Widening Participation: Philosophy, policy and practice

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Widening ParticipationPhilosophy, policy and
practice

• Kenton Lewis Head of Widening Participation
  Student Recruitment

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Overview

• Widening Participation the basics
• Implications of WP
• Your views/ideas/opinions
• Equality or Equity or both?
• Alternative approach to WP thinking
• Adjusted Criteria at St Georges
• Conclusions and questions

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Widening Participation

• Widening participation addresses the large
  discrepancies in the take-up of higher education
  opportunities between different social groups.
  Under-representation is closely connected with
  broader issues of equity and social inclusion, so
  we are concerned with ensuring equality of
  opportunity for disabled students, mature
  students, women and men, and all ethnic groups.
  (HEFCE)

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Widening Participation

• Aspiration, facilitation, retention
• Strong New Labour connection, but existed long
  before
• Open University, post-92 Universities
• Selecting and recruiting institutions
• Current interpretation of WP linked to targets,
  Performance Indicators (PIs) and funding
• Office for Fair Access (OFFA or Offtoff)

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Implications of WP

• Arguments for and against A quick activity
• Put a list together for your side of the
  argument Think at different scales Individual
  / Institutional / Community / Society

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Implications of WP
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Academic thinking about WP

• Equality or equity? Treating unequal people
  equally is just as unfair as treating equal
  people unequally
• The Govt. position follows a Deficit Model
• Academic research looks at identity and culture
• Sociological models students are different
  not lacking

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Academic thinking about WP

• The culture of a University can be (is) a
  barrier
• Im not a University type no family history
  of HE
• Identify with ? comfortable ? likely to succeed
  not recognise ? feel alien ? less likely to
  succeed
• Successful WP needs change in HE culture leads
  to the question What is a Uni for?
• Cant occur overnight, but change can happen

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Adjusted Entry Criteria

• Treating unequal people equally is just as
  unfair as treating equal people unequally
• In order to measure potential we look at how
  far you have had to travel
• We recognise performance in relation to your
  peer group, NOT the national average

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Adjusted Entry Criteria

• students from independent schools appear to
  consistently do less well than students from
  other schools and colleges, when compared on a
  like-for-like basis For the most highly
  selective higher education institutions we find
  that students from LEA schools do consistently
  better than similar students from independent
  schools (HEFCE)

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Adjusted Entry Criteria

• Traditionally assessed on actual and predicted
  academic performance, then assessed at interview
• Guaranteed interview if AABb (AAAb from 2008)
• OR if BBCb AND 60 higher than school average
• School average data published online by Govt.
• All applicants need to perform well in a blind
  interview

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Methodology

• Data collected from existing records held by the
  Institution (cohorts 2003/4 2006/7)
• Anonymised database created and analysed in
  SPSS
• Looking at examination performance
• Three distinct groups of students-

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Methodology

• Students with lower grades from eligible
  school n34
• Students with higher grades from eligible
  school n87
• Students with higher grades from non-eligible
  school n387

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What did we find?

• Adjusted criteria students perform just as
  well on the course as those coming in with higher
  grades (no statistically significant difference)
• A larger proportion of adjusted criteria
  students fail on their first attempt at
  examination (though not statistically
  significant)
• This scheme has widened participation (in terms
  of state education and ethnicity)

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Mean scores
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Failure at first attempt
n1
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Research Conclusions

• All AC students are from state funded education
• Higher proportion of AC students are from ethnic
  minority groups
• Students with lower grades from weaker schools
  perform just as well as students with higher
  grades from stronger schools

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Presentation Conclusions

• There is a lot of good work going on, but be
  watchful of work that exclusively follows a
  deficit model approach to WP
• Recognise the importance of culture and
  identity (of the individual AND of the Uni)
• WP is necessary, justifiable and right if we
  value an inclusive society, where those with
  talent can progress irrespective of their
  socio-economic status

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Any questions?
klewis_at_sgul.ac.uk