Access & Widening Participation: A Good Practice Guide

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Access and Widening Participation: A Good Practice GuideSiobhán Holland

Report Series

Number 4February 2003

EnglishSubject Centre

A Report to the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) English Subject Centre

Access and Widening Participation: A Good Practice Guide

Dr Siobhán Holland

English Subject Centre, Royal Holloway, University of London

ISBN 0 902 19473 9

Copyright Statement

a) The author of this report is Dr Siobhán Holland,who should be referenced in any citations of thereport and acknowledged in any quotations from it.

b) Copyright in the report resides with the publisher,the LTSN English Subject Centre, from whompermission to reproduce all or part of the reportshould be obtained.

c) If any additional use is made of the secondary data, the source must be acknowledged.

Foreword 1

Aims & Introduction 2

Contexts 3

Reflecting on current practice 5

Conclusions 9

Case Study 1: Manchester Metropolitan University 10

Case Study 2: University of Teesside 12

Case Study 3: King Alfred’s College, Winchester 14

Case Study 4: Student Views 16

Appendix A: Access and widening participation for students with disabilities 19

References 24

Bibliography 27

Links 28

Contents

As Dr Holland notes in the report, the discipline ofEnglish has a historic and continuous concern withsocial inclusiveness. In recent years particularly, thispredisposition has led to pedagogic and curricularinnovations addressing deficits in the kinds of voicesheard in the classroom across the whole range ofEnglish and Creative Writing. Without a doubt, theculture of English is receptive to policies that are incomplementary relation to its intellectualdevelopments. Yet the challenges of Access andWidening Participation will require much to be builtupon this strong sympathetic foundation in the way ofsound strategies. This report should contribute to thisprocess through providing models of how departmentsare currently responding. It is also clear to all involvedthat success in this area will depend on the establishingof long-term strategies and partnerships with schools,further education colleges, and other constituencies,and careful application of resources. This latter isparticularly important in the context of retention andsupport.

Copies of the report will be distributed toDepartments, and an electronic version can bedownloaded from the English Subject Centre websiteat www.english.ltsn.ac.uk

Professor Philip MartinDirector, English Subject CentreRoyal Holloway, University of LondonDecember 2002

Access and Widening Participation 1

ForewordThe English Subject Centre Report Series aims toprovide contextual information about the condition ofthe subject, its relation to national HE policies, and thepractical and academic concerns shared by EnglishDepartments at the present time. Thereby, the seriesintends to assist departments in their planning, and intheir understanding of their own positions.

This fourth report is in the form of a good practiceguide, and takes as its subject Access and WideningParticipation (AWP), one of the largest shifts ingovernment policy for Higher Education in recenttimes. At the time of this report’s completion, theHigher Educational Funding Council for England hasannounced its intention to make AWP one of the fourcore institutional activities through which funding willbe channelled (alongside teaching, research, andbusiness and community). All the funding councils inthe UK have made AWP a top priority, anddevelopments to date have indicated that this policyhas a deep saturation within institutions, andaccordingly, substantial impact on teaching and thecurriculum. Subject specific work on this is thereforeappropriate since many of the responsibilities for theadmission, retention and support of under-representedgroups are being devolved to department level.

The English Subject Centre began work in this areain 2001-2 with preliminary and informal surveys aboutthe impact of this policy in English Departments, andDr Siobhán Holland took on responsibility for theproduction and authorship of this guide. She has alsoinvestigated the implications, at departmental level, ofrecent legislation on disability and education.Subsequently she has been working with the threepartner institutions represented here to demonstratethe ways in which different departments are respondingto the new requirements, while simultaneouslygathering materials which exemplify good practice. Theinstitutions selected cannot be fully representative ofthe diversity of the sector or the subject, but they aresufficiently different in terms of their regional contextsand institutional characters to indicate the differentways in which English Departments are addressing therecruitment of under-represented groups. We are verygrateful for the ready co-operation of the EnglishDepartments at King Alfred’s College, Winchester,Manchester Metropolitan University, and theUniversity of Teesside.

Aims

The move to promote access and widening participationin Higher Education (HE) represents a major policychange which impacts on all institutions and has itseffects, in turn, on academic departments and practiceat the disciplinary level. Departments which teachEnglish Literature, Language and Creative Writing arebeing challenged by faculties and institutions todevelop policies and strategies to support under-represented students. English is traditionally aninclusive discipline, sensitive to the ways in whichexclusions on the grounds of gender, race, age andphysical ability operate. Nevertheless, all departmentswill need to review some aspects of their practice interms of their recruitment procedures, inductionstrategies and curricula.

This report offers colleagues in our disciplinesexamples of current good practice in relation towidening participation. It presents case studies ofdepartments with experience of teaching under-represented students. It places them in the context ofbroader national debates within HE and suggestsstrategies for consideration by departments which arereviewing their practice.

It is focused primarily on subject-specific anddepartmental practice on the basis that students arerecruited and supported by departments, to subjectareas, in the first instance and their experience of HE isshaped largely by departmental culture as well assubject-specific discourses and challenges.

Introduction

The report uses the term ‘under-represented students’ torefer to those with no family history of HE experiences,economically disadvantaged students, students fromethnic minorities and disabled students. It concentratesprimarily on widening access and participation atundergraduate level, though participation is also anissue in terms of postgraduate study.

