Moving beyond widening access as an undergraduate entry issue

Presenter: Derek Jones

Co-authors: Gill Aitken, Tim Fawns, Aleksandra Gulasaryan

Session Description

While widening participation has focused on entry to higher education (Vignoles and Murray, 2016), disadvantages can continue beyond graduation in terms of access to postgraduate study (Wakeling & Laurison, 2017) and academic careers. Our research indicates that people from non-traditional backgrounds can face additional challenges in accessing and making use of postgraduate opportunities to develop and progress as teachers (Aitken et al 2019). The lack of focus on equity and diversity amongst faculty is problematic (Haddix, 2017) given the importance of making visible what is possible. This is a particular issue for the ‘ancient universities’ and the enduring social and cultural capital gained from having been to the ‘right’ institution.

This asynchronous session uses a Media Hopper hosted presentation as a starting point and provide an opportunity for academic staff (teaching and research) from non-traditional backgrounds (and other interested individuals) to share their experiences of coming to and through university from a non-traditional background using an asynchronous discussion forum. It will provide an opportunity to identify barriers and possibilities to enable all students to develop academic careers in teaching and/or research.

Follow the link to view the presentation and to leave a comment – https://media.ed.ac.uk/media/1_0i7w8uzq.

Aitken, G., Jones, D., Fawns, T., Sutherland, D., & Henderson, S. (2019). Using Bourdieu to explore graduate attributes in two online master’s programmes. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 24, 559–576.
Haddix, M. M. (2017). Diversifying teaching and teacher education: beyond rhetoric and toward real change. Journal of Literacy Research, 49(1), 141–149.
Vignoles, A. and Murray, N., 2016. Widening participation in higher education. Education Sciences, 6(13).
Wakeling, P., & Laurison, D. (2017). Are postgraduate qualifications the ‘new frontier of social mobility’? British Journal of Sociology, 68(3), 533–555.