Higher Education Equity Literature Database

Transitions in higher education:
- Transitions for 'non-traditional participants between further and higher education
- Progression through a subject discipline
- Progression from programmes into higher education and to work (p.3)
Transition = serious political investment
Transitions = "not only the product of social institutions but are also produced by social expectations" (p.5)
Transitions discussed as 'navigating pathways, structures and systems', navigating cognition, emotion and sense of self', 'becoming somebody', and 'life-as-transition'
"The idea of social expectations suggests that every society has a system of social expectations regarding age-appropriate behaviour" (p.5)

Context: Refugee students' experiences of higher education in Africa.
Aims: To analyse policy approaches to refugee integration and highlight points of departure from current theoretical concepts of integration. Authors seek to answer the following (p.210):
(a) What factors might contribute to the policy and practice disjunctures for refugee students in higher education? (b) In what ways do universities contribute to the exacerbation of the experience of trauma among refugee students and how do such students cope with those experiences? (c) How might higher education institutions intervene to ameliorate the sustained experience of trauma by refugee students?
Theory: Experiences of trauma (cultural and psychological)
Methodology: Authors take a theoretical approach, testing four different concepts - social justice, ubuntu, acculturation and resilience and grit) against current policy.
Findings: Authors differentiate and define refugee, asylum seeker, migrant and international student (211-213).
- They argue that there are two dimensions encapsulated in refugee experiences of higher education: the aspiration and integration. Aspiration refers to societies commitment to provide refugees with fair treatment and 'restoration of their dignity' (214). Integration refers to the experiences of students navigate challenges and overcome barriers in integrating with their new community.
- Through analysing South Africa's policy approach to refugees in Higher education, the following findings are made (224-225): there is an absence of policy direction on refugees in higher education, and instead a dominant direction addressing the needs of international students; refugees are treated like any other international student, and therefore 'seen as sources for revenue generation and their plight as traumatized students is often neglected or conveniently ignored' (225); an absence of specialists to support refugees, which places pressure on academics who are not trained in managing trauma.
- Universities are found to contribute to exacerbating trauma for refugee students in the following ways: Absence of a caring or supportive culture; avoidance of accepting the presence of refugee students are in the student cohorts; inadequate financial support, reluctance to recognise prior learning and language and learning; prioritisation of the student's academic identities over their cultural one; insufficient education to support refugees instigating change in their home countries.
Core argument: The theorisation of integration currently does not align with the practice of integrating refugee students in tertiary contexts. This exacerbates the trauma experienced by refugee students in higher education systems. The authors question why refugee students are grouped with international students of non-refugee backgrounds, and suggests tertiary institutions reconsider the notion of internationalization.

Context: Murdoch University, WA, equity/enabling program, UniAccess, in the context of Australian and Western Australian widening participation policies as well as economic productivity models and human brain development evidence.
Aim: To demonstrate that widening access, or increasing participation, in higher education "does not always translate into increased benefit for students" (abstract) from the defined equity groups.
Methodology: Statistical data regarding outcomes of UniAccess students reviewed against the economic and human development theories of Carneiro and Heckman (2003) and Mustard (2006). Further, initiatives to increase substantive equality for 'disadvantaged' or 'under-served' higher education students in South Africa and the US are highlighted.
Findings: From the review of policy, theory and practice, as well as program statistical data, the authors propose an expansion of the enabling program at Murdoch University from a four-week program to a semester-long program. This has resulted in the 12-week OnTrack program with three modules covering university culture; engaging with knowledge communities; engaging in specialist knowledges and research. A fourth module is designed for students for whom English is an additional language. It is hoped that the curriculum, pedagogy and pastoral care embedded in the new program will resource students to "pursue their undergraduate studies with sufficient confidence and application" (p. 25).
Core Argument: Increasing access to higher education is not all that is needed to improve outcomes for students from 'equity' groups. An increase in transitional support needs to be embedded in current enabling programs to improve 'substantive equality'.

Context: 'Extreme' or long-[social]distance social mobility and higher education journeys; the experiences of first-in-family students in medical education in context of massive under-representation of particular social groups in medicine. Authors cite Australian DET (2014) data that states "16% of students are from LSES backgrounds, with 46% from middle SES, and 38% from high SES backgrounds" (on p.4). Push to increase diversity in medical students = response to argument that doctors should represent the diversity of the community they serve. Earlier work points to the role of the admissions process in precluding 'non-traditional' students from accessing a medicine degree course
Aim: To respond to this RQ: "What are the experiences of FiF medical students in medical education and how do they understand their personal and professional journey through a high-status professional degree?" (p.2)
Theoretical frame: "theoretical eclecticism" (see p.6): Goffman (1963) and stigma; Reay, Crozier & Clayton's (2009) use of Bourdieu to explore dispositions and psychic economy; Fraser (1998) = recognition/ social justice; intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989)
Methodology: Qualitative/ critical interpretive epistemological framework. The term FinF used as 'umbrella' term to capture other under-represented groups (e.g. low SES/ Indigenous). Interviews (semi-structured) with FinF undergraduate medicine students (n=21). Two thirds of participants from lowest 2 quartiles of SES (low/ low-middle); 9 = late teens, 12 = mid twenties- mid thirties; 16 = female, 5 =male; 7 = Indigenous; 14 = R&R; 15 = Year 1 or 2, rest = Year 3-5. Only gender and Indigeneity used as markers to anonymise the data
Findings: Three themes = (1) the roots of participants' social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures
'Life isn't that simple': for most, getting into medical school = "circuitous" and "protracted" (p.7). Only 2/21 = took direct route from school; 5/21 took a gap year; 5 (Indigenous) came via enabling = 'getting there the hard way'. Participants described varying levels of happiness in childhood; some described themselves as bogans or having been to 'dero' schools (which hampered guidance/ produced limited information about medicine/ university and a lack of support/ negative expectations from teachers). Family attitudes were mixed
Difference: Imposter syndrome/ not feeling good enough = significant barrier, which "point[s] to a collective characteristic of FiF medical students: a shared understanding that certain groups are not really 'entitled' to aspire to medicine, even if they have demonstrated significant academic achievement and life accomplishments. Indigenous participants were especially explicit in naming how social class and racism influenced their sense of entitlement" (p.9). Once in, students described growth in self-confidence and belonging to tight-knit group of peers. Some participants articulated clear awareness of the social/cultural differences with more privileged peers, and mix of admiration and envy reported in data. This was more profound in data from Indigenous students (social and cultural distance). Use of language (aka not 'formal' English or self-deprecating descriptors like bogan) = "the language of participants served to delineate and sometimes defend social and cultural difference" (p.11) - relates to Goffman's understanding of stigma as a 'language of relationships' for discrediting certain identities.
Professional identity and future prospects: Participants all recognized the high status of medicine and prestige associated with the career. In terms of social mobility, many of participants expressed a desire to remain 'rooted' to their home contexts/cultures, even though they viewed their social mobility favourably (see commentary on being 'humble', p.13).
Core argument: Students engage in 'tactical refinement of the self', rather than a full blown discarding of previous identities; "they reflect a tactical incorporation (in a conscious and an embodied sense) of certain
middle-class attributes, coupled with an articulated appreciation of the worth of what they can bring to a very exclusive table" (p.14)