It includes a number of case studies which relate topractice at Manchester Metropolitan University, KingAlfred’s College, Winchester, and the University ofTeesside respectively. The case studies are based oninterviews with Heads of Department, Heads of LevelOne and Admissions Tutors, among others. The casestudies draw attention to examples of good practice.They also ask staff in participating departments to givetheir views on the charges of ‘dumbing down’ which are

sometimes levelled at departments which have adaptedcurricula and procedures to support under-representedstudents. The case studies discuss subject-specificconcerns about diversity in the cultural capital ofincoming students and examine the relevance ofbenchmark standards to widening participation issues.

In addition to providing case studies, the reportdraws attention to departmental, institutional andnational initiatives which have been established inadvance of, or to contribute to, the government’spolicy of access and widening participation in HigherEducation.1 It also introduces a discussion of theimpact on students and departments of the new legalrequirements associated with the DisabilityDiscrimination Act (1995). The Special EducationalNeeds and Disability Act (SENDA), effective fromSeptember 2002, modifies the 1995 DisabilityDiscrimination Act and deals specifically witheducation.2

The report aims to contribute to a debate aboutaccess and widening participation in English Literature,Language and Creative Writing. It does not provide anexclusive or comprehensive account of good practice inthese disciplines. The activities of the lecturers involvedin this study do, nevertheless, provide positiveexamples of possible approaches to widening access andparticipation.

Access and Widening Participation2

Aims & Introduction

National initiatives

The government, the Scottish Executive and the WelshAssembly together with the Higher Education FundingCouncils are working to encourage wider participationin HE. If current government targets are met, 50% ofpeople under 30 will have had some experience of HEby 2010.3

Funding has been used as the primary driver toencourage change at institutional level, and much ofthis funding has been distributed in relation to a‘postcode premium’ whereby a student’s location at thepoint of application has been used as an indicator of hisor her social class and likelihood of applying to HE.Although funding will continue to be used to encouragewidening participation, it seems likely that the FundingCouncils will move away from use of the ‘postcodepremium’. The Higher Education Funding Council forEngland (HEFCE) suggests that the use of this strategyto encourage recruitment of students from under-represented areas is now skewing applications andadmissions procedures in some institutions. It is likelythat HEFCE will now ‘change the basis for allocatingthe premium to [a system] which uses a profile of entryqualifications and age.’ 4

The Funding Councils have also used other fundingstreams to encourage widening participation. Forexample, the Scottish Funding Council (SHEFC) hasset up a website which is directed towards Scottishschool-leavers who are considering their post-schooloptions.5 The Welsh Funding Council (HEFCW) hasestablished a Widening Access Fund which providesmoney to institutions in addition to that allottedthrough its premium funding scheme. Meanwhile, theHigher Education Funding Council for England runsthe Action on Access project.6 Funding Council resourceshave also been used to develop ‘summer school’ and‘master class’ schemes which offer school students anopportunity to sample HE before they begin theapplication process.

Currently the profile of recruitment is variable andcan depend on regional economic factors among otherissues. For example, HEFCW notes that, according tofigures for 1998-99, ‘the Welsh higher education sector[is] achieving higher percentages of recruitment thanthe UK average of young full-time undergraduates fromstate schools, part-time mature students from lowparticipation neighbourhoods, and young full-timeundergraduates whose parents have occupations classedas skilled manual, semi-skilled or unskilled.’7

External pressure to increase levels of participation isdirected at institutions and therefore institutionalpolicies and profiles affect any decisions made atdepartmental and subject level about strategies forwidening access. Some institutions, for example, aregiving departments numerical targets for therecruitment of under-represented students. Some havefor many years pursued recruitment strategies whichaim to widen participation in the long term. Othersmake use of recruiting policies which are based largelyon selection on the basis of their research profile andtheir institution’s historic success in recruiting students.

Departments which are in a position to selectundergraduates from a large pool of applicants,especially those located in universities which havetraditionally recruited selectively, may have difficulty inestablishing workable policies for recruiting and makingdecisions about prospective under-representedstudents. Meanwhile departments which need to recruitmore intensively may already be engaged incollaborative activities with local schools or accesscourses in order to attract applicants from under-represented backgrounds. Institutional profiles oftenimpact directly on these initiatives. It would be amistake however to assume that institutional profilecorrelates absolutely with recruitment trends atdepartmental level. For example, several Englishdepartments in institutions with established reputationsfor widening access are in a position to recruitselectively and choose to continue to select a largenumber of students from under-representedconstituencies.

Widening participation at subject level

The widening participation agenda has not impacted inthe same way on all academic subjects. Its emphasis onskills and employability has lent itself to adoption by,and association with, subjects with a strong vocationalfocus.8 Nonetheless, it has had an impact on the waysin which academics in English Studies account for theirpractices. The widespread adoption of the EnglishBenchmarking Statement as a useful guide to graduateskills in English demonstrates a move towardsexplaining programmes in terms of the skills with whichthey will equip students.9

The English Subject Centre has also noted the waysin which English Studies programmes are developingstrategies to promote the employability of theirgraduates as well as different kinds of work-based


Contexts

modules.10 Creative Writing programmes are alsoengaged in developing students’ vocational skills in anumber of ways. Clearly, any assumption thathumanities subjects are not vocational is problematic.

