Higher Education Equity Literature Database

Context: Explores/ discusses enabling programs (specifically Foundation Studies at UniSA) as a "strategy that universities employ to engage students from traditionally underrepresented groups" (abstract) for widening participation to meet 20% Bradley review targets. Raises issue of overexploration of access (due to neoliberal focus on quality) into higher education at the expense of participation, engagement and success. Transition from Foundation Studies to undergraduate studies = 50-55% in 2012 (p.26). Two thirds = FiF (p.27). Had retention rate of 79% in 2012 (compared with national average of 50%) - p.33.
Aim: To explore realities of implementing widening participation policy (aka Bradley reviews and Transforming Australia's Future) through a case study of Foundation Studies.
Theoretical frame: Draws on work of Gidley et al.'s (2010) framework of social inclusion - different discourses of social inclusion: neoliberalism, social justice, human potential
Methodology: Case study
Findings: Authors claim Foundation Studies meets inclusion/ engagement needs of students by (p.26-:
- College staff being aware of student diversity
- Dedicated space on campus for learner identity development/ develop peer networks
- Students encouraged to build relationships with broader university services
- Providing "an authentic university experience" on city campus (p.27)
- College staff aim to get to know students; are highly accessible to students; organise and attend ECAs; model values such as "empathy, endeavour and tolerance" (p.28)
Challenges: Discusses issues that students with low proficiency in Academic English have (specifically NESB; compares lack of English test on enrolment with entry requirements for International students: "therefore it is reasonable to conclude that a proportion of NESB students are disadvantaged with basic levels of language proficiency, so that they have little chance of passing the Foundation Studies program, let alone gaining entrance into undergraduate studies" (p.29). Issues are not apparent until teaching starts. Foundation Studies does have ESL option, specifically designed for NESB students - but all NESB grouped together, no streaming possible, focus perhaps on 'literacy skills' or 'fundamental reading and writing tasks' (p.30). Students required to self-identify for support but not doing so led to frustration; therefore a Diagnostic Writing Exercise has been implemented and "Students found to have critically low English proficiency levels from the Diagnostic Writing Exercise have been advised to undertake English language bridging programs before enrolling in the Foundation Studies program" (p.30). Authors also discuss plagiarism and communication etiquette. In this context, authors make the argument that "minimal entry requirements for access... may encourage those with low English language proficiency to develop unrealistic expectations of undergraduate success" (p.32)
Core argument: Awareness of student diversity = "opens dialogue between students and teachers and actively informs teaching, resulting in inclusive practice" (p.28) = social justice view of social inclusion (Gidley et al. 2010)

Context: Changing job market (not-UK specific). Predictors of objective and subjective graduate employability during university-to-work transitions, with subjective indicators underexplored. Graduate employability = generally defined as the individuals capability to obtain and maintain employment (p.1276); objective predictors = (i.e. job offers, employment status and employment quality and subjective = perceived (abstract)
University-to-work transitions are challenging because they happen at a time when graduates make decisions about the most important things in life while not having much experience in doing so (p.1276)
Aim: To bring together three strands of inquiry in a novel way; to test three hypotheses:
¥ Hypothesis 1 (H1): Middle-class graduates will report more favourable objective and subjective employability upon graduation, in comparison to working-class graduates.
¥ Hypothesis 2 (H2): Graduates from old UK universities, with 2:1/1st class degrees and from professional degree subjects are more likely to report higher objective and perceived employability in comparison to those from new universities, with 2:2/lower classifications and from non-professional degree subjects.
¥ Hypothesis 3 (H3): Educational credentials will account for part of the variability in objective and subjective employability due to social backgroundÉ
¥ Hypothesis 4 (H4): CSM (career exploration, guidance seeking, networking, and work experience) will be positively related to objective and subjective employability.
¥ Hypothesis 5 (H5): CSM will account for part of the variability in objective and subjective employability due to educational background (p.1279)
Theoretical frame: Three contrasting conceptual frames (Holmes, 2013): position (social background; recognises credential inflation and how higher SES students use their resources to buy credentials/ enhance their position through attending more elite institutions or taking more elite courses), possession (of human capital, of possessing certain qualities like team work and problem solving but fuels a deficit framing that blames individuals for lacking employability), process (of career self-management; proactivity; quality of applications; networking, career exploration, work experience) the last category has received little empirical attention
Methodology: Quantitative; survey data from two cohorts of graduates who planned to start work straight after graduation (2009 and 2010) in the UK (n=293). See p.1280 for details of cohort and social background measurements etc.
Findings:
Social background had no impact on grad employability (H1); education background had a significant impact of employability quality, internal and external employability (H2 and H3).
Networking, environmental exploration and guidance seeking = correlate positively with various indicators of employability (H4)
CSM variables explain variance more than social or educational background (H5)
Findings support argument that career self-management has an incremental impact on graduate employability more than position/ human capital arguments. Being proactive = explains objective and subjective employability; more specifically, networking and guidance seeking are particularly impactful. Self-exploration and work experience = not significant
Limitation: social background was categorised according to parental occupation/ employment; authors argue that a future study might consider graduates own conception of social status
Core argument: Careers counsellors should encourage students to engage in proactive career self-management activities: this kind of support, particularly through networking and guidance seeking, is most beneficial for the more meaningful outcomes of university-to-work transitions: employment quality and perceived employability. Students/ graduates may be encouraged towards more interaction with professionals in their
field, for example, alumni (p.1287).