Context: Higher education (generally) and critical pedagogy/ critical pedagogies of emotion
Aim: To explore implications of Tronto's ideas on care and responsibility for critical pedagogies in higher education, and critical pedagogies of emotion (Zembylas 2013)
Theoretical frame: Joan Tronto's work on politics of care as ethical framework/ framework for democratic care; care= practice and disposition. In particular, authors draw on Tronto's notion of 'privileged irresponsibility' = hegemonic taken-for-granted positions of privilege which conceal workings of power, which facilitates critique of divisions of emotional/caring labour (mostly done by women and less advantaged groups). Tronto's definition of care (see p.202) includes 1) self-care and self-reflexivity about own needs for care and self-protection; 2) care for non-human objects (e.g. the environment - social, natural, built); 3) views care "as an ongoing social, political,
and emotional practice" (p.203) = more than disposition, = activity/labour; 4) care involves repairing the world, leading to 'human flourishing' (thus= for survival); 5) care = collective rather than dyadic (between 2 people)
Tronto offers 5 phases/ elements of care:
- Caring about = attentiveness
- Caring for = responsibility
- Caregiving = competence (technical and moral quality)
- Care-receiving = responsiveness
- Caring with = trust and solidarity
Methodology: Essay
Focus on Responsibility: Caregivers in public and domestic domains are rarely recognised in any form (pay/ value/ legitimacy), leading to exploitation (particularly of migrants and women). Discusses ways that powerful avoid responsibility (e.g. using carers to release middle class parents from responsibilities of childcare to do more lucrative work, absenting oneself from discussions about responsibility: "The continued erasure of the hidden costs for certain groups of people who across global contexts, carry the burden of care, often displacing responsibility from both the state and those privileged, reflects in Tronto's term 'privileged irresponsibility', where those receiving caring services for their needs do not acknowledge that they are dependent on these services in order to live well in the world" (p.205). Tronto's notion of responsibility entails acknowledging problems that need to be resolved (rather than erasure through denial or absentia). Discusses 'hegemonic masculinities' (and images thereof) - see Connell, 1987 etc.
Tronto (2013) argues that privileged excuse themselves from care:
1) protection (men = protectors of women)
2) production (privileged = involved in accumulating economic resources and should therefore be exempt from caring duties)
3) caring for my own (focusing on self)
4) personal responsibility (neoliberal opportunity structure)
5) charity (giving to charity = considered sufficient giving)
"privileged irresponsibility allows those who benefit from being in superior positions in a hierarchical system to remain oblivious about the part they play themselves in maintaining the system" (p.207)
Violations = the harm of inattentiveness, irresponsibility, incompetence and unresponsiveness (Tronto, 2000: 270) + lack of trust and solidarity (p.207-8)
What would Tronto's political ethics of care look like with critical pedagogies of emotion?
- can help understand constructions of caregivers' anger and consequences of it (as well as responses to it)
- explore consequences of privileged irresponsibility for different social groups (shame = social response; guilt = personal response) to resist paralysing effects of acknowledgement - critical pedagogy of emotions can help to find positive and productive readings: "urg[ing] those who recognise the exercise of privileged irresponsibility to use those emotions as points of departure for critical reflection and renewed action towards relationalresponsibility and attentiveness" (p.208)
- critique of neoliberal logics and address emotional consequences of privileged irresponsibility
- acknowledge emotional complexities of caring in globalized world
Core argument: Drawing on Tronto's ideas = strengthens critical pedagogies of emotion "because it helps educators expose how power and emotion operate through responsibility - that is, how responsibility is connected with the meanings and practices of power and the place of emotion in caring practices" (p.201).

