The ‘imagined to the reimagined’ revival of learning in higher education

In 1998 education was declared ‘the best economic policy that we have’ (Department for Education and Employment [DfEE], 1998) highlighting links between educational attainment and potential earning power. It was from this point on that widening participation became an integral part of what education policy was about. Importantly, alongside this notion comes the assumption that economic, social, political, and cultural injustices can be solved through education and up skilling. Offered as an opinion piece, for work that is on-going and expanding, this paper critiques the use of the most salient educational economic driver of the last 20-25 years, namely widening participation. This paper argues that the consequences of widening participation in higher education have been concealment of continuing social divisions, largely because they have been underpinned by neo-liberal rhetoric. It suggests counter-action through transgressive learning and teaching practice towards a consequence of remaking higher education that works more effectively for the disenfranchised and marginalised.

Archer, L. (2007). Diversity, equality and higher education: a critical reflection on the ab/uses of equity discourse within widening participation, Teaching in Higher Education, 12(5-6), 635-653.

Aspin, D. N., Chapman, J. D., Evans, K. & Bagnall, R. (eds.), (2012). Second International Handbook of Lifelong Learning Part 1. Heidelberg: Springer.

Bowers-Brown, T. (2006). Widening Participation in Higher Education Amongst Students from Disadvantaged Socio-Economic Groups. Tertiary Education and Management, 12(1), 59-74.

Brown, W. (2008). Regulating aversion: Tolerance in the age of identity and empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Burke, P. J. (2002). Accessing education: Effectively widening participation. Staffordshire: Trentham Books Ltd.

Burke, P. J. & Jackson, S. B. (2007). Reconceptualising Lifelong Learning: Feminist Interventions. New York: Routledge.

Chevalier, A. & Lindley, J. (2009). Overeducation and the skills of UK graduates. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 172(2), 307-337.

Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), (1998). The learning age: A renaissance for a new Britain. Retrieved 13 January, 2016, from http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/greenpaper/

Fuller, A, Heath, S. and Johnston, B. (2013). Rethinking widening participation in higher education: The role of social networks. London: Routledge.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

hooks, b. (2010). Teaching critical thinking: Practice wisdom. New York: Routledge.

Leathwood, C. & Francis, B. (2006). Gender and lifelong learning: Critical feminist engagements. Oxon: Routledge.

Leathwood, C. & Read, B. (2009). Gender and the changing face of higher education. Berkshire: Open University Press.

Leggett, W. (2009). Prince of Modernisers: Gramsci, New Labour and the Meaning of Modernity. In M. McNally & J. Schwarzmantel, Gramsci and Global Politics: Hegemony and Resistance (pp. 137-155). London: Routledge.

Mavelli, L. (2014). Widening participation, the instrumentalization of knowledge and the reproduction of inequality, Teaching in Higher Education, 19(8), 860-69, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2014.934352.

McMahon, B. & Portelli, J. P. (2009). Engagement for what? Beyond popular discourses of student engagement. Leadership and Policy in Schools. 3(1), 59-57.

Mojab, S. (2006). War and Diaspora and Lifelong Learning Contexts for Immigrant Women. In C. Leathwood & B. Francis, Gender and Lifelong Learning: Critical Feminist Engagements. Oxon: Routledge.

Naidoo, R., Shankar, A. & Veer, E. (2011). The consumerist turn in higher education: Policy aspirations and outcomes. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(11-12), 1142-62, DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.2011.609135.

Osborne, M. (2003). A European comparative analysis of policy and practice in widening participation to lifelong learning. European Journal of Education, 38(1), 5-24.

Reay, D., David, M. E., & Ball, S. (2005). Degrees of choice: Class, race, gender and higher education. Staffordshire: Trentham Books Ltd.

Tholen, G., Brown, P., Power, S. & Allouch, A. (2013). The role of networks and connections in educational elites labour market entrance. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. 34, 142-154.

Thomas, L. (2001). Widening participation in post-compulsory education. London: Continuum.

Waller, R., Holford, J., Jarvis, P., Milana, M. & Webb, S. (2014). Widening participation, social mobility and the role of universities in a globalized world. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33(6), 701-704, DOI: 10.1080/02601370.2014.972082.

Watts, M. (2006). Disproportionate sacrifices: Ricoeur's theories of justice and the widening participation agenda for higher education in the UK. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 40:3. 301–312, DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2006.00525.x.

Wilkins, A. & Burke, P. J. (2015). Widening participation in higher education: the role of professional and social class identities and commitments. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36:3, 434-452, DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2013.829742.