Context: Widening participation in South African higher education (students from 'disadvantaged educational backgrounds' in traditionally 'white' university); transitions, academic literacies, identities, which are all particularly challenging for "'black ' South African students from working-class communities who are not fully proficient in English, and who come from print-impoverished home backgrounds and schools which have not facilitated close, critical engagement with texts" (p.588)
Aim: To examine "how students position themselves in relation to their disciplines and by analysing how they position themselves in their writing" (p.589)
Theoretical frame: Post-structuralism/ post-colonial theory; Clark & Ivani_'s (1997) theory of writer identity (former selves to becoming selves) and authorial presence in texts
Methodology: Longitudinal case study (repeat individual interviews, focus groups, students' writing, students' reflections on writing)
Findings: Students had little experience of extended writing before starting their studies. The findings suggest that over time, they developed "a high degree of meta-awareness about their writing" (p.590).
Students' reflections suggest that they invested in their disciplines as they progressed through their studies, expressing "a growing allegiance to the values and culture of the discipline" (p.591); findings suggest that students also experienced an ontological expansion/ shift in their worldviews and values/ assumptions. This was not a linear process; rather, the authors write that the "students both absorbed and resisted the new discourses and inhabited multiple subject positions as they attempted to reconcile conflicting home and institutional discourse practices" (p.592). Students' shifting relationship with developing identities/ becoming selves = relationship and awareness of audience
Core argument: Authors note complex and nuanced components of transition related specifically to the development of authorial/ discipline-specific identities and positioning, which extend beyond the first semester/ year of university study. Consequently, they argue that universities "still have a long way to go in
terms of recognising and providing support for both the academic and affective dimensions of their transition and in terms of engaging critically with the effects of our own discourses" (p.595).

Context: Starts with 'representative anecdote' of Education tutor commenting that enabling students in her course 'got it' better than 'traditional' students. "Foundations courses must, then, go beyond any simple
notion of "training" for university study to incorporate a deeper socio-educational sense" (p.356). 'Getting it' = process of transition (p.357). Enabling programs should be: 1) goal directed ("defined quality of end point that is appropriate to the transition to the next level of education", p.358); 2) curriculum should be reflective of broader goals of program; 3) pedagogy should recognise role of active learner and complexities of learning in 3 domains. Developmental = "what does it mean to be "ready" for undergraduate study, and what assumptions can we make about entry into the enabling programme?" (p.359). Author acknowledges diverse student body and asserts 'developmental distance' can vary depending on student = not a level playing field (p.365).
Aim: To propose developmental framework for enabling program curricula and assessment regimes in terms of curriculum alignment and situational and developmental 'quality' = 'positioning the bar'
Theoretical base: Psychological. Brophy (1999) = congruence between outcomes, curricula and assessment (aka 'curriculum alignment') and Biggs & Collis' SOLO -Structure of Observed Learning Outcome - taxonomy (1982, 1989) = concrete symbolic- formal 1- formal 2 modality of thinking (see p.361)
Methodology: Essay
Discussion: 3 domains:
Developmental = "what does it mean to be "ready" for undergraduate study, and what assumptions can we make about entry into the enabling programme?" (p.359). Author acknowledges diverse student body and asserts 'developmental distance' can vary depending on student = not a level playing field (p.365). 'The bar' = "capacity to reason at the higher end of... concrete symbolic mode of reasoning" (p.372)
Curriculum: what kind of curriculum can facilitate transformations? According to Brophy, it needs to have intellectuality at its core, for structure and form of curriculum - so that the curriculum is site of profound intellectual change. Centrepiece = coherence "generated by the use of powerful and embracive ideas as the focal point of curriculum planning" (p.367). "Basic to good assessment is the recognition that meaning is multilayered" (p.369). Assessment regimes need to be carefully considered (see p.370-1) so that when assessment "recognises the possibility of different levels of constructive activity yielding qualitatively different
outcomes, certain inferences may then be drawn regarding the state of readiness of individual students (p.372).
Learner: learning involves journey from known to unknown (p.373) and involves risk (p.380). Learning happens at intersection of 3 domains =cognitive (real-time learning), metacognitive (intention and planning) and affective (self-judgement: self-concept, self-efficacy, self-esteem).