Context: Conceptualisations of student transitions; author navigates the literature according to different metaphors: building bridges/ minding gaps; 'smooth' transitions; pathways and journeys; 'successful' transitions. Within these conceptualisations, there are clear elements of thinking that helps to drive institutional responses to the challenges that students experience with their transitions, but the author notes how problems with deficit-laden, individualised notions of institutions' roles with supporting student (which are diminished when the individual is pushed to/ assumes responsibility for their own navigation). Similarly, when transition is viewed as a system problem, it conceals personal/ experiential factors: "Transitions are conceptualised as attributes of systems, rather than individuals. Within this 'process' there is little room for individuality or diversity" (p.3). Moreover, when viewed as ritualized pathway, the complexity and messiness of individuals' circumstances gets lost, and focusing on 'successful' transitions reflects dominant institutional ideas of 'success' (driven by metrics around retention and achievement) as opposed to what is considered meaningful by the individual.
Aim: To "re-examine our assumptions regarding both students' transitions and the wider conception of transition and change within learning" and to suggest "that a new approach to conceptualising transition may be useful in enabling us to see the granularity of students' experiences, and that individuals' lived realities do not fit neatly into established linear grand-narratives of transition" (p.1). To respond to Gale & Parker's (2014) lament about 'conceptual silences' in transition literature/ transition interventions and funded projects.
Theoretical frame: Threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2005) and the rhizome/ becoming (Deleuze & Gutarri, 1987)
Methodology: Essay
Findings: Reimagining transition
Troublesome transitions: works from Meyer & Land's (2005) notion of threshold concepts, which describes students transitions (based on notion of liminality) through disciplinary concepts/ knowledge as potentially troublesome/ uncomfortable, but which can lead to transformation; "this viewpoint offers the potential to see the value of emotional destabilisation and indeterminacy, and the possibilities that risk, uncertainty and change can create" (p.5).
Transition as rhizomatic: works from Deleuze & Gutarri (1987) and their thinking on the rhizome as a critique of/ departure from reliance on ideas linear movement; "Seen through this lens, there are no uniform pathways: transitions are divergent, fluid and multiple" (p.6). From this perspective, the idea of transitions being normative or predictable is challenged.
Transition as becoming: works from Deleuze & Gutarri (1987) and their thinking on becoming - challenging the idea of beginning and end points, and seeing transitions as ongoing.
Taken together, these conceptions pull a new way of thinking about/ researching/ supporting educational transitions: "Notions of trouble- some knowledge and liminality illuminate the possibilities that risk, uncertainty and change can create. The concept of the rhizome symbolises the diversity and multiplicity of not just experiences but of the self, and the concept of becoming indicates the ongoing and evolving nature of transition" (p.7). This requires a radical shift away from existing/ dominant/ 'traditional' ways of thinking and doing with regard to students' transitions. One implication is that institutions could move away from 'managing' students' transitions to being clearer/ more honest in communications about the discomforting elements of moving into new ways of learning (and being, knowing and doing), and taking an ongoing rather than bounded approach to student support. Institutions could also shift to a strengths-based view of what students can do/ bring with them to their studies and support students to see how they can build on these, rather than tacitly imposing deficit views on students
Core argument: Transitions research and practice should be guided by understandings that transitions are involve three interrelated conceptions: transitions as rhizomatic, transitions as troublesome and transitions as becoming. By reimagining transition, it may be possible to disrupt the status quo to improve students' experiences and teaching and learning in higher education.

Context: Care leavers are identified as one of the most disadvantaged groups among young adults, who face significant challenges after leaving care, including acquiring higher education (Jackson & Cameron, 2010; Schiff & Benbenishty, 2006). In Germany, however, few studies exist which provide specific evidence about the educational situation of children in care and after care (Bu_rger, 1990; Pothmann, 2007; Esser 2011).
Similarly, in Israel, few studies have examined the educational situation of children in care and after care. Hence, an international collaborative project between researchers from Germany and Israel was designed. A central dimension of the project is the analyses of the life stories of care leavers who achieved higher education.
Aim: Using a social-pedagogic perspective, the aim of this study is to investigate the life stories of care leavers and look for moments or events of change, known as turning points (Gilligan, 2009).
Theoretical concept: According to Gilligan (2009), four conditions are necessary for a potential turning point: Opportunity, readiness, agency and a sustaining context (ORASC). In this paper, turning point processes are understood as representing positive change in the life course of young people. They are typically manifested within transitions that do not necessarily correspond to normatively expected life transitions. Turning point processes need to be measurable through objective criteria, but their sustainability also depends on the person`s ability to recognize the chance to change and take advantage of it.
Methodology: The study is based on biographical analyses of care leavers in higher education. 28 biographical interviews were conducted with young care leavers (17 from Germany and 11 from Israel). Two interviews were analysed in depth, as they represent different circumstances for turning point processes in the life of care leavers. Interviews were analysed according to grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), with as few prior assumptions about turning points as possible.
Findings: 1) Germany: Case analysed - Paul. Significant event in life: Move into the group home, which ended the instability experienced in his family home. . ..."the move into residential care has been the best decision in my life up to the present day...". This sequence highlights the importance of this event as a significant moment in Pauls' life. At first, he was not able to change the not so simple circumstances even for himself. But the experience of beginning something new leads him to taking family matters into his own hand, and he eventually moved his younger brother and sister into out of home care facilities within 1 _ years. However, according to his narrative, Paul's move to residential care was possible due to supportive people in his surroundings, including his 1st and 2nd grade teacher. The move into the group home had a major impact in Paul's life, both positively and negatively, and can therefore be called a turning point process. This includes the objective dimension of moving from one institutional setting (the family) to another (the group home), and also the subjective dimension of recognizing in himself the capacity to change his life by taking action. 2) Israel: Case analysed - Michael. Significant event: Participating in a swimming course outside the residential facility. There, Michael met with 'regular' children, and realized that they were able to read and write, so he decided to learn to read and write at a very late age. The experience of meeting other children outside of the care facility gave him the opportunity to relate to a new social environment. He reveals his own agency when he decided to learn how to read and write in order to be like the other children in the swimming course. Michael became active in his efforts to become literate, which shows his own agency in taking control over his life and making the transition from an illiterate child to a literate one. Michael's narrative also highlights that the change was related to others, and must therefore be seen as a process. His transformation from an illiterate child to a literate one was supported and accompanied by others before and after the encounters with children out of care. Michael's consequent transition to HE was also influenced by the close relationship developed with one staff member of the residential care, who became a "significant other" and a "role model" for him.
Core argument: As observed in the study's findings, residentialcare plays a crucial role in generating turning point processes, which lead to positive changes in the lives of care leavers, as observed in the two cases analysed. Care facilities and single caregivers should make an effort to create opportunities which may eventually generate turning point processes: positive experiences, significant others, extra-curricular activities.

