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International Journal of Lifelong Education
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Equality of educational opportunity since the 1944 Education Act has been “the bedrock of social and political discourse” (TLRP, 2008). Central to this discourse have been the attempts to create a socially representative university sector (Reay et al., 2005). Widening Participation (WP) is a controversial issue for Higher Education (HE) because it generates ideologically different views about what constitutes access and participation. New Labour again exposed these views with explicit intentions to consolidate movement from elite to mass system of HE by WP from 31% to 50% by 2010 (DfES, 2003). Political rationales for contemporary WP are products of macro - economic and social justice policy objectives. These objectives are framed within requirements for a ‘knowledge economy or a learning society to ensure success in the global market’ (Thomas, 2001: 4). This however is not a new phenomenon. The history of HE is a recurring story of legislative attempts to ‘manage human capital and achieve economic growth’ by changing the social composition of HE (Kettley, 2007: 333). This essay will explore recurring drivers in key historical HE policies and deconstruct the statistical progress of WP and its repercussions against the backdrop of ideological tensions, in which there are two generally distinctive positions. One view is that a systematic shift is required in HE infrastructure away from a differentiated and stratified system by implementing fully democratic inclusive WP policies across the sector (Sheeran et al., 2007). The other meritocratic view is still an inclusive view of WP for talented students from disadvantaged socio-economic groups but a serious concern that any significant increase in access to HE ‘raises the spectre of lowering standards’ in world class HE institutions (Woodrow et al., 1998: 112).
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Social Policy and Society
