Dr Dan Herbert

Dr Nick Rowbottom

Reflections on an interview study

of ‘widening participation’

students

Motivation

– Most discussion – academic and political -

centres on access and/or achievement

– How do these students experience

University?

The Sample

UG Accounting and Finance at Birmingham

Access to Birmingham (A2B)

Normal factors – Family history and income

– School

– ‘Looked after’

Contextual offer after A2B module (ABB ‘A’ level) – Not hugely generous

Bursary if they meet ‘normal’ offer

The study

Semi-structured interviews

28 across all years and recent graduates

NVIVO analysis of transcripts

Core findings

Ability

Behaviours

Identity

Ability

Getting a place isn’t enough;

“I guess, sort of like when people were like, “So

what did you get in your A-levels?” I didn’t really

want to say, because they were a bit like…

because [it is] a good uni, and people that come

here have really good grades, so it was a bit

like you don’t really want to openly admit it.”

Behaviours

And do you know, I think also people who live

out, when the day finishes for uni, they tend to

stick around a bit more and socialise, and I

think… I don’t know, this could be a pro and a

con, actually, but I just tend to… people who

live at home, they just… tend to go straight

home. Which is good, because you tend to

spend more time getting work done, but then

bad because you don’t socialise as much.

Identity

To be honest, I’m never really conscious of it,

but when I do… when the subject does come

up and I do actually state that I’m [a widening

participation student], then I do feel a bit… okay

maybe this isn’t the best choice of word, but

inferior in a way…I know that’s just… at the

same time I know that that’s not true, but you

can’t help but just feel like a bit like.

But that isn’t the whole story

‘NORMAL’

A2B

INTERNATIONAL

How we group students

Other (sub)groupings

WIDENING PARTICIPATION

Live at

home

BTEC

‘Normal’ A level

Live at Home

BTEC

A2B

Not to scale

A2B, living at

home with BTEC

qualification

A2B who made

‘normal’ A level offer

INTERNATIONAL

A level/IB

UK School Low IELTS

Foundation

Programme

So what?

Study showed simplistic grouping

Experience is not dependent on entry route alone

Student needs and experience are complex

My concern:

With large numbers how can we know

our students?

If we don’t know our students all is lost.