Context: Polytechnics in NZ, adult foundation programs, adult literacy education (aka 'foundation skills') neoliberal climate. Authors argue that NZ is a pertinent case study because it is a small country, meaning that policy can be rolled out across the country. Authors offer a review of 'inclusive liberalism' as ideological trend from 1980s (in this case, privileging economic outputs of education), which the authors describe in terms of "inclusive liberalism is more likely to be motivated to pre-empt unrest and opposition from the marginalised population, allowing governments to present themselves as 'caring' yet fiscally responsible to the majority, and to deliver neoliberal consumer-oriented identities to the whole of society" (p.880). Discussion of policy and accountability architecture in NZ with regard to foundation skills on p.880-881. Authors make the case that tutors are often unlikely/ unwilling to contest policy/ underlying ideologies. Authors focused on tutors in the polytechnic (further education/ TAFE) sector because that's where the responsibility for bridging/foundation education mainly lies/
Aim: To examine the "experiences of government and institutional implementation of major education policy changes" of foundation skills tutors in Aotearoa New Zealand; to respond to this RQ "What, according to lecturers involved in the teaching and management of foundation studies programmes, is the impact of current government policies on the sector?" (p.881)
Methodology: Interviews with foundation skills tutors and managers (n=72) whose main focus is 'upskilling' domestic students (not TESOL, although there are NESB students in the classes). Most of the tutors were teaching 'academic skills' ("generally framed as academic reading and writing, referencing, critical analysis and searching for information" (p.882). Interview questions included:
"What is your understanding of academic literacy and its role in foundation programmes?
- What are the greatest challenges you face in teaching foundation studies cohorts?
- What changes would you like to see?
- How do you feel staff teaching on foundation studies/bridging programmes are positioned at the institute?
- How do you feel your students enrolled on foundation studies/bridging programmes are positioned at the institute?" (p.883)
Findings: Mostly, the participants reported that they felt that they and their students were positioned negatively by policy and the government's neoliberal approach, because of its focus on human, rather than social, capital. This played out in three ways: growing distrust of management by staff, the implementation of restructuring, impact on teachers' professional responsibilities and their students.
Distrust: more by institution, rather than individual basis. Institutions with more positive relationships = have leadership that understands what 'second-chance learners' need. Tutors perceived issues when the managers are viewed as non-educators (or 'bean counters' according to one participant, see p.884). In these cases, tutors argued that they observed "little real understanding of the challenges involved in teaching these students and resent the fact that the students appear to be regarded as 'cash cows or good bread and butter - consistent' when their numbers are good, and retention and success rates are satisfactory" (p.885). Foundation skills can provide a 'steady stream' of students, thus constituting an important revenue stream for some institutions (but is not necessarily met by commensurate understandings of the challenges these students face/ have faced). Tutors expressed anger at what they perceived as 'lip service' of senior management, which the authors argue is driven by lack of dialogue. Middle managers describe themselves as 'meat in the sandwich', with directives from above clashing with tutors' frustrations. Some staff expressed perception that government don't care about foundation skills because of the removal of funding; others expressed concern about reductive metrics only telling part of a bigger (more complex) story. Casualisation = problem, leaving staff in insecure work; tutors generally perceived consultation related to restructures as lacking validity. Resources perceived as marginal, when compared with other areas - particularly pastoral care: "Adequate support services would seem essential considering the student demographics in foundation studies programmes, including second-chance learners who had unsuccessful secondary school experiences and immigrants who faced significant readjustment to a new culture and language. Unfortunately, the narrow government and management view is that the teaching of skills will ensure student success in obtaining jobs and contributing to the economy" (p.887).
Core Argument: Authors point to all the ways that neoliberal policies have broken foundation education. They suggest two ways forward:
1) "recognise and draw on the rich knowledge and experience of the students. With their intimate knowledge of the environments of their own communities, foundation students could potentially participate in planning, leading and delivering service learning programmes that combine academic learning with service in community settings"(p.891)
2) better inform multiple stakeholders of the challenges described in the article (led by unions and professional organisations)

Context: Discussion of discourses of social class and group privilege in US university context. Argues that in US context = lack of 'clear and explicit' discourse on class-based privilege (because hidden by taboos on money and status) which leads to lack of critical reflect/xivity on part of privilege individuals/groups. Also, class = conflated with objective markers (such as income bracket, professional status) which obscures the situation
Aim: To argue "that control of discourse around a social identity functions as a way to normalize privilege and reduce conflict around structural inequalities" (p.112). It also "investigates the relationship between an individual's class-based privilege and that individual's ability to engage in discourse about social class. We examined the types of discourse surrounding social class employed by economically advantaged and economically disadvantaged students in intergroup dialogue classes at a large Midwestern university" (p.117)
Theoretical frame: Makes connections between social class and identity/ identification = draws on Bourdieu (habitus) whereby discourse = 'invisible framework': "One particular feature of habitus, its lack of explicitness and the way it minimizes discourse, has especially interesting implications for the study of class-based privilege" (p.116).
Methodology: Qualitative textual data (final paper = reflection on what students had learnt about social class) collected from 'intergroup dialogue' course (n=82): "44 participants self-identified as female, 28 self-identified as male, 31 participants did not disclose their gender; 47 participants self-identified asWhite, 55 self-identified as
non-White; 37 participants self-identified as lower/working class, 56 participants self-identified as middle/upper class, 10 participants did not disclose their social class" (p.118) Data = content-/archived analysed. Intergroup dialogues = "structured conversations between members of different social identity groups that have
a history of conflict or tension which foster intergroup communication, exploration, and learning (Dessel, 2008; Dessel & Rogge, 2008)" = p.116
Findings: Majority (64/82) = reported feelings of self-discovery (mostly positive). Only 12/82 came into group with strong class-based identity 'salience' (7 = upper class/ 5 = working class)
Class= racialised
There are taboos which prevent discussion of class and privilege (especially among upper/middle class students) = "this lack of class-based discourse revealed interesting ways in which class privilege is maintained and seems to be "natural." (p.123)
There are class-based stereotypes circulating (e.g upper class = spoilt slackers)
Core argument: "The lack of discussion about these issues silences lower-income people and reproduces privilege for economically advantaged people" (p.123)