Context: Inherent structural inequalities of higher education within the UK educational system with a specific focus on higher education provision by 'dual' sector or 'hybrid' institutions. Bourdieu's work on concepts of field, habitus and capital inform the authors' analysis, which focuses on transitions; the authors identify and consider these transitions at three different, but interrelated levels: institutions in transition, transitions in institutions, and students' experience of transition. Article draws on the qualitative strand of the FurtherHigher Project - which uses qualitative and quantitative methods to 'investigate the changing shape and experience of higher education (HE) in England' - specifically the case study focused on East Heath College which implemented a formal separation of East Heath College into two separate organisations - one HE and one FE - in 2007.
Aim: To uncover how higher education in dual sector/hybrid institutions may be shaped, and also in how it will affect higher ed institutions moving forward.
Theoretical frame: 'Transition' works at different levels to shape and construct meanings and identities in higher education. Current higher ed system incorporates 'elite, mass and universal features all at the same time, with different parts of the system functioning in different ways, and serving different purposes' (121). 'Habitus' as a way of conceptualising institutional cultures and embodies structures in the wider field, but is 'also a process of mutual shaping and reshaping - an interplay of structure and agency, though always within the context of the power of the field' (121). Bourdieu and Passeron's theory that higher education system contributes to reproducing and legitimating the social structure and 'selects students according to a social classification which is implicit and reproduces them according to an academic classification' (121).
Findings: The division of FE and HE at East Heath College has had a negative effect on transitions within the institution. 'Communication between FE and HE tutors within the same subject area is limited: there is no formal facility such as a subject area group for sharing information' (125). 'East Heath College may be characterised as displaying two different cultures or habituses: one of FE study, and one of HE study' (126 which has ultimately resulted in students rarely progressing from FE to HE.
Core argument: Higher ed institutions are not just placed within the field of HE, but have to diligently and intentionally work to construct a place for themselves within the field, which more and more resembles a market. Senior managers of these institutions fail to align strategic positioning and operation with student expectation. Currently, transition creates further nuance for stratification and inequalities that are already in the system.

Context: UK HE. Examines emotions through twin lenses of transformation and transition. Emotion = mood and feelings (p.630). This paper focuses on positive emotions - cautioning against good-bad dichotomous emotions. Overview of literature on transition (p.632)
Aim:
Theoretical frame: Underpinned by positive psychology
Methodology: Mixed methods. Akin to 'appreciative inquiry'. Data collected from two 'new' universities (undergraduate students, cross-disciplinary). Quantitative survey (n=542 Year 1; 234 Year 2/3), qualitative focus groups. Analysis for survey = "simplistic exploratory analysis" (p.633); qualitative = "continuous, systematic and flexible" (p.633) to establish 'data terrain'
Findings:
Year 1 students = 'neophyte learners' = anticipated positive experiences related to learning new knowledge, studying at higher level, future career possibilities. 24% expressed pleasure at anticipation of future career and financial opportunities (p.634); 56% = positive about course content (new skills, in-depth knowledge); 66% = higher level learning = strongly connected to developing 'epistemological self' (see Barnett, 2007)
Year 2 = 'noticeable shift' = "ephemeral ' moments' of pleasure, associated with specific learning tasks or activities, and embedded within a social context" (p.635). Top emotional range related to rewards and praise (via feedback) + relief at handing in assignments; also pleasure = "derived from many pedagogic tasks variously associated with knowing, doing and getting" (p.635). Achievement highs = 'activating emotions' (see Pekrun, Goetz & Titz, 2002).
Success and pride = sustained emotional trajectories. Negative emotions (e.g. anxiety about submitting an assignment) = translate into achievement highs. Authors note their research "locates pleasure derived from engagement/interest as motivating, involving a desire to learn that in turn produces pleasure" (p.637)
Transition = ontological becoming = 'beginnings of ontological awareness' (p.639).
Authors offer 'positive affect transitional framework' (p.640)
Core argument: Emotions = "intricately linked to social relationships, involving other students, lecturers, friends and family" (p.638). Framework offered on p.640 = "open[s] up the possibilities for the proactive crafting of pedagogic initiatives that unite the whole-person feeling discourse (affect), thinking discourse (cognitive/epistemological self) and wider life-self ontological) discourse, and so ' bring into view' the emotions associated with potentially transformational experiences" (p.641)