Whether or not departments are developing subject-specific strategies to improve students’ skills for theworkplace, and however their institution is respondingto national agendas about widening participation, thereis a need for lecturers to devise strategies, atdepartmental and subject level, to support under-represented students. Students’ primary point ofcontact with HE is established through the departmentand the subject area. (This contact can, of course bemore complex for students on joint or combinedhonours courses.)

It is important that departments consider the ways inwhich their practical procedures, as well as theirpresentation of the subject and curriculardevelopments, impact on students from under-represented groups. This does not mean thatdepartments should adopt special measures for thesestudents. Rather they can ensure best practice bycommunicating with all students clearly and effectively.Some general recommendations, drawn from the casestudies, are presented for consideration below.


Contexts

Recruitment & outreach

The English departments at Manchester MetropolitanUniversity (MMU), King Alfred’s College, Winchesterand the University of Teesside collaborated in thisstudy. Staff in all three departments stressed theimportance of setting up positive connections withprospective students as early as possible in theapplication process. At MMU, a policy has beenintroduced which ensures that all applicants areinterviewed prior to being offered a place (not auniversal practice in English departments). At Teesside,members of staff are available to answer any queries thatstudents may have at any stage of the applicationprocess and the institution’s ‘Passport’ schemeencourages prospective students to develop a sense thatthey belong to the university’s community even beforethey apply (see individual case studies for furtherdetails). This kind of initiative encourages people tomake enquiries, offers face-to-face contact and providesongoing opportunities for prospective students to posequestions of departmental staff. Lecturers at both ofthese universities stress the importance of establishingclear lines of communication for students who may beinclined to think of universities as places where they donot belong or are not wanted.

The departments involved in the case studies useoutreach strategies to make contact with students whomay not have planned to go on to HE. All are involvedin nationally-funded initiatives which are designed toencourage applications from under-represented groupsof school-leaving students. At King Alfred’s, thedepartment is involved in running summer schools and‘master classes’, for instance. Lecturers at MMU andTeesside visit local schools or meet students who visitthe university on school trips. The English departmentat King Alfred’s College is involved in a project wherebylocal schools have a named contact from one of thecollege’s academic departments who is available torespond to any queries that teachers and students mayhave about HE. Sadie Williams, the author of theEnglish Subject Centre’s report on Admission Trends inUndergraduate English: Statistics and Attitudes, found thatschool teachers recommended ‘positive marketing’ asone of the ways in which English could improve itsgeneral recruitment and clearly this kind of marketing,sensitively handled, can also help to advance therecruitment of under-represented students.11

Departmental links to local Access courses and theinstitution’s and department’s visibility in the localcommunity are important factors in encouragingapplications from mature students. All of thedepartments involved emphasised the value ofrecruiting and retaining mature students whose widerange of experience often makes them a real asset toprogrammes in English Literature, Language andCreative Writing.

Information

During the recruitment process, clear informationabout programmes, facilities and flexibility canencourage applications from students who come fromunder-represented constituencies. This information caneasily be directed to applicants, where appropriate, inleaflet form or through the involvement of under-represented students in open days and otherrecruitment events. Mature students with caringresponsibilities or disabled students are encouraged toapply if this information is provided before they makechoices about the suitability of a degree programme.

The SENDA legislation which came into force inSeptember 2002 makes it a legal requirement forprospective disabled students to be provided withadvance information about provision for them atinstitutional but also at programme level.12 Departmentsmust explain in advance and accurately the ways inwhich they will cater for a student’s needs. In AppendixA to this report, which focusses on disability, somesuggestions are made about how to flag practicalsupport mechanisms at departmental level inprospectus materials. It is important for departments torecognise that the duty to provide information aboutthis provision is not restricted to the institution’srequirement to explain its generic support mechanisms.

Institutions are, of course, likely to be involved inproviding some of the information, support andguidelines necessary. In Wales, institutions have alreadyproduced ‘disability provision development plans’ forHEFCW and these may already be impacting onpractice at institutional and faculty level.13 However,this does not relieve departments of the responsibilityto explain their own systems for, among other things,helping all students to benefit from lecture material,film screenings, theatre visits, the use of virtual learningenvironments on-line and assessment feedback.


Reflecting on current practice


Many students from under-represented groups havesubstantial caring responsibilities and the studentsinterviewed for this study stressed the importance ofbeing given clear practical information about theirprogramme as early as possible in the recruitmentprocess. This information would ideally cover issuessuch as timetabling, procedures for claimingextenuating circumstances and details of any proceduresrelating to moves between full- and part-timeprogrammes. One of the students interviewedcommented that if she had known before she arrived inHE how well her department catered for maturestudents with children she would have applied for aplace much more readily. The students interviewedstressed that clear information provided well in advanceof the programme’s commencement and each semesterallows them to plan effectively and to avoid problemscropping up during term-time (when, for example,reading weeks may not coincide with local half-termbreaks).

Clear timetabling systems can also make it easier forstudents with financial difficulties to plan their part-time employment more efficiently. Departments areoften constrained in their use of timetable slots byfaculty-level or institutional systems but it isnevertheless usually possible to ensure that ‘core’lectures do not take place at 9am, when many studentswill be taking their children to school. At MMU, wherethe curriculum is delivered in timetabled blocks, thestudents can make clear plans about the times they setaside to pursue their studies and their otherresponsibilities. When students receive informationabout this kind of practical support in advance of theirstudies, it can encourage recruitment and retention.