Context: Understandings of fairness are contested yet underpin admissions policies in Australian HE. Access/ "student selection encompasses a wide range of personal circumstances, barriers and opportunities and prior learning, all of which ultimately influence whether or not a student is preferred above others" (p.1203). Universities (esp. elite ones) have often been accused of discriminatory/ unfair admissions practices/policies
Aim: To present critical analysis of the use of 'fairness' in publicly available admissions policies, along with analysis of enrolment data
Theoretical frame:
Methodology: Textual content analysis of the admissions policies of 36 Australian HEIs + interviews with 28 staff (13 = senior officials; 12 = admissions officers; 3 = academics who considered applications for specific courses). Also explored DET data on student enrolments to cross-reference low SES student numbers against policy
Findings:
Offers typology of fairness, with three main characterisations of fairness evident:
Merit based: based on notions of talent, skill, intelligence, ability and effort = underpinned by distributive view of justice (justice for 'the deserving'). Merit found to be primary characterisation of fairness in 12 universities and a tertiary frame in other 20 universities: "Almost universally, therefore, Australian universities expressed fairness as the idea that in a competitive environment, students would be ranked and selected from most to least deserving" (p.1206). UNSW = only uni to acknowledge that merit = subjective construct. Merit=most considered in terms of/ privilege ATAR/ school completion. Also connects with academic (and sociocultural) capital accrued through attending particular schools. This creates "strict hierarchies of knowledge" (p.1207)

Procedural: "assumes that a selection process is fair when it is transparent and applied both systemically and systematically" (p.1208), but it often is not. Procedural = primary theme in 13 universities (with 10 focusing on transparency) and a tertiary frame in a further 4. Involves attempting to convert all forms of entry into something that can be measured against a standard. Most common feature = drawing on/ referring to external standards/ criteria. "Procedural fairness prioritised evidence over ability or potential, with frequent reference to prescribed procedures that foregrounded the responsibilities of the student in the admission process and highlighting penalties for providing, for example, 'false information, false or falsified documentation [or] not complying with the Terms and Conditions of Admission' (The University of Newcastle 2011)" - p.1208-9.

Normative: suggests common-sense approach - whereby policies instantiate 'iron law' of regulations, and "seeks to select the 'right' students, as opposed to the 'best' students" (p.1209). 11 universities privileged this view of fairness. 19 universities inscribed 'positive discrimination' in their policies, reserving the right to amend admissions policy to account for educational disadvantage. Most policies signalled academic merit = privileged over equity considerations (and 17 did not).

Low SES = did not appear to benefit from merit approach in 2013 enrolments

"The three 'types' of fairness described above were discrete entities but did not operate discretely within university policy. Although certain discourses dominated within and across policy text and practice, each relied on and reinforced the other" (p.1211)
Core argument: Merit based: discursively = preferred; "the implicit assumption of merit-based policies of fairness is that students who are not selected are perceived as having failed on their own terms, without acknowledging the greater structural forces at play" (p.1214)
"Overwhelmingly, selection policies prioritised any form of prior academic achievement that could be converted to a numerical entry score" (p.1207).
Fair admissions enhance social contract between country and people (via universities) but erode positional advantage accrued by individual universities

Context: Increased migration/ arrival of Sudanese people in Australia/ experiences of Sudanese refugees in Edith Cowan University (Western Australia). Authors argue that in addition to humanitarian entrants, other Sudanese people are choosing Australia as a study destination (no evidence provided). Authors argue that in general, Sudanese students have poor academic results at ECU - authors cite a failure rate of 47.5% of assessments taken across all courses from 2010-2014. Authors review literature on motivation, sociocultural views of learning (with such factors as language/s spoken argued to impact on students' academic outcomes), and English language proficiency - drawing on Kruger & Dunning's (1999) notion of 'unskilled but unaware' to describe the ways that students may be unable to control their expression for grammatical errors
Aims: To explore "Sudanese students' motivations to study, and whether they are confident about their learning and English language abilities" and barriers to "effective study" in Australian university context. RQs:
"1. What motivates Sudanese students to study at university?
2. What are the students' confidence levels in relation to English language?
3. How are the students performing academically (via grades) and what are their views on available academic support?
4. What factors impact on Sudanese students learning experiences?" (all p.123)
Methodology: Multi-method approach: questionnaires, focus groups, individual interviews. Focus groups with Sudanese students separated by gender (n=13 out of potential 152); although 22 students agreed to participate, 9 failed to turn up for the focus group meeting so they were individually interviewed instead. Information about participants on p.124. Students also completed "a short demographic survey, the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) and the English Language Confidence survey" (p.125)
Findings:
Survey data:
Motivation = males more likely than females to report lower levels of motivation
Intrinsic motivation = generally lower than extrinsic motivation
Students described intention to do university as motivated by desire to 'build a better future' and help own and Australian communities
English language confidence = students demonstrate high confidence in general, but slightly lower confidence in writing essays and reports.
Males = more likely to report higher confidence than females, which was skewed by males' reporting of reading confidence.
Some students (younger students) viewed it as unfair that they were assessed against other students in English when it isn't their first language/ English language challenges are not accommodated in assessment literacies. Students also suggested that the level of English language required for university study was higher that they expected. Students perceived their lecturers as not understanding the challenges of studying in a different language. Students also reported that the pace of studying was challenging (see p.128)
Academic performance = calculated with WAM: range from 39% to 67%, with a mean score of 53%. Students reported being surprised when they got their marks/ feedback, and reported seeking support from learning advisors after receiving marks.
Socio-political factors = issues that impacted on transition to Australia/ university caused by traumatic exile, loss, time spent in camps coupled with challenges of adapting to Australia (finding work, balancing study and work, supporting family)
Recommendations:
"1. Sudanese (or African to widen the pool) Peer Mentorship programs. Successful students can orient and support Sudanese students to the demands of university study, but also provide advice on where support can be accessed. Mentors can take into account the socio-political factors that can impact on their learning as they have cultural commonalities.
2. Establish early checkpoints for English Language Proficiency in particular for alternative entry pathways, so students who require additional English language support be identified and supported early in their studies.
3. Provide additional support to Learning Advisors to enable more frequent interactions with students and appoint specialist English as a second or subsequent language advisors to specifically assist students" (p.130).

