By 2015, all young people must participate in some form of education and training until they are aged 18. This review discusses the challenges and opportunities involved if vocational education and training is to contribute to this raising of the participation age. We argue that as well as ensuring that young people who have made a full-time…

Widening participation within higher education and increasing social mobility have been high on the agendas of former and current governments. This paper examines the admissions procedure of a Foundation degree in Early Years programme using Bourdieu's concept of capital as a vehicle for analysis. During the process of an admissions…

Higher education is increasingly available to a wider range of people, not just recent school-leavers with established academic ability. One way of encouraging this trend is to provide credit transfer into higher education (HE) qualifications for people's prior vocational education and training (VET) studies. However, it is generally…

This paper extends the work of Gamble, who followed Marx in seeing a reconstitution of the reserve army of labour as a key function of capitalist crisis, but it suggests a wider class reformation that includes what can be called the middle-working/working-middle class. Education and training to all levels are deeply implicated in this class…

Higher education has always aspired to be seen to encourage open access to all types of learner including those with vocational qualifications. The reality of participation rates for such vocational learners is low (about 18%), however the reasons for such levels appear to mainly be reflected in perceptive issues amongst employers, learners and…

This project aimed to better understand vocational student progression into higher education. Following an initial literature review a large dataset was purchased from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (covering the years 2002/3 to 2006/7 and 2007/8). This allowed for a quantitative analysis to take place which compared and contrasted the…

In an era of financial constraint, this article gives attention to the role of "community college global counterparts" by comparing colleges of further education in the UK with community colleges in the US. It points to similarities between the two and the ways in which budgetary constraints impact on them--and, in particular, on access…

This paper seeks to illuminate the crucial and contradictory features of Higher Education (HE) in Further Education (FE) student experience as seen through students' perceptions. The empirical study of Foundation degree (Fd) students studying in FE Colleges using a critical hermeneutics approach, raises a contrasting perspective on the HE in FE…

This paper identifies the need to think differently about educational partnerships in a changing and turbulent post-compulsory policy environment in England. The policy and institutional contexts in which universities and colleges currently operate seem to be fuelling performativity at the expense of educational values. There appears to be a sharp…

Set in the context of a falling budget, the purpose of this study was to investigate how the impact of Aimhigher funds could be maximised in Herefordshire and Worcestershire schools. A case study approach using phenomenological methods was used to examine three key areas: How are funds distributed and utilised by schools and colleges? How are…

The global discourse of human capital theory has long dominated educational development commitments. There is a huge body of literature which critiques how this discourse and associated global trends and targets have created a standardised blueprint for how education in low income countries should be carried out. While most attention has been…

Within the context of work-based learning, this article reviews the available evidence that supports the assumptions behind, and the claims made for the practice of accrediting prior experiential learning. Many of the claims made for accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) were found not to have been substantiated and some of the…

Using data from in-depth individual interviews, this article discusses the educational experiences and ambitions of two young working-class full-time female students. The two studies are derived from a wider investigation into student post-16 educational experiences and decision-making, based on a sample of students and staff of an Advanced…

This paper presents some results from a review of evidence on the barriers to participation in further and higher education in England, organised around the life-course of an individual from birth to the decision to participate in FE/HE at the traditional age. It is clear that inequalities between socioeconomic groups appear early in life and…

This paper examines the role of culture in the development of higher education institution (HEI) policy on widening participation. The study involved documentary research and interviews with senior and middle managers. It suggests that a culture of widening participation is often not embedded throughout institutions. Therefore, widening…