Prelims

Half Title Page

PERSPECTIVES ON ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Series Page

G reat Debates in Higher Education is a series of short, accessible books addressing key challenges to and issues in higher education, on a national and international level. These books are research informed but debate driven. They are intended to be relevant to a broad spectrum of researchers, students, and administrators in higher education and are designed to help us unpick and assess the state of higher education systems, policies, and social and economic impacts.

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Title Page

PERSPECTIVES ON ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Practice and Research

BY

Samantha Broadhead

Leeds Arts University, UK

Rosemarie Davies

The Skills Company, UK

Anthony Hudson

University of East London, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2019

Copyright © Samantha Broadhead, Rosemarie Davies and Anthony Hudson, 2019. Published under exclusive licence.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78756-994-2 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78756-991-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78756-993-5 (Epub)

List of Tables

About the Authors

Samantha Broadhead is Head of Research at Leeds Arts University in the North of England. Her doctoral research carried out with the University of Sunderland used narrative inquiry in order to investigate the experiences of mature students in art and design. Previously, she has lectured on post-compulsory education for the University of Leeds. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Open University’s Journal of Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning; carries out review work for Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE) and is a member of the Inclusive Arts Education Forum (IAEF). Broadhead publishes work on widening participation in art and design education. Among other recent writings, she published ‘Inclusion in the Art and Design Curriculum: Revisiting Bernstein and “Class” Issues’, in Hatton, K. (Ed.) (2015) Towards and Inclusive Arts Education, published by Trentham Books, London. Broadhead has Co-authored with Professor Maggie Gregson (2018) Practical Wisdom and Democratic Education – Phronesis, Art and Non-traditional Students published by Macmillan Palgrave.

Rosemarie Davies has worked in Further Education (FE) for over 30 years and has 20 years’ experience of teaching and managing provision on a range of higher education (HE) courses, both in further education colleges and with a Manchester-based training provider. Since 1993, she has worked extensively with a variety of universities at the interface between FE and HE. Davies has been involved in a significant number of curriculum developments including franchised HE provision and Access to HE. Recently, Davies has worked with university partners in the development of degree and higher apprenticeships. Davies is a Trustee of an Access to HE awarding organisation and is committed to providing opportunities for students from non-traditional backgrounds. In 2012, Davies provided a case study called Higher Level Provision at the Churchgate Academy, which was published by the Association of Learning Providers.

Anthony Hudson is a Research Manager at Continuum, the Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies at the University of East London (UEL) and is currently undertaking doctoral research on the identity of Access to HE tutors. He is a Social Scientist by training, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an experienced manager, teacher and researcher. Before returning to higher education, he worked in the not-for-profit sector where he was General Secretary of a learned and professional society. He has taught on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes specialising in research methods at a number of post-1992 institutions. Hudson developed and taught on New Beginnings (UEL’s fast track HE access programme). Since joining Continuum, the Centre for Widening Participation Policy Studies at UEL, he has managed a diverse portfolio and undertaken a wide range of consultancy, research and evaluation projects at local, national and international levels.

Preface

In June 2017, a group of researchers and practitioners interested in Access to HE came together in order to facilitate a special Access seminar at the 24th Forum FACE Annual Conference, hosted in partnership by the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. There was a shared belief that Access to HE was still an important aspect of widening participation and more research was needed in this area. Later, in September 2017 their collaboration continued when they presented Alive and Kicking: Perspectives on Access Education at British Education Research Association (BERA) held at the University of Sussex, Brighton.

The work explored in the afore-mentioned seminars was then developed to become the basis of this book. The writers (working in further and higher education) offer an account of Access education from various points of view and represent the diversity that exists in Access provision. For example, the Access to HE Diploma (AHED) is currently monitored by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and is usually taught at level three in colleges. However, some universities deliver in-house bespoke Access courses that range in duration from one semester to a full academic year, covering a range of skills and subjects, but with a focus on internal progression. The researchers represented in this book value ‘close to practice research’ and utilise a range of approaches.

The authors would like to acknowledge the help and support given by Julie Knowles, Garry Barker, Christopher Graham, Professor Margaret Gregson, Dr Lawrence Nixon, Trish Spedding, the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and Leeds Arts University.