Context: Considers the role/ evolution of 'social contracts' ("new social bargains or settlements linking governments to their constituents and that provide a rationale for a pattern or approach to government expenditure for particular economic sectors and segments of society", p.232), which are increasingly used in neo-liberal/market-driven contexts and relationships. Posits that social contracts are "characterised as social bargains underpinned by informed consent, points of renegotiation at specific times while they are enacted, and reciprocal accountability" (p.233) and that these principles can add a useful layer of analysis of educational policy. Rawolle argues that social contracts are useful to examine because they "are embedded in public reasoning and rational for social changes" (p.236) and these may be "multiple and overlapping" in everyday lives/roles - thus resulting in "prioritisation, pressure and tension" and "provide a key location for researching and understanding specific kinds of societal changes and practices, changes in the relations between people.... and specific kinds and patterns of effects between social fields" (p.236)
Theoretical frame: Draws on contract theory work of Yeatman (1996)
Findings: Rawolle explores social contracts at each of three levels: 1) broad/(inter)national - describing expectations between states and citizens and vice versa; 2) institutional/field level; 3) 'contract-like mechanisms' within fields. Level 1 - Rawolle analyses the social contract embedded within OECD (2011) 'Divided we stand' report. Level 2 - policies that provide 'overall rationale' for educational provision; however, specific attention to equity cannot be analysed at this level: "requires another source of relay in order to connect specific commitments to relationships between nominated groups in education and their obligations and commitments to one another" (p.240). Level 3 - 'contract-like mechanisms' that "often mirror the form or style of individual legal contracts" (p.240), for example unit guides/ individual learning plans. "Contract-like mechanisms relay the expectations of broader social contracts by making explicit the equity goals that should underpin relationships in education settings" (p.241)
Core argument: Sets out a rationale for developing/ using analysis of social contracts, which "provide normative goals for relationships, forms of accountability to goals named within the social contract and processes to follow where there is dispute or conflict between people in the carrying out or in the pursuit of these goals" (p.241)

Context: NCSEHE-funded research. Designed to help equity practitioners to develop effective evaluation strategies (initial introduction rather than definitive guide). Works from initial position that "Equity in higher education is based on the idea that those with the capability and desire to attend university should be able to, and that staff and students should work in an inclusive and supportive environment, regardless of their backgrounds" (p.5). Also, based on premise that good practice = contributes to evidence base and intuition is not sufficient to decide 'what works'.
Aim: To offer evaluative framework for equity practice/practitioners
Theoretical frame:
Methodology:
Framework: 4 steps: establish criteria, construct standards, measure performance and compare against standards, synthesis and integrate evidence into 'a judgement of worth'. Every program needs "clear, unambiguous and measurable aims and objectives" (p.2), which need to be aligned with evaluation methodology, methods and evidence (to be) gathered. Evaluation (form/ questions asked) will change through the lifetime of the program. Offers 3 questions to guide practice:
1. Are our programs consistent with our strategic objectives (institutional or government, as well as program goals) in relation to equity and social inclusion?
2. Are our programs achieving the desired outcomes?
3. Do any aspects of our programs need improvement? (p.5)
Need to use SMART objectives
Core argument: Evaluation should be everyday business

Context: Professional learning in UK higher education
Aim: To unpack the teaching of professionalism:
(1) explore threshold concepts associated with professionalism and
(2) identify factors that might enable students to 'get' such concepts (p.3).
Theoretical frame: Threshold concepts (Meyer and Land, 2003) = core concepts = transformative, changing learners' ways of being and integrative, bringing different aspects of subject together making hidden connections visible = "'aha' moment" (p.2) and = irreversible. Also likely to include troublesome knowledge = can lead to students feeling "uncomfortable and unsettling, leading students to become stuck, avoid a topic or just give up" (p.2) - keeps students in liminal space, oscillating between old and new understandings = see Cousin 2006.
Methodology: Auto-diary methodology: audio diaries kept by 15 x students and 7 x tutors (Medical School) over 2 x terms. Data = qualitatively analysed for threshold concepts (where language indicated that learning was troublesome, integrative or transformative)
Findings: Seven potential threshold concepts identified relating to students' professional identities:
Threshold 1: there is a professional culture and i am becoming part of it
Threshold 2: consider the whole person
Threshold 3. I don't need to know everything
Threshold 4: consider the bigger picture
Threshold 5: we have to work with uncertainty
Threshold 6: people have different expectations
Threshold 7: emotional intelligence

