The Place of Widening Participation

This chapter reports on a small-scale study to explore the learning careers of mature, non-traditionally qualified students. It reveals how they (re)engage with learning, and their transition from studying on a bespoke access course delivered in a university to study at undergraduate level. The study highlights the barriers and challenges students overcome and identifies their motivations and dispositions to learning. Whilst the majority of access courses are delivered in further education colleges, a small number of universities deliver bespoke access courses. These courses, which are usually designed to facilitate progression within the institution, enable students to experience teaching and learning in a university setting, facilities and support services.
The research adopted a qualitative approach, using interviews as the main method of data collection. Emerging findings reveal that (re)engaging with education and the transition from ‘access student’ to undergraduate student is not seamless and without challenges. Such students ‘often undergo a unique and profound experience’ (Burnell, 2015:6) as they enter this new space which provides an opportunity to create new social and class-related identities. The transition to undergraduate study is easier when learners are familiar with the routines and rhythms of higher education in general and the facilities and services of a particular institution.