Adult Learners Access to Third Level Education Research
Barriers to Adult Participation for Non-traditional learners
There are numerous and myriad barriers to 3rd-level education, all of which are well-documented. Several initiatives taking place locally indicate a commitment to increasing participation at third level. Much of these responses come from Community Education, Further Education College, and Third Level colleges. However, despite these initiatives research indicates that the number of adults accessing education from lower socio-economic backgrounds remains low.
The research is funded under the auspices of the Strategic Innovation Fund, phase 2 and is one of four strands of the ‘Connections Project’ at UCC. The initiative for the research currently being undertaken through the Connections Project arose out of concerns to improve access and participation, particularly for adult non-traditional learners and address why the benefits of access initiatives are currently failing to reach adult non traditional learners coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds. A core rationale of the research is to highlight the complex and multi-dimensional barriers that contribute to unequal access and outcomes for vulnerable and marginalised groups.
A number of issues are being addressed through the research. Firstly, from a theoretical perspective, the research highlights the need to move beyond a ‘deficit model of disadvantage’ and move towards more integrated and flexible approaches to learning. Secondly the research highlights the need to address educational inequality through a framework that challenges current understandings of inequality. This part of the research is conducted through the cooperation and participation of key organisations and agencies involved in the provision of education. Thirdly, the research will address the need to recognise the complexities and range of supports required to tackle educational inequality through recording the experience of adult learners at different levels of the education spectrum. And finally the research will aim to publish a final report outlining the findings and recommendations of the research arising form interactive consultation with education providers at all levels.
To date the research has documented and recorded a number of interviews with key stakeholders and education providers. The emergent themes reveal that issues presenting reflect the view of studies and research previously undertaken on educational inequality but other themes are research specific. A number of emergent themes point to the need for alternative and more flexible approaches to models of learning, the need for greater collaboration across the sector, the need for more widespread research on data relating to socio-economic disadvantage and the need to situate access in the context of the learner. The emergent findings to date were presented at a recent social policy conference in UCC: Boom to Bust: Social Policy in Challenging Times where the research was well received and prompted interesting discussion and debate.
The research adopts both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative approach draws on documented meetings with key stakeholders and education providers and focus groups with adult non-traditional learners while the quantitative data draws on Census data, deprivation indicators at local level, and a survey currently being undertaken at local level. This survey will incorporate the backgrounds of students accessing education at Further Education level and Third level at CIT and UCC. The rationale for the survey is to track student backgrounds and aim to identify trends in access that in turn will provide information to help inform future access policies and initiatives. The research is a work-in-progress which aims to present a finalised document in January 2010 incorporating the research findings and conclusions.
For further information on this research project please contact
Claire Dorrity: c.dorrity@ucc.ie
Nicola Maxwell: nicola.maxwell@cit.ie