Context: UK higher education context and employability agenda (which assumes future facing direction - see Clegg, 2009) - looks at extracurricular activity (ECA) through lens of possible selves. Authors argue such discourses and associated pedagogical strategies assume that students are able to imagine their futures. ECA = undefined set of activities that assume a student is funded, full-time and has time for leisure (p.232)
Aim: To explore whether students engage in ECA with future employability in mind
Theoretical frame: Possible selves literature, which had at the point of writing not explicitly been used to explore higher education. Possible selves "are representations of the self in the future, including those that are ideal and hoped for as well as those that one does not wish for" (p.233). The more developed a self is, the more = provides motivation (p,233). A person's biography and demographic profile can impact on their possible selves (and the clarity of those imaginaries) - see Reay et al.'s (2005) work on university 'choices' and other work on aspirations. Authors don't assume that a present tense stance is negative (noting conceptual work by Adam and Archer)
Methodology: Draws from larger mixed-methods study of diversity and value of ECA in relation to graduate outcomes. Data collection = survey and in-depth interviews with students from post-92 HEI (n=61). Study explored students self-defined ECAs, reasons for participation, value ascribed and perceptions of employers' valuing.
Findings: Clear differences in terms of dispositions towards participating in ECA, forms of valued ECA and perceptions. Clear difference also between students' perceptions of value and those of HEI. Three categorisations of orientations towards future and degree of clarity regarding the future:
1) well developed orientation with some 'highly elaborated' career-possible selves (34/61) = highly developed
Half = middle class, some students = changing career, most had already participated in range of ECA at school and in community and had used these experiences to gain access to university. Generally = high achieving goals (first class degree) and were now using ECA to help get a job post-degree: "Consequently,
their choice of ECA was specific, focused and linked specifically to developing the knowledge, skills and experience needed to be successful in a competitive labour market in a chosen field" (p.238). Generally quite single-minded.
2) strongly located in the present (20/61) = underdeveloped/ blocked
Six students = focused on being academically-successful students = time present (not beyond graduation) and these students engaged in ECA to support their academic pursuits and goals. These students also often chose not to engage in paid work = privileged position: "While oriented towards the present, it is clear that this group of students had high cultural capital and that the sorts of activities they were engaged could easily be rescripted in the future and aligned to possible selves after graduation" (p.240). Other present tense students = enjoying their time as students and generally had undeveloped career aspirations/ long-term goals. These students worked primarily to fund their present lifestyle. Seven (working class) students = only engaging in paid work = present survival strategy: "Their dominant temporality was in the present and participation was not designed to support a goal of a future possible self" (p.240). These students needed more support to develop envisaged self. Other group (4) = trapped in present time by caring responsibilities. These older women had partially developed future selves but faced structural and logistical barriers to realizing plans.
3) unified sense of past-present-future time (7/61) = developed
Core argument: Participation in ECA = multiple meanings, not just future employability. Participation in ECA= shaped by students' embodied capitals. Authors argue the findings "raises questions about ways the differential advantages of higher education for future employability are compounded by experiences in
higher education, including the possibility of being able to elaborate possible selves through participation in ECA" (p.243).

Context: Discusses PG study/ research - first level of context is financial = noting that although Coalition government (2011-2015) have to some extent protected research funding (compared with teaching funding), other sources of income have diminished due to GFC and austerity measures and distribution of research funding now tied to system of measurement (REF). Postgraduate Teaching (PGT) and Postgraduate Research (PGR) did not feature prominently in Browne Review (2010), despite postgraduate study featuring in its terms of reference. In context of increased UG fees, PG issues arguably got lost. PG issues discussed in terms of potential future lack of academics (if students are put off from PG study after accruing high UG debts).
Why does PG matter?: 1) many PG students in UK are international students = not necessarily producing domestic academics; 2) PG study supports economic growth - future postgraduate 'skills' shortages forecasted by leading figures such as James Dyson; 3) PG study supports/feeds 'cultural health' of nation; 4) PG level study contributes to professions (e.g. teaching); 5) "Fifth, there is a social justice and access argument for thinking about how to support postgraduate education. Thus, in addition to the overall supply issues identified above, there are major concerns about fairness, equity and opportunities for social mobility" (p.177). Higher proportional percentage of PG students is private school educated (see also Wakeling & Kyriacou, 2010).
Offers a typology of PG in UK (p.181): PGT, PGR and Postgraduate Professional (PGP)
Table 2: A typology of postgraduate provision (adapted from Higher Education Commission, 2012)

PG Taught PG Professional PG Research
Postgraduate diploma and Master's courses, extending an individual's knowledge or allowing them to convert to a new discipline Professional certificates and diplomas Research Master's - e.g. MRes: includes methods training and often used as a stepping point to a PhD; MPhil: sometimes used as a PhD exit point
Integrated Master's such as MEng PGCE (Initial Teacher Training) and similar licences to practice Traditional model PhD
Postgraduate modules, e.g. Open University courses
Vocational Master's courses - either as CPD or preparing individual for a particular profession 'New route' PhD - with larger taught elements and wider skills training
MBA Some professional doctorates - that count in REF (Research Excellence Framework)
Some professional doctorates - where required as licence to practice but not included in REF

Lack of consistent application processes and reporting of PG students makes it difficult to map and understand the field.
Discusses different funding options suggested by Higher Education Commission (group of parliamentarians, business leaders, education leaders)
Key point: More focus on funding options for PG students needed
Relevance to PGCW/ equity: Point 5 in 'Why does equity matter?'
Pedagogical intervention suggested? No
Points to future research agenda? Not really

This blog post is part of the Gonski Institute for Education’s open access annotated bibliography (OAAB) series, a project led by Dr Sally Baker. OAABs offer a snapshot of some of the available literature on a particular topic. The literature is curated by a collective of scholars who share an interest in equity in education. These resources are intended to be shared with the international community of researchers, students, educators and practitioners. The literature has been organised thematically according to patterns that have emerged from a deep and sustained engagement with the various fields.

This blog post is part of the Gonski Institute for Education’s open access annotated bibliography (OAAB) series, a project led by Dr Sally Baker. OAABs offer a snapshot of some of the available literature on a particular topic. The literature is curated by a collective of scholars who share an interest in equity in education. These resources are intended to be shared with the international community of researchers, students, educators and practitioners. The literature has been organised thematically according to patterns that have emerged from a deep and sustained engagement with the various fields.