Induction

The departments involved in this project explained thatthey do not employ any special strategies for under-represented students during the induction process.However, this does not mean that the attention theydirect towards these students before they register for aprogramme wanes when they arrive. Instead, thedepartments involved in the case studies stressed theneed for the provision of clear and relevant informationfor all students at this potentially stressful time. Theyalso make sure that lecturers are available to answerquestions about all aspects of the course. Severaldepartments, not included in this report, involvestudent mentors in the induction process to providenon-intimidating opportunities for students to establish

a clear understanding of HE practices. Manydepartments run social events to encourage students toget to know one another. These kinds of events can beespecially important for students who are not residentin student accommodation and are therefore unlikelyto meet other students on their programme beforeteaching commences. Alerting students about the timeand location of this kind of event before they arrive inHE will enable those with caring responsibilities to planfor attendance.

Induction procedures can help students to settle intoHE where they help them to understand its proceduresand terminologies. The students interviewed for thisreport suggested that at the outset of their programmethey had been acutely conscious of what they did notknow about HE. The careful introduction of terms suchas lecture, seminar, tutorial, module, course and unitwill be of benefit to all students. Many students fromwell-represented groups will be as mystified byterminology as are their less well-representedcounterparts, but they are less likely to assume thatother students really know what is being talked aboutand that they are being deliberately excluded. Carefulglossing and the provision of opportunities for studentsto ask questions and clarify their understanding ofprocedures are crucial. The need for this kind ofglossing is especially acute at assessment time and iscertainly not the preserve of the induction period.

Departments need to provide clear opportunities forstudents to ask for help at the outset of theirprogrammes. Some of these opportunities will involveinvesting staff time in ‘fresher’s week’ events andsubject level induction meetings. Additional forms ofsupport might include the development of mentoringschemes. At the University of Manchester, a well-organised, department-based student mentoringscheme provides support for students throughout theirprogrammes and provides support during the inductionperiod. While some departments use level handbooksand/or module handbooks only to explain regulations,others—including the University of Birmingham, forexample—use these documents to perform additionalless formal roles, so that handbooks provide positiveand informative sources of information for students,clearly flagging departmental, institutional andadditional forms of support.



The curriculum

All of the departments involved in the case studiesrejected charges that adapting the curriculum for under-represented students involves ‘dumbing down’ thesubject. The lecturers interviewed were clear that theywere asking students to read complex texts and engagewith key critical debates. At Teesside students areexpected to study literary theory throughout theprogramme and, for example, take modules whichrequire them to write critically about non-canonicalRenaissance texts which are not supported by largeamounts of secondary criticism.

While lecturers in the departments discussed hereensure that the contents of the curricula they deliver arecomparable to those elsewhere, they have made carefulplans to ensure that students are well integrated intoacademic study and subject-specific discourses. Somedepartments have developed modules which specificallyaddress students’ skills. In the English department atMMU, for example, first year students complete a modulein ‘Writing Skills and Research Methods’ which is taughtto relatively small groups of 15 students. The departmentat Teesside also delivers this kind of specific skills support.Similar modules can be found in a wide variety of Englishdepartments and the materials developed by the Speak-Write project are perhaps the best-known resourcesavailable to English departments which want students toreflect on skills in a subject-specific context.14

Whether or not departments take up this directapproach, the departments visited in the course of thisproject stress the importance of flagging, explicitly,opportunities for skills development within the structureof modules, especially in the first year. The case studiessuggest that the careful pacing of subject material and thedirect discussion of skills in ‘subject-specific’ seminarscan help all students to develop the ability to operatemore independently as their studies progress. (Thisapproach has been trialled in the English Department atStaffordshire University where a virtual learningenvironment supports students as they develop theassessment skills they need to complete a literary studiesmodule.)15

At MMU, the delivery of the curriculum has beensubject to radical practical changes to ensure thatlecturers provide students with the best opportunities tolearn subject-specific approaches to literature. Moduleswhich were delivered in a ‘1+1’ lecture and seminarformat are now delivered in a ‘1+2’ format in whichtutors run two-hour workshops for students.

Changes in the curriculum might arouse fears ofdumbing down, and indeed some academics in oursubject community have expressed concerns thatchanges in the delivery of the curriculum will encouragestudents to become increasingly dependent on ‘spoon-feeding’. None of the departments involved in this studyaccept that they are spoon-feeding students. Instead, thelecturers interviewed emphasised that when—at theoutset of a programme—a department addresses studentsclearly, sets out its expectations transparently andprovides support for students as they learn to workwithin the subject area they have chosen to study, it isactively helping students to develop the skills they needto work confidently and independently in and beyondtheir undergraduate careers.

As they review the accessibility of the curriculum,departments can use a number of strategies to identifystudents’ points of need. Departments can work withinexisting structures and make use of the views of studentrepresentatives, or they can engage in more detailedsurveys of student views, such as the one MMU usesannually to investigate its recruitment and inductionprocedures. A review of the curriculum’s accessibility willalso need to take into consideration the needs ofdisabled students and the appendix to this report makessuggestions about where these kinds of curricular changemight be required in English Language, Literature andCreative Writing programmes.

