There is a growing emphasis within UK education policy on encouraging adults to gain higher level qualifications (level 4 and above) through participation in higher education. The Leitch Review of Skills (2006), for example, recommended that 40% of adults in the UK should be qualified to at least Level 4 by 2020, whilst an earlier government target aims to ensure 50% participation in higher education amongst under-30 years by 2010. Those adults whose current highest level of qualification is at Level 3 (the level of qualification which is usually the baseline for gaining entry to higher education in the UK) will increasingly, then, find themselves the target of government interventions in relation to meeting these goals, which relate in turn to broader concerns about widening participation in higher education amongst groups who are currently under-represented with the HE sector (Archer et al. 2003, Reay et al. 2005, Gorard et al. 2007). In order to gain an understanding of the likely success of meeting these goals, we argue that it is important a) to consider the characteristics and profile of ‘potentially recruitable’ adults, ie those currently qualified to Level 3, and b) their past educational experiences, and to position those experiences within the context of the policy regimes and social expectations which held sway when they progressed to level 3. Such a consideration also needs to bear in mind their reasons for acquiring Level 3 qualifications and which might also shed light on their potential interest and motivation in relation to continuing on to level 4. For example, an individual who may have initially left formal education at 16 in a policy and socio-economic period when that was not unusual might have progressed to Level 3 later in life to prove to themselves that they were capable of educational success, not because they had any desire to continue onwards into higher education. Whilst current government policies tend to emphasise the instrumental aspects of progression to level 4 - for example, in order to improve one’s employability, to increase one’s income - these do not necessarily align with individual’s own rationales for gaining qualifications. In this paper we will explore evidence relating to these themes drawn from a study, Non-participation in higher education: decision-making as an embedded social practice, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. The discussion will be organised in two main parts. In the first we will develop a qualitative analysis of the social, educational and employment characteristics of a purposive sample of adults (including young, mid-life and older adults) whose current highest qualification is level 3. This will be used to reveal patterns in the educational and career trajectories of this under-researched and relatively hidden population group. In the second, we will present evidence which illustrates the socially embedded and historically contextualised nature of individual decision-making (Giele and Elder, 1998) and which is based on in-depth interviews with 16 ‘entry point’ individuals (all with level 3 as their current highest level of qualification) and with nominated members of their social networks (friends, peers and family). The discussion will explore to what extent future participation in HE might be conceived as ‘within the bounds’ of the possible for those currently not participating in HE despite having relevant entry level qualifications, and the implications of our findings for policies designed to widen participation in HE.

A qualitative analysis of the social, educational and employment characteristics of a purposive sample of adults (whose highest qualification is level 3 - the level required for entry to Higher Education) Analysis of in depth interview data with adults qualified to level 3 in 16 social networks comprising family, peers and friends

The discussion will explore to what extent future participation in HE might be conceived as ‘within the bounds’ of the possible for those currently not participating in HE despite having relevant entry level qualifications, and the implications of our findings for policies designed to widen participation in HE.