Context: Set in context of Australian universities using recommendations from secondary schools to create early pathways into university as part of widening participation agenda (based on knowledge that low SES students = less likely to get high ATAR). Seeks to develop/set predictive validity of school recommendations. Notes a number of universities (in Aus/UK) that have similar 'alternative/early offer' entry programs. However, the "selection process of school-based recommendations can be opaque, and there is generally some discretion at both school and university level" (p.159). Authors argue: "The clearer the guidelines established by both school and university, the more transparent the scheme will be and the less susceptible to subjectivity or misuse. A feedback loop between school and university is also important to establish" (p.160).
Aim: To explore "whether the SALT scheme was effective at attracting disadvantaged students, how these students performed academically once at university, and how successful schools were in recommending academically capable students for the scheme" (p.158)
Theoretical frame:
Methodology: Focuses on 'Schools Access La Trobe' (SALT) scheme - provides nominated students with an offer prior to release of ATARs. 2011 SALT cohort evaluated (n=696); aka 696 offered early place but only 338 (49%) took up place through SALT scheme. Of 338, 63% = f; 31% = low SES; 56% = FiF. Average ATAR = 69.7 (compared with 70.8 overall population average). 57 students were rejected by La Trobe but entered university on basis of exceeding predicted ATAR
Findings:
School recommendations 'produce' successful students, but not based on reliable predictive validity of school nomination. Also, the challenges of combining academic requirements and school recommendations could add "an additional and unnecessary layer of selection for disadvantaged students" (abstract/p.157)
Significant differences between SALT schools in terms of grading/ nominating students = likely to result from ambiguity of guidelines
Students who are not predicted to succeed still perform relatively well if accepted into the university (p.166)
ATAR = better predictor of university academic achievement than school recommendations
Self-nomination for early access offer scheme = appears to be good predictor of future achievement
Core argument: School recommendations can be effective predictors if a familiar teacher is asked to nominate, rather than distant head/principal. Most disadvantaged students will need additional support/encouragement to nominate. Need to identify indicators away from school academic achievement that indicate future achievement (e.g. ECAs/ community or volunteer work). Some schools appear to be playing the game (better kudos for more offers/ enrolments): "The relationship between school ranking and academic achievement is further limited by some schools potentially being pragmatic rather than wholly objective when selecting their rankings" (p.167). More research needed on why students don't take up offers received.

Context: Explores the UPP program at UTAS from perception of past students (reflecting from current undergraduate studies). Argues that " High attrition rates and default measures of success (such as reports on numbers of students per unit, withdrawals, retention, and pass/fail rates), often eclipse the positive outcomes of enabling programs" (p.15)
Methodology: Qualitative: interviews/ focus groups. Students recruited on basis of having completed a core UPP writing unit the previous semester. 9 students participated
Findings: Enabling programs have " multi-layered benefits, influences and flow-on effects, which students carry into their degrees, benefiting other students and the university, as well as potentially influencing their families, friends, and communities" (abstract)
Major (expected) themes: development of academic skills, confidence and connections, and understanding the expectations and demands of the university culture. Unexpected findings = assuming leadership in new studies, changed attitudes towards other cultural backgrounds.
Academic skills: participants described having learnt 'academic skills', including essay writing, critical thinking, time management, oral communication and referencing.
Confidence: most participants noted confidence in skills and were 'ahead of the ball' (participant). Differences in relational positioning evident (one participant noted 'kids struggled a lot with essay writing', while another noted that 'some of the young ones are really switched on' - p.21).
Connections: participants comfortable asking for help from peers to avoid isolation and for emotional support
Leadership: prior experience in UPP positioned some students as more knowledgeable than newly starting peers. "This theme of leadership or peer mentorship could be viewed as a 'positive spin-off' or 'value-adding' for the university" (p.24)
Multicultural awareness: students from rural areas unexpectedly talked about positives of mixing with more diverse cohort (including refugee students) - one student commented that "'Uni is an exception to the rule. If you want interaction with ethnic groups, go to uni - it's allowed. A little pocket of westerners interacting with ethnic groups - doesn't hold the rule of what happens in mainstream. An education for us." (p.25)
Core argument: The benefits of enabling programs are 'multi-layered and profound' (p.27) and as such necessitate a reconceptualisation of notions of 'success' and 'quality' in higher education. Enabling education has 'flow on effects' - data in this study suggests that students go on to do more than is/was expected of them (e.g. peer leaders): "They are the catalysts for flow-on effects on the university, and potentially for their families, and communities, thus illustrating that in addition to creating a level playing field, enabling programs 'value-add' for the university" (p.26)

