HE.
HE admissions tutors need to better understand the impact of Access courses on
adult learners’ preparations for HE.

Access students come from a wide range of backgrounds. As they enter HE they
must be supported. This requires universities to fully consider the needs of this
student population, and their socio-economic backgrounds
Challenging the Policy Context

Current policy on how Access education is funded for adult learners challenges
the notion of access and widening participation. Consideration needs to be given
to the extent to which Access education is also about lives and agency in which
chance and surprise happenings also have their part to play in the successful
transitions of these students.

The insertion of market principles into both Further and Higher education, with
their emphasis on greater efficiency and competitive self-interest, works against
the tenets of Access education (and adult education more generally), which
traditionally prioritises responsiveness to the needs of local communities and
widening participation (Reay, 2002). If the coalition government is not to replicate
the educational inequalities of the past, then the rhetoric on widening participation
and access needs to move beyond rhetoric into policies which provide
24
possibilities for creating disadvantaged learners opportunities to 'participate' in
HE.
Future Research
This study also has implications for future research, particularly as Access courses
constitute an important source of applicants in the mass higher education system,
and this raises questions about how HE can meet the demands of different
stakeholders and the needs of their different client groups. Further research is
needed as follows:
 There is a need to undertake a longitudinal study of Access students to look at
the concept of learning transitions and careers in more depth and how this can
inform Access to HE course development and teaching.
 There is a need to examine what proportion of Access students either do not
proceed to higher education at all or else enter higher education but later
withdraw from their studies, and thus what strategies might be useful to support
Access students as learners.
 Research is needed to explore what former Access students who are currently in
HE think about their experiences on Access courses and how these prepared
them for study at this level, the cultural disparity between Access courses and
programmes in higher education.
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