The new ‘Personal Development Planning’ (PDP)schemes, compulsory in HE from 2005, will ensure thateach student has an opportunity to discuss her or his‘progress file’ with a tutor at regular intervals throughouta programme. Some of the case studies related to thePADSHE project on project files, developed in theEnglish department at the University of Nottingham,discuss experiences of using progress files with under-represented students in English departments.16 Becausethese PDP schemes are compulsory and represent asubstantial commitment in terms of time and planning,departments will be looking to establish how best theycan help to embed other departmental projects, onliteracy or employability, for example. They canobviously be used to identify the success with whichindividual students have established themselvesconfidently in HE. They can provide opportunities fordepartments to identify areas in which clarity or supportis lacking in their own practice, and to track the progressof new policies which are designed to offer clarity andsupport to all students, particularly those from under-represented groups.


8


Access and Widening Participation

Referral mechanisms

As the lecturers at Teesside explain, students fromunder-represented groups are often more likely thantheir counterparts to have non-academic difficultieswhich affect their learning. Equally, these students maynot have the support networks available to studentswhose families and friends ‘expected’ them to go intoHE, and who are themselves familiar with some of thechallenges that HE poses.

It will often be important to refer students to otherservices within an institution. These might includestudy skills centres, disability support services andcounselling services. Nevertheless, research intostudents’ psychological health shows that, after friendsand family, teaching staff are the people that studentsare most likely to approach for help in the first instancewhen they are experiencing difficulties.17 It is importantthat lecturers are fully aware of the support mechanismsavailable within their institution, and the departmentitself, and feel comfortable with listening to studentscarefully before referring them on to other services.

Robust personal tutor schemes can provide onemeans for departments to ensure that students are awareof the support mechanisms available to them. They canalso help to ensure that students’ rights under dataprotection legislation are protected. A clear andconsistent system through which students can meettutors for individual consultations is also likely to behelpful.

In many departments, part-time tutors teach asubstantial amount of the undergraduate programme.While some departments assign most of the first-yearteaching to full-time staff and use part-time tutorselsewhere, many visiting lecturers have substantialresponsibility for teaching students at the outset of theirstudies. If a department is to establish successfulmechanisms for supporting under-represented students,it is vital that part-time tutors are properly informedabout them, and that any extra work generated in termsof training and workload is properly remunerated. Extrawork for visiting lecturers might figure in terms of officehours and the provision of e-mail support, for example,or part-time tutor representation at departmentalmeetings in which policy is revised.

Conclusions

9Access and Widening Participation

Departments and curricula which are supportive ofaccess and widening participation benefit from clarityabout their aims and practices, can foster for all studentsa sense of ownership of their educational experienceand minimise students’ sense of alienation ormarginalisation within the HE system. Changes made atdepartmental level to admission procedures and thecurriculum can contribute to the recruitment andretention of under-represented students.

Procedures and curricula which are not adapted tochanges in the student body are, this Guide concludes,more likely to constitute unfair practice than provide ‘alevel playing field’. In some departments which teachEnglish Literature, Language and Creative Writingchanges are already advanced, and this Guide makesdiscussion of these adaptations available to our subjectcommunities as a whole.

Choices that departments make about which changesto adopt in the face of widening participation are likelyto be different for different departments and a widerange of practical factors (e.g. institutional, geographicaland financial) will need to be taken into account whendepartmental strategies for widening participation arebeing developed. Nevertheless, there are clearimplications for access and widening participationpolicy at departmental and subject level.

The Subject Centre is developing materials whichexplore issues related to skills and employability inEnglish and related disciplines through our projectfunding programme and through collaboration with theLTSN Generic Centre.18 The English Subject Centrewould like to develop more case studies in this area andwelcomes contributions or enquiries. It will highlightexamples of good practice through its Directory ofExperience and Expertise as well as through its eventsprogramme. It will also provide a gateway to usefulexternal resources through the ‘Access Issues’ section ofits website.19

Case Study 1: Manchester Metropolitan University

10 Access and Widening Participation

The English department at Manchester MetropolitanUniversity is able to recruit selectively, and drawsaround 70% of its students from the local area. It has atradition of recruiting mature students and its urbanlocation also affects its recruitment profile.

The admissions process in the English department atMMU is designed to establish clear lines ofcommunication with the prospective student from theoutset. The department seeks out feedback fromstudents who take up places on the course and around90% of students surveyed in September 2001 said thatthey had found the interview process ‘both useful andfriendly.’ The admissions tutor notes that although theprocess of interviewing is time-consuming and ‘initiallyeveryone was very nervous’ of introducing theprocedure across the board, ‘this year colleagues havevolunteered to do interviews and take on more andmore because they find this a beneficial experience.’

The interview allows lecturers to make informedjudgements about the potential of students who maynot have traditional or straightforwardly excellentqualifications. The department already places a greatdeal of importance on the personal statement studentsmake on their application forms and the interviewprovides another opportunity to gauge commitment tofuture study and to the subject. The admissions tutorexplains that ‘I take a lot from the interview. A standardinterview question is about their reading, and you cantell fairly quickly by their use of vocabulary whether ornot they are engaged in the subject.’

