There is a wealth of research which examines educational transition at nearly all stages (Tobbell and O’Donnell 2007) and which suggests that an important aspect of successful participation in the new context is underpinned by identity shifts in interaction with institutional and wider social practices (Crossan, Field, Gallacher, and Merrill 2003). However, very little attention has, thus far, been given to transition to postgraduate study (Tobbell, O’Donnell & O’Neill, 2008). It may be that this reflects assumptions that postgraduate students represent an enabled group and as a result are competent in managing their own transitions (O’Donnell, Tobbell & O’Neill, in press). This research (sponsored by the Higher Education Authority, UK) sought to address this gap in the literature and explores the experiences and contexts of social science postgraduate students in five UK universities. The research is underpinned by a communities of practice framework (Lave and Wenger 1991, Wenger 1998) and as such acknowledges the inextricable link between environmental practices and individual participation. As such, an ethnographic methodology was employed which allowed the collection of data in the actual contexts of study in order that the practices which construct student participation could emerge. Further, the study acknowledged the importance of the student voice and through interviews, focus groups and email diaries followed students through their first year of study. A dominant theme which emerged from the data suggested that postgraduate students, in common with transitioning students at other educational stages, are involved in constant negotiation and renegotiation of learning and social identities. The data indicate that many postgraduate students inhabit complex and challenging social networks, characterized by Lave (1997) as ‘the learning curriculum’(p27), which make many demands on them and which intersect, inevitably, with the business of learning. The identity shifts necessary for full participation in the postgraduate community are examined in the context of the institutionally imposed practices, many of which seem to represent difficult hurdles for students. The notion of postgraduates as independent learners, prevalent in all environments studied, presented particular problems for many students in that success, conceptualised here in the form of participation in the community of practice, demands self-reliance. We discuss these findings in light of institutional practices and approaches to pedagogy and argue for a more flexible environment for postgraduate students from the application process through to teaching and learning strategies. Such flexibility, we contend, would assist students in negotiating the quotidian demands of adult lives and the intellectual demands of university learning.

Ethnographic methodology including: observation interview email diaries focus groups document analysis

Postgraduate students, in common with other transitioning students, must negotiate participation in the new learning environment, which is not necessarily facilitated by previous undergraduate study. The complexity of postgraduate student lives make such negotiation a particularly challenging and such challenges may be exacerbated by inflexible institutional practices. More flexible institutional contexts and practices are discussed.