Context: The Bradley Review (2008) has contributed to substantial changes for universities and shifts in the types of students entering universities. This led to a greater emphasis on enabling and transition pedagogies to address the needs of this cohort, and the proliferation of enabling programs such as the creation of Murdoch University's OnTrack Sprint program in 2015. This is a four-week program tailored to recent school leavers who have narrowly missed out on direct entry to university, with an ATAR between 60-70, with high rates of retention and progression of students into undergraduate studies.
Aim: To demonstrate the enabling principles important in the development of enabling programs to ensure student success. This paper emphasises knowing the learner and targeting learning that is appropriate to that learner, a "'model, coach, fly'" approach, and "the presence of the academics' authentic self, recognised through the use of relatable humour, storytelling and popular cultural texts to teach skills" (p. 20).
Methodology: Case study approach exploring how Tinto's principles for creating learning communities and a modified version of Nelson et al.'s transition pedagogy were applied to the development of OnTrack Sprint.
Findings: Success of the program demonstrates the importance of targeting a population and developing a program in relation to this targeted demographic. While curriculum was inclusive this targeted population also had a degree of homogeneity rather than diversity. In terms of intentional design, the curriculum was developed around a unify principle, constructive alignment was considered, the program had a great deal of structure with a focus on skills development through scaffolded assessments. Transitional self-concept was emphasised - from outsider to insider. Importance of learning communities to improve the transition and humour, authenticity and storytelling as techniques in the classroom to facilitate this. These techniques are also important in creating an "engagement zone" where students' passions are used to help enculturate them to university and create learning partnerships that motivate and transition students into study (p. 27). "Assessment needed to be rich, with formative and summative tasks that invited the student to 'rise'" (p. 27). They needed to be appropriately timed, build in complexity and provide opportunities for feedback. Rubrics were used to provide instruction and feed-forward. Importance of monitoring student engagement, regular check ins modelling communication, and articulating and reinforcing the goals of the program. The program invited evaluation from students, curriculum designers and tutors. In terms of program outcomes: student retention was 92%, all students met academic requirements of the course and received an offer to undergraduate study at Murdoch University, 96% accepted their offer. Students achieved an average mark in the program of 66.5% with no correlation between ATAR and program performance; there was a correlation between participation/engagement and achievement. In their first semester of undergraduate study 90% of former students passed at least half their units; 42% passed all units attempted, achieving pass grades on average. Raw ATAR did not correlate to GPA in their first semester of undergraduate study. In evaluating the program there was a 100% student response rate with 100% student satisfaction regarding the program.
Core argument: The Sprint program effectively enacted an enabling pedagogy adapted from Nelson et al's transition pedagogy principles.

Context: Examines persistence of inequity in proportional representation of student groups in Australian HE. Examines key literature pointing to demographic trends in participation and arguments that call for systemic change. Navigates policy changes (from 1974-2009), and notes the literature that illustrates SES connections with school achievement/ATAR
Aim: To investigate the impact of having at least one university-educated parent on chances of getting a degree
Theoretical frame: 'Maximally maintained inequality' (MMI) and 'relative risk aversion' (RRA) as interpretive lenses. RRA view = "inequalities in educational attainment persist because young people, regardless of socio-economic background are more concerned with avoiding downward mobility than with achieving upward mobility" (p.201). MMI view= widening participation can/will only happen when traditional sources have been satiated: "An increase in the number of students from low socio-economic backgrounds will only occur when all of the students from the privileged class are accommodated and supply of university places continues to exceed demand" (p.201)
Methodology: Quantitative: applies logistic regressions to data from 3 student surveys collected between 1987 and 2005 (National Social Science Survey: 1987-88 (n=1663); 1994 (n=1378); 2005 'neoliberalism, inequality and politics project' (n=1623).
Findings:
Parents' education level = important factor for students participating in HE: "having a university-educated parent continues to exert a direct effect on an individual's propensity to graduate from university" (abstract)
Expansion of HE system since 1970s has ameliorated inequity related to gender but inequality related to SES (low) persists.
Males with a university-educated father = 2.8 times more likely to have graduated than other men.
Women with a university-educated father = 3.7 times more likely to have graduated than other women (p.208)
Core argument: Structural impediment to meeting 40% target = "lower number of 'eligible' higher education students within the lower socioeconomic strata of society because these students are less likely to complete secondary school and those who do complete secondary school tend to have lower levels of attainment than their more privileged peers" (p.210). Also need to consider impact of private schools ('artificial inflation of of ENTER), so university admissions should amend policies accordingly. Also notes arguments about contested measurement of SES based on postcode.

