http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49035 Sun, 19 May 2013 17:22:27 GMT 2013-05-19T17:22:27Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49240 Title: Improving Learning, Skills and Inclusion: The Impact of Policy on Post-Compulsory Education Authors: Coffield, F; Edward, S; Finlay, I; Hodgson, A; Spours, K; Steer, R Description: This is the first book to examine the turbulent but important learning and skills sector both from above, by interviewing the officials responsible for it, and from below, by talking to hundreds of learners and front-line staff. Even though this sector caters for over 6 million learners and will play a key role in how prosperous and fair the UK will become, it is not well understood by practitioners or policy-makers. For over three years, the authors explored the interactions between these two groups by examining how policy is created and enacted in further, adult and work-based learning. Our data are presented as a series of stories: the learners’ experiences, the plans of the policy-makers to bring about radical change, and the struggles of tutors and managers, juggling both change and continuity. We also explain how the sector as a whole operates, as policy is mediated and translated by numerous actors at different levels. Our main finding is that the sector is undergoing a fundamental shift from area-based planning to a more marketised ‘demand-led system’ intended to give employers and learners more say over provision. Our evidence suggests that this high-risk strategy may destabilise FE colleges and other education providers and exclude disadvantaged learners. We outline the elements of an alternative system, underpinned by three principles: putting the relationship between tutor and learner at the heart of the new system; placing the claims of equity for once above the demands for economic efficiency; and ensuring a more moderate pace of change. Our alternative is based on ‘devolved social partnership’, where power is more equally shared between government and employers, trade unions, professionals and community representatives. This book is an invaluable resource for tutors, managers and institutional leaders in FE Colleges, Adult and Community Learning Centres and Work Based Learning sites. Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49240 2008-03-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49236 Title: Literacies for Learning in Further Education: promoting inclusive learning across boundaries through students' literacy practices Authors: Mannion, G; Miller, K Description: This paper gives a theoretical framing for the study of literacy practices in context, focusing on issues of identity, multimodality and polycontextuality. It describes the 'icon mapping' methodology used to elicit students' perspectives on the polycontextuality of their literacy practices, providing both quantitative and qualitative findings emerging from the analysis of this data. Two contrasting student case studies - one of a Catering student and one of a Music student - show how different the interface can be between life, workplace and college. The concept of 'boundary object' is shown to be useful for theorising this interface. Thu, 01 Sep 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49236 2005-09-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49096 Title: Transitions into and out of Higher Education: The experiences of 'disabled' students' Authors: Weedon, E; Riddell, S Description: This paper examines the experiences of two disabled students from a UK university. Data from this four-year longitudinal ESCR/TLRP study explored how these students made the initial transition into university and their progress towards the end point of their university career. These two biographies were selected from groups of 10 to 14 students from four institutions who had been followed for nearly three years with semi-structured interviews augmented with key informant interviews, observations in learning contexts and interviews with academic staff. In turn, these had been selected from an initial sample of 1000 disabled students from the four institutions who were surveyed over a four-year period. There was considerable variety in the type of disability reported. Although these students share the label ‘disabled' they also hold another perspective that they are not disabled. These two students are typical of the sample in that they emphasise the ‘atypicality’ of the average disabled student. The way that these students experienced and managed the transitions both into and out of the institution differs. These differences cannot be accounted for solely by reference to their impairment. Within-institutional differences such as the practices of different departments, attitudes among staff at all levels towards disability and, possibly more importantly, the social and cultural backgrounds of the students also played a role. In examining the differences between the students the paper also considers how transitions in and out of education are becoming increasingly a part of the lifelong learning agenda of policy makers. Higher education in the UK has undergone considerable change in the past two decades (see e.g. Riddell, et al, 2006) with a decrease in resources and an increase in the management of higher education which includes performance targets for specific groups such as disabled students. Institutional transitions from school to university or college to university are thus part of our social system and cannot be seen from a purely individual perspective (Ecclestone, et al, 2006). While transitions in and out of institutions and possibly within them, e.g. progression from the first two years of a university course into the honours part of a degree can be identified, these transitions have to be seen in the perspective of an individual’s overall learning career. Bloomer, (2001) notes that in order to understand the choices a student makes in order to become and continue as a student it is essential to take into account gender differences, family background, prior educational experiences and attainments and institutional cultures. The experiences of these students add to earlier studies (Riddell, et al 2005) and provide institutions and policy-makers with evidence that can be used to enhance the experiences of disabled students in higher education. Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49096 2007-06-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49113 Title: Reasonable adjustments and disabled students’ experiences of learning, teaching and assessment Authors: Healey, M; Roberts, H; Fuller, M; Georgeson, J; Hurst, A; Kelly, K; Riddell, S; Weedon, E Description: This article is based on a conference paper given by the first two authors at the ESRC/TLRP project conference ‘Enhancing the Quality and Outcomes of Disabled Students’ Learning in Higher Education’ at the University of Edinburgh on 24th October 2007 and draws on material in forthcoming chapters from the project (Fuller and Healey, forthcoming; Roberts, forthcoming). This article summarises the findings relating to learning, teaching and assessment of the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) project ‘Enhancing the Quality and Outcomes of Disabled Students’ Learning in Higher Education’, led by Professor Mary Fuller. The project has sought to remedy this research gap by documenting disabled students’ experiences of higher education in the students’ own words. The study draws on longitudinal interviews with 31 disabled students about their experiences of learning, teaching and assessment across four universities. It also supplements these findings with material from a survey of 548 disabled and non-disabled students at one of the universities. Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2428/49113 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z