Research in Post-Compulsory Education | VOL. 26
Read
Enabling equality of access in higher education for underrepresented groups: a realist ‘small step’ approach to evaluating widening participation
Abstract
ABSTRACT This article presents the evaluation of a small-scale widening participation intervention delivered by a Post-92 university to further education students traditionally underrepresented in higher education. The intervention aimed to provide high quality information, advice and guidance about higher education opportunities and benefits through four workshops, so that participants could increase their confidence and skills and make informed decisions about their future.A realist small steps approach to evaluation was applied to explore the effectiveness of the intervention and why it was successful. Activity based focus groups were employed to address the research questions into how participants acquired and internalised knowledge about higher education and how this led to change or action. The evaluation found that the effectiveness of the intervention was limited because of poor attendance at the workshops. It was also found to be more beneficial to students who were pursuing a higher education pathway, as they highly valued the access to ‘hot’ knowledge the programme provided. However, for some participants, decisions were restricted because of financial constraints. An updated theory of change is presented that includes new and updated enablers that will make the intervention more effective in the future.
Round-ups are the summaries of handpicked papers around trending topics published every week. These would enable you to scan through a collection of papers and decide if the paper is relevant to you before actually investing time into reading it.
Climate change Research Articles published between May 09, 2022 to May 15, 2022
Introduction: Climate change is a pervasive threat to global biodiversity and is expected to have profound effects on the resilience and abundance of ...
Read MoreClimate change Research Articles published between May 02, 2022 to May 08, 2022
We studied the fungal DNA present in a lake sediment core obtained from Trinity Peninsula, Hope Bay, north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula, using metabarc...
Read MoreClimate change Research Articles published between Apr 25, 2022 to May 01, 2022
Introduction: Climate change and flooding events in South Ontario Climate change is altering climate patterns and adding pressure to climate systems a...
Read MoreClimate change Research Articles published between Apr 18, 2022 to Apr 24, 2022
Introduction: Climate change triggers stark effects on species geographic ranges, leading to range shifts and disruptions in the functioning of ecosys...
Read MoreGood health Research Articles published between Apr 18, 2022 to Apr 24, 2022
This study reviews the contributions made by each article in the theme issue with reference to case study examples of contemporary corporate social re...
Read More