The interview also gives students an opportunity toask questions about the admissions process and aboutthe programme available to them. Students who are notapplying through UCAS can also contact theadmissions tutor directly about the possibility of takingup a place, and these applicants are often looking fordetailed practical information about the applicationprocedure and the structure of the course: ‘Basicallythey ask about the procedures and then the content.’The student questionnaire responses show that theinitial contact at interview and the ‘flexible structure ofstudy’ are important to applicants who go on to take upa place.

The department is involved in a number of schemeswhich are designed to generate the prospective student’s

first contact with the department. Some of thesecontacts are funded by money made available toschools which work to raise educational aspirations inthe inner city, or deprived areas. Others are organisedby the institution or the department. The admissionstutor explains that

We offer sessions to colleges and they contact us and saywhat they want to do. We also run formal seminars andworkshops. We don’t have a school visit programme as such,although we do visit various sixth form colleges and keep upfriendly relations with them. They may send us parties ofstudents for informal induction sessions [or for the universityopen days]. We have an A-Level day once a year in which weinvite school children for tasters of HE and we talk to localcolleges and schools. We say to them that we will interviewanyone over twenty-one. If they show interest we will bringthem in and interview them. We leave them to make thecontact and the minute they do we spend a lot of time withthem as an individual. I am always available to discuss thedegree and application procedures, basically with anyone whocalls me—school and college teachers or individual students—atany stage in their education. And I think it does come acrossin our enrolment questionnaires that individual candidatesappreciate it when we are generous with our time.

The personal contact that students have with thedepartment during the application process isproductive in terms of generating student numbers—‘The amount of individual support we give our studentsworks to sell the university and the department topotential students’—but it also represents a concertedattempt to integrate under-represented students intoHE. The admissions tutor concludes that ‘We have toconnect with them and make sure they know they areimportant to us. It is a cultural thing where everyonerecognises the significance of his or her place in thestudent body.’

The Head of the English Department at ManchesterMetropolitan University explains that the departmenthas an ongoing commitment to recruiting andsupporting mature students: ‘We love mature studentsbecause they work hard and are great to teach. They arefocussed and know where they are going [and] they canhave very powerful aspirations.’ In order to supportthese students, many of whom have substantial caringresponsibilities, significant changes have been made tothe department’s timetable. For the last three years,

Case Study 1


each module has been taught through a three-hoursession which includes lecture and workshop time. Inaddition, students can make use of consultation timewith their tutors. This structure, which has replaced atraditional ‘lecture-seminar’ format, gives tutors ‘morescope to work and to get to know the studentsindividually.’ It also gives students the opportunity toorganise their timetable in half-day blocks. Theprogramme leader explains that ‘This is very importantand the students appreciate it. Our timetable runs sothat they can cope with childcare commitments. Wegive them the timetable information well in advance sothat they can plan childcare arrangements and thisworks very well.’

In the first year, class sizes are limited to 15, andthere is a focus on skills development. The Head ofDepartment argues that:

If these non-standard entrants don’t have the skills weexpect, such as essay-writing, and we don’t provide them, wewill be wasting the time of the student. We have got round thiskind of problem by having a companion course called ‘WritingSkills and Research Methods’ which has a higher level ofindividual contact [and encourages] thinking about writingfor different audiences, formal writing skills andcommunication.

There are some skills issues that the department feelsare associated with mature students. For example, theyare likely to perform, initially, more confidently inseminars than in essays and exams. But as one tutornotes ‘we have realised that we cannot guarantee certainskills, such as research and presentation, in any of ourstudents as these do not show up in previousqualifications.’ The ‘Writing Skills and ResearchMethods’ module is part of a broader curricular projectwhich works to ‘turn our intake into people we can makeassumptions about in year two, even though we cannotmake those assumptions at entry level. Not making a bigdeal of those who are non-standard yet giving everyonethe opportunity of support if they want it.’

The department is increasingly recruiting studentsfrom ethnic minorities. It is also making provision forstudents with disabilities and has its own disabilityofficer. A departmental Braille machine is used toproduce notices and other documents for existingstudents. Lecturers have also arranged for lockers to beprovided so that physically disabled students do not haveto carry books around with them throughout the day.

The Head of Department notes that the currentattempt to involve more under-represented students inHigher Education brings with it major practicalimplications: ‘If you want the kind of concentration ofstaff-student help that will prevent students fromdropping out then this will cost a lot, in terms ofmentoring [and] support.’ If departments are to delivera high level of support to under-represented students,this work needs to be properly resourced.

Case Study 2: University of Teesside


The English department at the University of Teesside isa recruiting department which draws all of its currentfirst year students from its own region. In addition to itsfull-time students, the department also supports a smallnumber of part-time students who take modules fromthe full-time day programme.

Its recruitment of all of these students is affected bythe university’s regional profile as ‘the opportunityuniversity’. The Head of Department explains that:

The institution is very conscious of its position in a post-industrial area. It is in a location where there is a very highlevel of deprivation and a very low level of educationalattainment. The institution has quite deliberately stretchedback, getting students involved at a young age and we have alot of mentor schemes where we get involved with schools. Thisis our official position and quite genuinely it is very pro-active.We are making contact with groups that are very under-represented in Higher Education.

The university’s location does create real issues forrecruitment to arts subjects, however, for reasons thatthe Head of Department relates to ‘the rise of English asa subject. […] What the region is short of is the kind ofclass fraction that would take a high interest in literacyas part of its lifestyle.’

