Issues of structure, exclusion and "choice" mean that participation in HE is an inherently more risky, costly and uncertain exercise for working-class groups and there is a need to consider how educational cultures and practices themselves might create and perpetuate disadvantage. Active engagement in the teaching and learning process is more likely to occur when course content, tasks, activities, and vehicles for assessment systematically encourage and support meta-learning. The contention is illustrated with reference to the learning experiences of students in a course that sought to elicit and challenge taken-for-granted, often tacit, conceptions of self, work, education and the process of learning itself. The study suggests that attention to curriculum is central to the real achievement of widening access.