Context: Increasing interest in educational transitions for UK/ European policy makers, as well as an important area of inquiry for sociologists of education. Colley argues that in studies of transition, notion of change has been prioritised over the notion of time - with much of the literature based on commonsensical ideas of time (linear, 'natural flow').
Aim: The paper is "an attempt both to make visible the social theories of time that tacitly inform much sociological study of learning transitions and to demonstrate the potential of alternative, feminist theories of time to inform radical sociological studies in this field" (p.428).
Theoretical frame: Feminist theory/ androcentric thinking/ sociological notions of time
Author argues that increased attention to transition = increasing individualisation/ neoliberal economic imperatives, resulting in linear thinking around transition. Dominant construction of transition = change over time" (p.428).
Colley reports Ecclestone (2006), which outlines 4 different conceptions of transitions in policy/ academic literature:
1) Institutional transitions (dominant in policy and policy-related literature), which "promote[s] a highly teleological notion of 'progression' as a linear trajectory onward and upward, and [policy makers/ employers] increasingly deflect responsibility onto the individual for learning and furthering their own career development" (p.429). Punitive approach
2) Institutional/ layered transitions, where 'contextual change' may occur in same time frame; may involve changes in socially regulated identities (transitions = products of social institutions/ produced by social expectations - Ecclestone, 2006). Reparative approach
3) Individual and collective transitions: agency and structure at 'turning points' - shift in thinking from life cycle to lifecourse, with lifecourse analysis emphasising wider, messy interrelationships between family, home, study, work, and historical time.
4) Life-as-transition = 'permanent state of becoming' (Ecclestone, 2006); always 'lost in transition' as 'a condition of our subjectivity' (Quinn, 2006).
Conceptualisations of time: 'dualistic binary' of social and natural time: sequential, linear - interplay of memory and anticipation (Augustine) or a priori element of consciousness (Kant) v. natural/ observable/ physical sciences. Author notes how assumed natural elements of 'clock time' = socially constructed through timetables, schedules (see Foucault, 1991). Author notes work of Turetzky (1998), whose work "treats time as a triadic phenomenon: opening up the present to split the past from the future and, in doing so, allowing for ever-new becomings" (p.431). Biesta & Tedder (2006) make rare use of triadic flow-view of time, arguing that "human agency exists as series of changing orientations to its triadic elements:
- iterational orientations to influences from the past
- projective orientations to future possibilities
- practical-evaluative orientations to engagement with the present" (p.431).
Biesta & Tedder (2006) = argue, "that we need to understand how the flow of time and different temporal contexts support particular orientations and enable possible ways of acting" (p.432).
Bourdieu's (1992) notion of practice = act of temporalisation: "Practice anticipates the regularities and tendencies that are immanent in our social world, the future inscribed in the immediacy of the present and implied by the past that has produced our habitus" (p.432). Field and habitus = modes of existence of history. Adams (e.g. 1995) = argues that perceptions/ experiences of time. Linear, irreversible view of time = patriarchal view of time; non-essentialist feminist theory of time is needed (see table on p.434)
Methodology: Applies theoretical lens to Mojab's (2006) study of Kurdish women in Sweden
Findings:
Describes lack of recognition of prior learning, knowledges, skills. Learning for many women = low level, work-focused training = represents a form of "traumatic violence" (p.436). Women's experiences of such symbolic and traumatic violence = compounded by deeply patriarchal Kurdish culture.
Mojab conceptualises the temporal aspect of these women's experiences as 'Closure-Opening-Closure' dialectical cycle (see p.438), although author argues that the cyclical metaphor = too simplistic, and suggests that a rhizomatic movement could better depict the 'web of contradictions'
Refugee specific question: "What might it mean to have been uprooted by war, to find one's possibilities for action and one's learning denied rather than renewed, in a context where one's life has been dedicated to the struggle for a homeland that is occupied, partitioned and oppressed?" (p.438).
Colley analyses transitions at different scales of time and place: epochs, periods of time/ geographic locations, micro-individual level
Core argument: Dualistic conceptions of time = unhelpful for describing the experiences of the women in Mojab's study. Study makes contribution by foregrounding both aspects of time, and viewing them in relation to each other [in context of change]; a "more critical, feminist analysis might read these life histories by paraphrasing the terms of Marx: as women making history, but not in conditions of their own making, and only succeeding when they are able to be conscious of themselves as a gender and engage in collective struggle" (p.440)

Transitions "may then be viewed as a process of change in particular times, that is to say, in particular epochs,
periods or moments, and mediated by the gendered, racialised and classed practices which engender those times" (p.440).

Context: Educational psychological. Argues that sociocultural framing can best help to develop understandings of transition - linking thought and agency to situatedness. Application of theoretical frameworks with transitions from primary to secondary education and beyond.
Aim: To explore transitions using sociocultural theory
Theoretical frame: Vygotksy's sociocultural theory (participation in sociohistorical and cultural events = foundation for developing psychological processes) for 3 frameworks: 1) consequential transitions; 2) symbolic transitions; 3) communities of practice. Transition = more than change as product; it's also process of changing (more than changing physical location/ developmental stages: "Transitions are complex and multi-faceted and invariably involve changes to self-identity born out of uncertainty in the social and cultural worlds of the individual" (p.10).
Methodology: Essay
Discussion:
Transition as consequential (Beach, 1999): transitions have consequences for sociocultural context [and = dialogic presumably]. Beach = typology of transitions = argues transition is reconstruction of self/ activities:
- Lateral transitions = occur when an individual moves between two historically related activities in a single direction; participation in one activity = replaced with participation in another activity (such as primary to secondary school; studying while working)
- Collateral transitions = relatively simultaneous participation in two or more historically related activities (such as moving between classes)
- Encompassing transitions = "occur within the boundaries of a social activity that is itself changing, and is often where an individual is adapting to existing or changing circumstances in order to continue participation in the activity e.g. teachers undertaking new education reform" (e.g. generational change)
- Mediational transitions: "occur within education activities that project or simulate involvement in an activity yet to be fully experienced" (e.g. learning a skill, playing shops at school)
Ruptures and uncertainty: 3 types of rupture
- Change in cultural context
- Change to 'sphere of experience'
- Change in relationships
Communities of Practice = transition = process of joining and becoming members (from periphery to more central membership). Also communities change over time and are changed also by new members. CoP also permits gaze to focus on inter-relationships between members
Core argument: Transitions = 'complex and multifaceted' and involve change in self-identity born out of uncertainty. Transitions = inherently social. Through adopting sociocultural framing, transition "requires us to move beyond merely focusing on the functional changes that are taking place (i.e. the outcomes) when a pupil or student is moving into a new educational environment or learning situation, to also taking into account some of the inner shifts that individuals are experiencing (i.e. the process). The uncertainty and 'newness' associated with change will involve a search for meaning and a reconstruction of sense of self. As a result, individuals undergoing transitions of various forms will emerge with a reformed identity" (p.?).