The Teesside department is involved in national,institutional and regional recruiting strategies. Theadmissions tutor explains that:

We have just introduced the Master Class [which is] aninitiative introduced by the university in conjunction with theOxford Excellence Challenge Initiative in the region. The ideais to target students defined as ‘gifted and talented’ who are alsoat school so that we can give them special attention. The MasterClass is an evening class including a number of students fromdifferent schools.

While this kind of scheme works to raise aspirationsabout Higher Education in general, the institution runsa ‘Passport’ scheme which encourages students to buildup a connection with the University of Teesside inparticular. People involved in the scheme receivecertificates for attending campus tours and other eventsand are guaranteed a place if they fulfil the Englishprogramme’s entry requirements. The scheme providespotential applicants with ‘a transition phase where theyget to know the campus and meet the staff.’ Teessidealso has a franchise arrangement with DarlingtonCollege whereby students can do the first year of eitherthe single or joint honours English programme at

Darlington. The department is introducing a mentoringscheme this year through which these students will bementored by students who left Darlington a year beforethem.

In another recruitment initiative, the Englishdepartment is working to target its open days moreeffectively to different age groups so that studentsreceive information which is tailored to their needs.School open days involve a school bringing pupils tothe university for a general introduction to HE.Students are given a tour of the campus and have theoption of attending a range of subject talks. Theuniversity runs separate open days for access studentsand subject-specific open days or ‘discovery days.’ Thesetargeted events aim to develop an applicant’s sense ofinvolvement with the student body, the department andthe institution: ‘the principal motivation behind this isto get students on campus and make them feel athome—plant the university on their horizon, and makethem feel that they can achieve it. Also, we give them ataste of what English study would be like.’

The problems involved in resourcing studentinterviews are an issue here as they are in manydepartments, and interviewing is not common practiceat Teesside. Nevertheless, the admissions tutor does seebenefits to the process of meeting students informallybecause it offers to increase the student’s sense thattheir ability is being recognised by the departmentwhich accepts his or her application. She suggests that:

It is important that the prospective student knows that wehave made a judgement about them. We have had somestudents who have come in without the formal qualificationsand they almost feel as though they got in ‘by mistake’ or‘through the back door’. This undermines their own confidencein their abilities—they need to feel that they have been seen,evaluated and then let in. It is better than an impersonal offer.Quite often the students who convey this feeling, that they gotin by mistake, are not students who are struggling. They justneeded that stamp of approval initially to give them thatinitial firm foundation.

The department has a clear strategy for use in theinduction process which is designed to encouragestudents to feel comfortable in their programme: ‘It isimportant for [students] to meet a number of key staffin induction week, but not too many. They need somefaces that they can relate to and talk to early on. We dotry not to give them too much at this stage as theycannot take it in.’

Case Study 2


When teaching starts, lecturers help students tonavigate the first year course using a specific modulecalled ‘Learning Skills for English’. In this module andothers, students are given guidance which ideally leadsthem towards more independent study as the programmedevelops: ‘For example, in the first year there will beworksheets each week; in the second year, a mix, and inthe third, there will be very few handouts. There must bescope for students to find their own way’. The programmeleader stresses that within this framework there is adeliberate effort to avoid spoon-feeding students: ‘In thefirst year it’s teaching and offering support, workingtowards the third year with the independent studentlearner. That is why the dissertation remains and why Iwould argue that it continues.’ Another tutor commentsthat ‘we have worked very hard at planning, within amodular system, a very carefully staged programme whichat each level addresses a whole variety of issues [including]writing and confidence skills.’

The lack of confidence that often characterisesstudents from under-represented groups can mean thatthere is a greater need for staff to spend time reassuringstudents as they become more independent scholars:‘Currently some of my students have to set up their ownessay topic, in consultation with me […] we have hadtwo essay workshops where we have talked through eachand every one of their proposals […] but still I havespent some time on the phone to students who areanxious about their topics.’

An emphasis on literary theory in the curriculum isseen as one way of mobilising and complicating therange of experience that under-represented studentsbring to the programme. The programme leadercomments that ‘Theory can make students reflect ontheir experience in a different way. Often it can bedifficult to lift the level of discussion outside personalexperience. Theory can make people think about theirexperience in a more productive way, [… ] they areencouraged to be outward-looking and not insular.’ At the same time, the programme invites students toengage with texts, genres and historical periods withwhich they are not familiar. The programme leader, whoteaches non-canonical Renaissance literature,emphasises that the composition of the student cohort:

hasn’t shaken the topics that we choose to teach […]Coming across people who are so distant [from the materialstudied] and who think that this has got nothing to do withthem, and that they are useless is a challenge. I love teaching thesubject, but what is so special about teaching it here is to seestudents engage with material that is so alien to them. In the

first year you can see them thinking ‘this is awful’, butsomewhere a connection is made and you see that personchange beyond recognition.

Lecturers identify confidence as a key issue forstudents, and one that creates the need for increasedsupport. Talking about the different experiencesinvolved in teaching well-represented, and under-represented students in programmes with differentkinds of student cohort, one tutor commented that:

most of the [well-represented] students have the experienceof being the top of the class or being good at school. Sometimesfor them it is difficult to find themselves among other studentswho also have that experience. But the students at Teessidehave a more uneven experience and require far moreencouragement and support to contribute and have confidencein their own abilities. It makes it a very rewarding job but it ismore demanding in that sense.

