Postgraduate Researcher, Department of Education and Social Justice
Current Status
PhD (part-time) writing up
Research Topic
Widening Participation Policy, Student Support and the Challenge for Higher Education
Research Summary
My doctoral thesis examines a widening participation policy in higher education and considers the academic support experienced by the student body. Based on action research involving some 42 participants – students, student support practitioners and academics, the research represents a mix of Russell group and Post-1992 higher education institutions. My research findings to date, would suggest a mismatch of expectations, with higher education institutions anticipating students to be well prepared for the rigours of academic life and students finding support patchy, not easily accessible, untimely and poorly resourced. One way of addressing these tensions is to consider a holistic model of on-going student support.
Research Interests
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Student support
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Models of student support
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Student life cycle
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Widening participation policy
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History of Widening participation
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Holistic models/approaches to student support
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Academic skills
Research Supervisors
Professor Ian Grosvenor and Dr Paul Warmington
Funding
Birmingham City University and self-funded
Membership of Research and Professional Organisations
Member of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)
Publications
Widening Participation and the role of the student support tutor (2006) in Towards a Global Understanding of Lifelong Learning: making a difference FACE
Any other information
University of Birmingham - Research Poster Conference, Birmingham Brief Competition prize winner – June 2010