The School of Education and Lifelong Learning’s Professor Gill Crozier is leading a major research project by academics at Sunderland and Cambridge universities into the experiences of working class students in higher education.
The work, which is part of a £30m research programme, could help universities better understand issues such as progression and retention, as well as create a greater awareness of how to improve provision and support for students from backgrounds where there is little tradition of higher education. The study could offer new insights by addressing a largely under-researched area. While much has been established regarding the choice of a university among working-class students, little research has been conducted into the actual time spent within these institutions.
The research will examine the learning, social and cultural experiences of working class students in four types of education institution, in different parts of England.
Prof Crozier says: “We want to find out whether students have to adapt and change in order to make good progress. For example in the ‘elite’ university we want to find out if students have to change any aspect of their identity. In a new university, where there’s already a significant amount of working class students, they might feel more at ease, but we want to know out if this has a positive or negative effect on them as learners.“
The £168,000 project is part of phase four of the national £30m Teaching and Learning Research Program, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England through the Economic and Social Research Council.
