Beyond widening participation

• Published in: The Right to Higher Education pp. 189 - 196
• Main Author: Burke, Penny Jane
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2012
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Widening Participation; Higher Education; Good Life; Higher Educational Access; Secretary Of State; Widening Participation Policy; Case Study Higher Education Institutions; ESRC Study; Contemporary Societies; Vice Versa; Performative Subjectivities; Widening Participation Policy Agenda; Higher Educational Participation; Tr Ac; Widening Participation Discourses; Widening Participation Practitioners; Gdp Growth; Young Men; Lo Ca; Student Subject Positioning; Cross-boundary Professionals
• ISBN: 0415568242; 9780415568241; 0415568234; 9780415568234
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203125571-16

In acknowledging the complex issues raised throughout this book, which emphasize the ways that power is exercised in intensely hierarchical institutions such as universities, the difficulties posed for a transformative approach to widening participation emerges. Indeed, in taking seriously the analysis presented in the book, how can those committed to a transformative project of widening participation help to shift practices away from the utilitarian approaches currently prioritized in policy and practice? If those who occupy positions of authority and power in relation to setting the framework and making key decisions re-privilege discourses of utilitarianism and deficit, then how can we expect to move away from such approaches? It is important of course to note the ways that higher education institutions, and the senior management teams within them, are regulated, subjected to surveillance, assessed and placed in global, national and local hierarchies in ways that profoundly constrain the possibilities for change and transformation. However, drawing on the critical tools of the body of theoretical work discussed in this book will move us towards praxis and will support the collaborative development of counter-hegemonic and subversive practices of resistance.