Context: University teachers who teach inclusive education as part of initial teacher education (with inclusive ed as a mandated part of teaching education); practice architecture. Authors note how initial argument to make inclusive ed mandatory used discourses of integration and social justice. Specifically, the authors situate the article against a context where university lecturers are likely to teach students with a disability/ special needs
Aim: To explore how "lecturers consider and incorporate [issues relating to broad spectrum of inclusivity] when designing and delivering their subjects" (p.471); to "show how a number of the issues these lecturers face similarly elude resolution through lecturers' own practice; and to demonstrate that resolving such issues also requires local adaptations in the discursive, physical and social arrangements that pertain in their respective universities" (p.472)
Theoretical frame: Practice architecture/ practice theory (Schatzki, 2001) - social life configured as 'practice-arrangement bundles' (cited on p.474).
- Practice architecture: practices = sayings, doings, relatings in three intersubjective spaces: sematic, time-space, social, in which people can encounter each other as interlocutors, in interaction, in interrelationships
- Practice architectures = "characteristic arrangements associated with practices of different kinds" (p.474), which prefigure/shape practices, but do not determine them, and constitute/ are constituted by practice landscapes and practice traditions
- Practice architectures have three sets of mediating pre-conditions: cultural-discursive, material-economic, social-political arrangements
"According to this view of practice, people become practitioners of a practice by co-inhabiting these intersubjective spaces with others, and by employing sayings, doings and relatings appropriate to the practice as a social site, drawing on the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements found in the various sites where the practice occurs" (p.475).
Methodology: Qualitative: interviews with lecturers who teach inclusive education (n=9, representing each state/territory in Australia)
Findings: Practices in teaching in Australian universities, each of which has its own set of doings, sayings and relatings:
"(1) preparing inclusive education subject curricula;
(2) teaching the subject (including lectures, tutorials and workshops, and in field settings);
(3) modelling desirable inclusive education practices, as far as possible; and
(4) assessing students' work" (p.476)
Identification of enablers and constraints to practices as inclusive education teachers:
Preparing curricula: driven by its status as a mandatory subject (informed by policy mandates from Department), and includes assisting students to work with/ navigate same policy apparatus.
Variation noted in lecturers' theoretical stances, such as alignment with particular worldviews or the federal equity agenda. Others relied on 'evidence-base'.
"In taking these different views, the lecturers are consciously locating themselves in the discourses and discursive space of inclusive education today (as well as contemporary discourses about higher education teaching and learning) in which different perspectives have become sedimented, sometimes in opposition to one another. The lecturers are thus locating themselves and, prospectively, their students in these discursive spaces and in corresponding relational spaces; that is, aligning themselves (or avoiding alignment) in the controversies of the field" (p.480).
Teaching the subject: confronting misconceptions about inclusivity, shifting preconceptions about particular issues. Also, participants described setting 'field-based activities' and bringing in guest (expert) speakers.
Modelling desirable practices: each participant described diversity of students in their courses, and various examples of accommodating students' needed offered; "Without exception, however, the lecturers indicated that they attempted to model inclusive approaches to their students. We conclude that they practised what they preached - to varying degrees" (p.483) - trying to be inclusive but not 'compromise' integrity of the subject. Inclusive practice = difficult within existing 'traditional' practices (e.g. lecture/ tutorial model of delivery):
"One example is discourses of higher education that presuppose uniformity of students' linguistic, physical and social capabilities, and thus dispose some lecturers against making accommodations ('reasonable adjustments') to assessments to respond to the needs of some students. Another is physical and architectural and timetable and resource arrangements that exclude students with mobility or other special needs. Still another is social arrangements that presuppose that all university students are alike in their circumstances and capabilities, and that do not recognize or respect diversity and difference among students. These three kinds of circumstances 'conspire', as it were, to remind teacher education students with special needs that, once again, they are exceptions in the taken-for-granted world of this or that university, and of the practices and structures of that taken-for-granted world that threaten to exclude them, and thus to deny them access to and success in their chosen field of study. They find themselves on the margins rather than at the centre of a university project of higher education: a project of higher education that is for people other than them" (p.484).
Assessing students' work: policies and practices related to assessment = enabled/ constrained. Reasonable adjustments used by some to accommodate but not by others.
Core argument: "practices of inclusive education teaching and learning in university teacher education courses are shaped and prefigured amid arrangements - practice architectures - that enable and constrain the practices in ways that may not be recognised or acknowledged by those involved in the practices" (p.486).

