Connecting Research and Practice in Widening Participation: Exploring (alternative) routes to change
This event was hosted by the Centre for Teaching and Learning Research (CTLR) and the Widening Participation teams of the Universities of Sussex and Lancaster.
Date: Thursday 25 July, 2019
Venue: The Work Foundation, London
This free one day event brought together academics, practitioners and policy-makers who share a commitment to widening participation and wanted to explore new and/or alternative routes to positive change. Speakers drew on their own experiences to show how a willingness to step outside established norms and roles can open up new understandings of – and alternative routes to - positive change.
MORNING PRESENTATIONS
Five Unanswered Questions in Widening Participation Revisited
Presented by Dr Neil Harrison, Rees Centre (University of Oxford)
Writing Across Research/Practice Boundaries
Presented by Chris Bayes (Lancaster University) & Gino Graziano (University of Sussex)
Connecting Theory with Practice Through the University Curriculum
Presented by Dr Louise Gazeley (CTLR, University of Sussex), Ruth Squire (Sheffield Hallam University), Penny Longman (University College London) & Graham Young (University of Sussex).
AFTERNOON SESSION
Forms of / Routes to Positive Change
Professor Colin McCaig (Sheffield Hallam University), Rosa Marvell (University of Sussex) & Alex Wardrop (Office for Students) set out their responses to the three questions:
- What change is needed?
- How can this best be achieved?
- What obstacles might need to be overcome?
Speaker 1 summary: Rosa Marvell, University of Sussex
Postgraduate taught (PGT) education is becoming ever-more important in the UK, yet the trajectories which lead to it have been consistently under-researched, particularly from a widening participation (WP) perspective. As undergraduate cohorts expand, the (graduate) labour market is increasingly competitive and precarious (Waller et al., 2014). Many people, therefore, see PGT as the next ‘logical’ step or response, and are particularly turning towards Master’s programmes. In fact, HESA data shows Master’s enrolment in 2017/18 reached its highest number for several years (334,310, up from 299,110 in 2014/15), perhaps helped in part by the introduction of student finance for postgraduate study (HESA, 2019).
I argue that it is critical that PGT study – and postgraduate education more broadly – is brought into WP conversations, and note that there are instrumental, intellectual and moral imperatives to do so. Moreover, drawing on my narrative life history research with current Master’s students who were part of the first generation of the family to participate in Higher Education, I content that we need a shift in thinking – away from compartmentalised phases of intervention – and a need to consider student trajectories in a far more long-term fashion. Not only does this allow us to better see often-hidden contingencies and tensions which prevent fair access, but it also provokes questions about how we work with (potential) students at all stages of life, the prevailing structure and normative values of our sector and the implications of massification of undergraduate study.
It is important to consider WP and PGT in a way that maintains awareness of future implications, namely the dangers of replicating or intensifying credential inflation or encouraging students to incur additional debt which may not result in anticipated outcomes. However, there is clear evidence that Master’s programmes do open up opportunities for postgraduates and thus PGT must be part of any equity agenda.
Speaker 2 summary: Colin McCaig, Sheffield Hallam University
There are two available routes to change and with good will we can potentially make headway with both of them. Firstly it is important that institutions like Sussex and others offer postgraduate Masters programmes in widening participation studies in order that we develop a critical and theoretical approach to the phenomena, and offer postgraduate routes to WP students that wish to continue into research careers or to become better-informed academics. Equally it is important that academics that work in the field of WP are able and willing to supervise PhDs in this area, and there are surprisingly few of us offering this opportunity.
Secondly, and in my opinion, just as importantly, we as a sector need to continue to develop research and evaluation capabilities and dispositions among those within our institutions and state-funded Consortia (such as NCOPs). Never has it been as important to demonstrate that what we are doing to WP is effective - yet we know that within WP/Outreach teams and within NCOP consortia those responsible for Data and Evaluation are rarely the most important voices: competing pressures to either meet the recruitment needs of institutions or to meet Consortia-wide national targets often place the most emphasis on the delivery of activities and interventions, with way less thought to how to demonstrate they are effective. One way to address this is to create a mandatory postgraduate training certificate/diploma programme for all those that hold 'evaluation' roles. This will not only enhance the evaluative capacity of Outreach teams and give them more 'voice' within such teams, but provide a transferable qualification into other evaluation roles, potentially leading to postgraduate research study.
The Launch of TRANSFORM-iN EDUCATION: Challenging the idea of an exclusive emphasis on children’s conformity within schools
In December 2018, CTLR and CIRCY hosted an event to launch TRANSFORM-iN EDUCATION. Led by Dr Rebecca Webb and Dr Perpetua Kirby and informed by their doctoral research, this initiative aims to generate conversations and activities between interested stakeholders in UK schools around the questions:
- How can we enable children to do more than study existing knowledge?
- What can be done to enable students and their teachers to creatively disrupt the ‘taken-for-granted’ to promote transformation in classrooms and schools?
The launch event brought together of a wide audience of teachers, researchers, grand/parents and children to listen to - and then join in with - conversations and activities about what might be done.
