University Extravagance

New research could help improve the learning experience of students from backgrounds where there is little tradition of higher education.

Students from working-class backgrounds bring a complex set of social, cultural and learner issues to university and in turn are met with an array of new circumstances and expectations,

Diane Reay

A recent study by Professor Diane Reay from the Faculty of Education and Professor Gill Crozier from the University of Sunderland has reached its conclusion after two years exploring working-class students’ experiences of higher education. Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) through the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the study forms part of a wider £30 million Teaching and Learning Research Programme.

"Students from working-class backgrounds bring a complex set of social, cultural and learner issues to university and in turn are met with an array of new circumstances and expectations," said Professor Reay. The aim of this study was to examine these issues in the context of four different higher education institutions: an ‘elite’ university, a traditional ‘red-brick’ institution, a post-1992 university (formerly designated a polytechnic), and a further education college.

The research demonstrated the resilience and commitment that working-class students employ in order to ‘get in and stay in’. However, it also showed that the experiences of students attending the four institutions were structurally unequal, with the level of their participation depending on competing demands above the general requirements of their course (such as needing to take paid employment to support themselves or their families). How the institutions supported and responded to these issues determined whether the students’ disposition to learning was enhanced or undermined.

"Our findings present insights into the need for higher education institutions to be mindful of the diversity of needs amongst the student body,’ said Professor Reay. ’Taking these factors into consideration should address inequalities of provision and support that currently impact on their diverse student intakes, and enable all students to be effective learners."

For more information, please contact Professor Diane Reay (dr311@cam.ac.uk).


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