Context: Explores the perceptions/observations/ reflections on everyday practices of staff in four Australian universities to understand processes of social change in context of marketisation of the academy - impact of new 'professional managers' on established academic 2. Do staff resist or conform to pressures of marketisation? Works from call from Mars et al. (2008) for more local case studies to understand the different ways they operate in marketised academy.
Aim: Seeks to develop a picture of "why academics adopt - or resist the adoption of - market behaviours and become involved or co-opted into these new organisational arrangements" (p.318)
Theoretical frame: Theory of academic capitalism ("a multi-faceted and powerful way of speaking about the integration of public research universities into monopoly capitalism and their transformation into active, for-profit players in the marketplace, selling their employees' knowledge, activities and products", p.315-6)/ Bourdieu (capital, habitus, field). Collyer concedes that the theory of academic capitalism is also contested and requires further elaboration/refinement.
Methodology: Qualitative; interviews conducted with staff (in Social Sciences) from 4 universities - mix of research/teaching/managerial/ administration; half female; mix of positions. All but one were in permanent/ continuing positions.
Findings: High level of awareness of processes of marketisation (e.g. competing for funds/ recruiting international students/ private businesses on campus) - and almost all participants held negative views of changes. New forms of appraisal were also disliked: "Many academics found these forms of measurement ' incongruous and insulting', a sign from management of the need for close surveillance rather than an assumption that they were honourable, trustworthy and ' professional'" (p.320). Contempt expressed about people employed to 'manage' but without research/teaching experience - not super common in Australia but increasingly common globally. Two broad groups of participants: conformists and resistors.
Conforming: Some participants self-identified as 'managers' and were more comfortable with market rather than academic ethos. When managers who have academic experience start to conform to market ideologies, it is "a phenomenon that puzzles and frustrates" (p.321) - data suggests that conforming to market results from practical experience in roles/ position in the field. Other examples of conformity: buying out teaching time with research funding/ negotiating promotions at the end of each temp. contract/ coopting into marketing narratives.
Resisting: Some HoDs describe themselves in 'buffer' terms - partly protecting staff from the impact of marketisation (between academics/ upper management). Offers examples of how participants have worked the system to work better for them [this sounds like another form of efficiency/ resource-saving to me] - e.g. writing several articles with one single idea/ co-editing book with 2 others so only have to write 2 chapters).
Habitus/control over knowledge: "In the university context, efforts on the part of university management to wrest control of expert knowledge from academics can be regarded as attempts to reshape the academic habitus in line with managerial principles, and thus with the market" (p.324).
Capital/control over workplace: Discusses how professionals hold more capital in neo-liberal university (controlling budgets/ appointments) - so that marketisation can be seen to be changing/diluting academic capital - and how some academics are drawing on other forms of capital (scientific/ intellectual capital) to protect themselves from these practices/surveillance, but particular people can do this (permanent, close to retirement, senior positions with high levels of publications and funding)
Core argument: Marketisation "violates, or threatens to violate highly valued academic norms and practices" (p.320)

Context: Disrupting the "hegemonic rationalist epistemology of educational development" by implementing pedagogical practices that are based in ethical and political thinking that are based on an ethic of care and an ethic of discomfort (abstract). Author reviews literature on caring (and lack of empirical focus on higher education to date) - focusing firstly on Noddings' (1984, 1992) work on relational pedagogy and the centrality of caring, which "suggests that caring teachers exhibit an array of practices and behaviours underpinned by a relational approach to pedagogy that puts pedagogic bonds at the centre of teaching; this relational approach is translated into specific pedagogic actions such as good planning, rich questioning and dialogue techniques, high levels of aspiration and expectation for all students, and good organisation in class" (p.3). Exemplifiers of caring higher education teachers outlined (from Larsen, 2015; Walker & Gleaves, 2016). Author notes Walker & Gleaves' (2016) integrative model of the caring teacher, which "suggests that structural and institutional elements seem to feature much more strongly, damaging teachers' efforts to enact caring teaching" (p.4). Author notes three theories: caring teaching behaviour (if teachers do particular things, learning outcomes will improve - but reductive and based on white/ middle class understandings of care), caring capacity (educational institutions and/or communities have the capacity and the obligation to provide caring contexts for students who lack caring experiences in their everyday lives - but based on deficit understandings), and caring difference (explores different views of/ perceptions of caring - but can replicate divisions). A fourth theory by McKamey (2004) is also reviewed: process theory of caring/ Antrop-Gonzalez & De Jesus' (2006) theory of critical care, which offer a "deeper exploration of the complexities in the meanings and enactments of caring teaching in different educational institutions" (p.7). Critiques of caring in higher education are that much literature suggests it is pre-determined and atheoretical. Author argues that the work on pedagogies of discomfort can add a critical dimension and resist these critiques. Pedagogy of discomfort: "[facilitates] the creation of disruptive moments of sharing and listening openly to each others' stories, students began to critically engage with the unspoken emotional rules and power dynamics governing the classroom and their lives" (p.8). Author connects this work to Foucault's 'ethic of discomfort' that precipitates forms of transformation, which "entails a particular ethic and a turbulent ground on which to critique deeply held assumptions about ourselves and others" (p.9). Author asks questions of how far educators can push students to confront troubling assumptions without causing harm, citing Boostrom's (1998) contention that safe classrooms does not mean that they should be free of discomfort.
Aim: To respond to three framing questions:
1. "What are the contributions and limits of the ethic of care in exploring issues of educational development in our contemporary globalised world?
2. How can the scope of care and caring teaching be extended through an ethic of discomfort?
3. Finally, what are the implications for educational development of such a reconceptualization of care on the basis of 'pedagogies of discomfort'?" (abstract).
Methodology: Essay
Implications for higher education: Reconceptualising caring in higher education through pedagogy of discomfort helps to resist discourses of educational development that are aligned with institutional imperatives/ discourses. Author offers three key arguments:
1) Caring through ethic of discomfort "establishes an important conception of ethical responsibility in higher education" (p.11)
2) Reconceptualization of caring through ethic of discomfort "raises the issue of whether and how a pedagogy of discomfort cultivates an ethics of nonviolence" (p.11)
3) Reconceptualising caring through ethic of discomfort looks to "minimi[se] ethical violence and expanding relationality with vulnerable others" (p.11).
Core argument: "conceptualisations of caring in particular settings of higher education must explicitly challenge the idea that assimilation to dominant notions of caring is a neutral process; instead, educators in universities need to question the ways in which particular sociocultural contexts shape identities and thus influence expressions and interpretations of caring" (p.7)
In facilitating vulnerability, "a pedagogy of discomfort as caring teaching also acknowledges the limits of knowing the other and the ethical claim that unknowability makes" and "the disavowal of mastery and coherence constitutes an important dimension of the struggle for an ethics of nonviolence" (p.11)
"Caring teaching becomes "critical", when it recognises that caring itself is an act full of tensions and ambivalences; hence, enacting caring teaching is an ethical and political practice involving relations that cannot
simply be mapped onto existing norms of the ethical and the political. Pedagogies of discomfort in context of higher education widen the possibilities of critical interventions as critical forms of caring teaching, expanding at the same time the notion of "teaching improvement" (p.14).

