Widening Participation In Post-Compulsory Education

Widening Participation In Post-Compulsory Education

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the help and support of a number of people without whom this book would not have been possible. First, I would like to thank Professor Christine King, Vice-chancellor of Staffordshire University, and Professor David Jary, formerly Dean of the Graduate School, for initiating the Institute for Access Studies and for providing me with the opportunity to work in this field. Second, I would like to thank Jan Thomas for assisting with the typing, and Peter Thomas, Robert Jones and Kim Slack for reading and commenting on my manuscript, without whose guidance this would be a far less eloquent read. I would also like to thank everybody who has assisted with, or participated in, the research that informs much of this book. Finally, I would like to thank Anthony Haynes of Continuum for encouraging me throughout the process of writing.

This book is written at a time when widening participation in post- compulsory education seems to be undergoing something of a renaissance. It is therefore necessary to seize this opportunity to ensure that the nature of post-16 learning opportunities is radically changed to overcome elitism and exclusion. Similar sentiments are shared by others, including for example Dick Taylor (2000) who calls for the development of a 'transformed higher education system emerging from the concepts and practices of continuing education and lifelong learning' (p. 14; see also Watson and Taylor, 1998).
I am not claiming that this book should serve as a blueprint for change. This is, for me, primarily because a single, detailed agenda for reform cannot hope to meet the diverse needs of a broader constituency of learners. Such groups must be involved in the processes of change. Rather, this book has three primary aims: first, to examine some of the reasons underpinning the renewed interest in access, widening participation and lifelong learning; second, to categorize and explore the barriers to wider participation in formal learning by so-called 'non-traditional' students; and third, to promote a strategic approach to widening participation that involves potential students in addressing the various barriers to access and progression. This will promote genuine institutional and social change.

Liz Thomas