Baker, Z. orcid.org/0000-0002-4561-5637 (2024) Facing the cliff-edge: care-experienced graduates’ access to and progression through taught postgraduate study in the United Kingdom. Higher Education, 88 (6). pp. 2339-2356. ISSN 0018-1560
Abstract
Over the past 15 years, a growing body of research into the issues care-experienced people face when accessing higher education (HE) has led to welcome support developments to attempt to redress inequalities. However, such support ceases upon completion of undergraduate degrees. Without continued support, constraints in accessing taught postgraduate study can lead to limitations in future careers, earning potential, and future stability for care-experienced people. Until now, there have been no insights into why care-experienced people wish to study at the postgraduate level, as well as whether and how they may be constrained or enabled by their care backgrounds when doing so. Using data from a qualitative longitudinal study of care-experienced graduates’ transitions out of HE, the paper illustrates how this ‘undergraduate cliff edge’ in support constrains the feasibility of progressing into and through taught postgraduate studies. The absence of often taken-for-granted support, such as a family home, means that entering postgraduate studies and facing this cliff edge is risky and perpetuates the sense of instability felt in childhood. The paper concludes by proposing recommendations for policy and practice to enable the creation of equitable opportunities to reduce risk for this group to comfortably study at the postgraduate level.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. 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-experience; Higher education; Postgraduate; Widening access; United Kingdom |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Education |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2025 11:05 |
Last Modified: | 31 Jan 2025 11:05 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s10734-024-01219-9 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:222473 |