Context: Supporting students to transition into higher education. Author argues that importance of pre-university programs has been underexplored/ under-discussed in the research literature. Literature review covers challenges identified with transition (isolation, emotions, dislocation, adaptation, mismatched expectations). Author notes research by James et al. (2010), which suggested that half of first year students felt that their experience at school had under-prepared them for higher education study
Aim: To describe a school-based pre-university programme designed to support school (Years 10-12) to university transitions; to "explore how ' pre-university prepared students' (PUPS) expectations might be realigned to better meet the realities of tertiary studies and thereby assist with successful transition and potential retention in one Business outreach programme" (p.656).
Theoretical frame: Five senses model of successful transition (Lizzio, 2006), which conceptualises students' needs as per five domains of success: Academic culture, Purpose, Capability, Connectedness and Resourcefulness
Methodology: Qualitative evaluation of PUPS program (details on p.657-8), created by a UQ academic and a high school Business teacher. Aim of PUPS program = "to improve the students' transition by providing them with experiences that develop realistic and informed expectations, knowledge with which to make informed decisions, if tertiary studies are what they want to pursue, about which degree to enrol in what skills will be required to ensure their successful transition to tertiary education" (p.657). Data = PUPS enrolment data (participation and transition) + lexical analysis of students' reflective narratives (n=127): lexical analysis using Leximancer (see p.659)
Findings: Lexical analysis of students' reflective narratives identified 6 themes and 29 concepts, which have been categorised according to 'more tangible' (e.g. university, lectures), and 'less tangible' issues (e.g. feel, experience, institution and different). Strongest theme [frequency of word?] = university; second strongest = lectures.
Core argument: "PUPS appeared in many cases, to realise that they can achieve at university, were assisted by knowing how to do this and knowing who can help them building a sense of capability and connectedness" (p.662)

Context: Widening Participation in the UK; Foundation Year programs for students who are underqualified for undergraduate study: FY for WP and for retention. Authors seek to examine two psychometric tools (ABC and PEL) to identify students at risk of attrition. Authors note that WP without attrition is a challenge for universities across the sector. Authors argue that "WP initiatives are only successful if the students complete their programme of study as early withdrawal is a waste of resources for both the individual student...and the institution" (p.51). Authors note that transition is complicated for many reasons, and so identifying people likely to withdraw early in the course is prudent.
Aim: To "ascertain whether it is possible to use psychometric measures with students on a Foundation Year (FY) programme at the start of the academic year, to identify those at risk of non-completion" (p.50)
Methodology: Quantitative: survey instrument based on combination of Academic Behaviour Confidence (ABC) and Performance Expectation Ladder (PEL) scales. Students from 4 FY programs/ across 2 post-92 universities participated at the start and end of the program (n=90). Details of study on p.58-60. Analytic approach detailed on p.61.
Findings: PEL not seemingly useful but ABC subscales of Grades and Attendance appear to flag issues:
Grades negatively predicted success: aka, students with high grades = more likely to withdraw if expectations are not met
Non-attendance from week 1 correlates with subsequent progression issues
For later in the year, ABC data shows that confidence appears to diminish for withdrawers at Easter and significant differences between two groups (persisters, withdrawers) increasing from that point. Withdrawers appeared to experience lowered self-efficacy as they got closer to the end of the FY. The withdrawers also experienced a drop in marks. Authors question whether intervention at this late stage might help.
Authors note that only 15% were receiving marks under the national average, suggesting "that participants were demonstrating a level of unrealistic optimism" - the authors question whether this might be in part related to shifts in the relationship between marks and descriptors between school and university
Core Argument: Doubt around future attendance and unrealistic expectations about marks can be identified early and are likely associated with later progression issues.

Context: On-campus regional university in Australia
Aim: Attrition and achievement of 295 students (on-campus). Research Question: What influence do social relationships have on academic attrition and achievement for students in a tertiary bridging program at a regional university?
Methodology: Questionnaire
Conclusions: Three main factors that influence completion: Age - attrition mostly happens with younger students (18-24); Attendance - higher attrition for lower attendance patterns; Academic performance on first assessment task; Peer support - higher levels of support; lower attrition
Core Argument: Interesting comments on academic performance/1st assessment