Invited speakers included Professor Saul Becker, former headteacher and education consultant, Marcelo Staricoff (author of The Joy of Not Knowing, a model for equipping children with life-long learning skills) and Mariam Ahmed Toor, an Education MA student at the University of Sussex, who gave a personal perspective of the ways in which she felt her own schooling had focussed too overtly on ‘certainty’.
Perpetua and Rebecca briefly introduced the subject of their forthcoming paper ‘Modelling Transformative Education’ which outlines three models of education: mastering knowledge; discovering knowledge; and not knowing. Crucially, they assert that the third model is the one that is currently least prevalent within classrooms and most deserving of attention.
Since the launch, Perpetua and Rebecca have been interviewed about this project by Sarah Gorrell on BBC Radio Sussex.
TiE Launch Event Photo Gallery
Critical Perspectives on Transitions Into, Through and Beyond Higher Education
On Monday 15 October 2018, CTLR co-hosted this conference with the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER). The one-day conference, held at Brighton's Jubilee Public Library, was attended by a diverse audience of around 60 delegates, including from research, teaching, widening participation and wide practitioner backgrounds. Conference participants came from Sussex, across the UK, and internationally including from Spain, Chile and Australia.
The Conference included two keynote presentations from Dr Sarah O’Shea, Associate Professor in Adult, Vocational and Higher Education, University of Woolongong, Australia on ‘Older and First: Navigating the transitions of older students who are the first in their family to attend university’; and Dr Richard Waller, Associate Professor in Sociology and Education, from The University of the West of England, UK, on ‘Critical Perspectives on Transitions into, through and beyond Higher Education: Learning from the paired peers project’.
Key emergent themes from discussion throughout the day included the ways in which the capitals that different students bring to University are valued, the perception of deficit as lying with students rather than institutions themselves, and the persistence yet often unacknowledged significance of class.
Much of the thinking behind the day was done by doctoral researchers Wendy Ashall, Yasser Kosbar and Rosa Marvell who led a thought-provoking question/discussion session after lunch designed to raise some of the more challenging questions.
Rosa Marvell:
"I felt part of a broader conversation about the more inclusive topography of Higher Education we would like to see which transcended the imposed boundaries between disciplines, sectors and geographies."
Yasser Kosbar:
"The idea of submitting an abstract and talking in public about my research at this early stage used to terrify me. This time, it was different. I felt confident to stand in public and share with others what I have learned so far."
Wendy Ashall:
"The opportunity it provided to learn from others working in similar areas, albeit in other sectors, made it clear to me that we would all benefit – in terms of research, policy and practice – from more regular cross-sector conversations."
The day received positive feedback from attendees, including the following submitted by Ruth Bowles, Academic Skills Consultant, Careers and Employability Centre, University of Sussex:
"I really enjoyed the event yesterday. Lots of ideas and stimulating discussions. I feel very inspired by all the interesting research that is being carried out."
'Transitions' Programme [PDF 460.16KB]
PRESENTATIONS
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Keynote 1 -
who are the first in their family
to attend university
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Keynote 2 - Learning from the 'Paired Peers' project
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Boys from the black country
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Constructions of identity beyond ‘BME’ for architecture students entering HE
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Equal practices
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Factors influencing the employability of non-traditional students
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Learning from autistic students' experiences in transition
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Neoliberal transitions
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: The role of transitions in the mental health and wellbeing of PGR students
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: The transition from teaching international to home students
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Threshold concepts in the discipline of writing studies
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Transitioning within and between doctoral spaces for writing
- CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES PRES: Transitions in prestigious education contexts
Literacy as Social Practice
This one day event was hosted in collaboration with British Association for Literacy in Development (BALID) on Monday 10 September 2018 at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, University of Sussex campus.
This event incorporated: a celebration of International Literacy Day; reflections on the seminal work on literacy undertaken by Professor Brian Street while at Sussex and its influence on the development of New Literacy Studies; and presentations highlighting its continuing importance to literacy education today.
Speakers included:
- Professor Anna Robinson-Pant: UNESCO Chair in Adult Literacy and Learning for Social Transformation, University of East Anglia
Exploring Brian Street's understandings of literacy: ANNA ROBINSON-PANT - Dr Julia Sutherland: Centre for Teaching and Learning Research, University of Sussex
Engaging teachers in literacy as social practice: JULIA SUTHERLAND - Dr Jo Westbrook: Centre for International Education, University of Sussex
Social literacy in international contexts: JO WESTBROOK - Professor John Pryor: Centre for International Education / Centre for Higher Eduaction and Equity Research, University of Sussex
Brian Street: PRYOR [PPTX 3.70MB] - Professor Maya Unnithan, Department of Anthropology
- Dr Katy Newell-Jones & Dr Juliet McCaffery: British Association for Literacy in Development
- Tara Furlong: Research and Practice in Adult Literacy
Literacy as social practice in different adult learning contexts: FURLONG / MCCAFFERY / NEWELL-JONES
