Session Information
23 SES 02A, Politics of Equity
Paper Session
Time:
2008-09-10
11:15-12:45
Room:
B1 116
Chair:
Ingolfur Asgeir Johannesson
Contribution
In 2002 the UK government set the target of increasing participation in higher education to 50 per cent of 18 to 30 year olds by 2010, with a particular focus on young people from under-represented groups. This policy was strongly motivated by the concerns over existing class inequality and specifically, the overrepresentation of ‘middle-class’ students within higher education (Reay, et al, 2001), and also the need to raise skill levels relative to global competitors. In order to increase participation in higher education, a range of policies and initiatives have since been introduced in schools, aiming to raise awareness about and widen participation in higher education. However, the debate over the widening participation agenda within higher education is an issue that concerns most of Europe.
This paper thoroughly welcomes any attempt to reduce social disadvantage, but seeks to take a more critical look at the government agenda and its potential impact on both pupils and students. These initiatives are seen as routes to enhancing and encouraging upward social mobility and within the UK system, reflect Labour’s commitment to a meritocratic conception of social justice, and a concomitant emphasis on personal responsibility as the key to social inclusion. Hence, though averredly communitarian, this vision of social inclusion carries problematic implications in terms of social integration and moral regulation. It is argued here that the move towards widening participation cannot be considered in isolation, as it coincides directly with government moves towards enhancing individual responsibility and requiring active participation on the part of its citizens through the increasing emphasis on individuals to be self-governing, enterprising and engage with ‘lifelong learning’.
A critical analysis of government agenda on widening participation is informed by notions of ‘governmentality’ and specifically in the way that non-participation is problematised.
Method
The methodological basis for this research borrows from both a Foucaultian and an individual analysis, focused on specific texts. Thus whilst relating the widening particpation agenda back to Foucaultian theories of late modern governmentality and discourse, it also incorporates a more qualitative discourse analytic approach.
Expected Outcomes
The shift towards widening participation has led towards the re-conceptualisation of social inclusion based on the adoption of certain values and identities as much as social status. The shift also undermines the significance of pre-existing structural barriers to participation in higher education, cultural capital and is underpinned by a 'deficit model' (Jones and Thomas 2005:617).
References
Foucault, M. (1988). ‘Technologies of the Self’. Martin (ed.), Technologies of the Self. London: Tavistock Jones, R and Thomas, L (2005) 2003 UK Government Higher Education White paper: a critical assessment of its implications for the access and widening participation agenda, in Journal of Education Policy Vol 20, No 5. pp 615-630 Reay, D., Davies, J., David, M. & Ball, S. J. (2001b) Choices of degree or degrees of choice? Class, ‘race’ and the higher education choice process, Sociology, 35, pp. 855–874.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.