Ellis, K. orcid.org/0000-0003-4185-1912 and Johnston, C. (2024) Resilience, higher education and widening participation: generating change for care experienced students. Higher Education, 87 (1). pp. 1-16. ISSN 0018-1560
Abstract
Over 80,000 children in England were being looked after in Local Authority care in 2020 and a further 40,000 people were defined as ‘care leavers’. Although a significant body of research highlights the prevalence of educational low achievement in the care experienced population, official government figures show that around 13% of care experienced pupils progress to higher education by the age of 19. In a climate of ‘widening participation’ in which universities encourage inclusion and student diversity, this research invited students with a care background to discuss their experiences of settling into university life. Data was collected using in-depth interviews with 42 students from four universities and an online survey completed by 192 students in 29 universities in England and Wales. Findings revealed that although care experienced students overcome significant challenges to progress to higher education, over half considered dropping out. Others reported feeling isolated and inadequately supported, both financially and pastorally, by their institution. This paper uses a lens of resilience to consider the environmental factors that impact upon student transitions, and concludes that universities must act to balance inequalities in order to appropriately welcome and appreciate care leavers for the skills and experience they bring.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Care leavers; Higher education; Transition; Support; Resilience |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number LEVERHULME TRUST (THE) ECF-2015-614 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 20 Dec 2022 15:11 |
Last Modified: | 19 Feb 2024 16:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s10734-022-00985-8 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:194562 |