The department refers students to the university’ssupport systems where appropriate but tutors stress thatpersonal difficulties often produce the confidenceissues that impact directly on students’ academic work.These effects do need to be acknowledged in tutorialsupport. This does not mean that tutors in thedepartment are involved in counselling but that theytake time to support students who are experiencingdifficulties. One tutor explained that:

Quite a lot of students take a while to find their feet. [But] itis important to have a boundary and to say to students that[we] can [only] go so far. We have a particular role to fulfil […]I would urge students to go to the counsellors and ring to find outwhat sessions are available. This sort of linkage is necessary.

The Head of Department notes that students mayhave widely variable support networks. Even if studentsdo not need to seek help from support services, a lackof other kinds of support can affect their experience ofHE substantially.

You often find that some of those [students] who areintellectually stronger come from some kind of emotionalsupport group. Women particularly will go through courseswith a friend sharing books, videos and activities. A lot of 18year-olds do not have this support network, especially thosefrom local areas who are not feeling the ‘all-inclusive’experience that many younger students expect.

The support and academic development of all of itsstudents is the department’s focus and this reflects whatthe Head of Department describes as ‘a passionatecommitment on behalf of the teachers who feelstrongly about widening participation.’

Case Study 3: King Alfred’s College,Winchester


The geographical location of the College in Winchesteraffects its recruitment base, and the student body of theEnglish subject area has been made up primarily of‘white middle-class students from the South of England,’although this is changing slowly as a result of recentCollege efforts at widening participation. The Head ofSubject notes that Winchester’s image ‘tends not toattract many from the inner city’ and has adverselyaffected attempts to widen participation. The subjectarea’s ongoing efforts to recruit students with differentprofiles has been partly prompted by the conviction that‘non-standard students have much to offer’ and that anoverly homogenous student body leads to ‘a poverty ofcultural breadth’. The team’s interest in wideningparticipation is based on a belief that it will enrich thestudent experience: ‘Lowering standards is not a fear wehave. We would like to see more working-class students[because] a diverse body of students with differentbackgrounds and cultures is better for the learningprocess of all concerned. We welcome the government’s50% participation target (but not its contradictoryaffiliation to differential fees).’

Colleagues at King Alfred’s, like those in the otherdepartments discussed here, feel that confidence is acrucial issue for under-represented students at the outsetof their studies. When students have not achieved as wellas they had hoped to do at ‘A’-level, or if they are cominginto HE as mature students, it is important to takeconfidence-building seriously in the first-yearprogramme. The co-ordinator of first year, who washimself a mature student, comments that for somestudents who applied elsewhere first and came throughclearing: ‘They think it is second-best and wish they wereat a “proper” university. They are fine by the secondyear. Up until then [there is] a lack of self-confidence.’He notes that ‘there has always been this sense [of lostconfidence] with the mature entrants, possibly becauseentry to university late in life indicates a hiatus in work,and […] you have to build them up. Conversely[students] can almost be over-confident and you have todraw them back.’ Rising confidence levels help toaccount for the assessment profile of the programme:

Looking across mark ranges from the second year to thirdyear, the good 2:1/borderline firsts generally have a risingprofile. Many of them don’t start hitting the top grades until theend of the second year. The lower end of the 2:1 to 2:2 ranges aremore random and fluctuating.

Like the lecturers at Manchester MetropolitanUniversity, the staff here make no assumptions aboutstudents’ prior skills: ‘We have, I suppose, a relativelylarge number of students who are the first person intheir family to go to university. We therefore can makeno assumptions about their knowledge of the degree orwhat it is for.’ The subject team at King Alfred’s hasresponded by adopting an approach to curriculumchange which is focused on signposting skills tostudents within the structure of text-focussed modules.

We consciously don’t try to do much of “this is whatuniversity is like” induction. [Instead] in the first semester wetry to [structure] the assessments so that they have to go off anddo a library search [or] an essay plan. They have to fill in littlereports and then they have to write an essay and do an examof some kind. […] We also have a resource week, which is nota reading week but includes workshops and more fun things.[…] The students like being talked to in terms of the ‘why’ aswell as the ‘how’ of their courses. This is why we encouragecolleagues to explain their techniques.

A similar approach is adopted in relation to studentson the part-time programme which runs in theevenings. The lecturer who runs the programmeexplains that ‘We had a brief period when there was astudy skills module in the degree, but it was generallyhated and didn’t really work. We have found thatintegrating stuff into the projects [students are asked tocomplete] is more successful.’ Students on thisprogramme are potentially less able to take advantageof support offered centrally by the institution: ‘Wepotentially have difficulties with students accessingdaytime things such as assessment classes or [classes]giving the criteria for presentations. This can makethings daunting for them.’ Integrating study skillstraining into modules ‘during the acclimatisationperiod’ has helped to improve support for part-timestudents for whom the need for skills ‘isn’t an abilityissue, but rather a confidence issue.’

The full-time undergraduate programme is flexible,allowing day-time students to take modules in theevenings. All students have to choose eight modulesfrom 13 in any given year. The evening programmeinvolves modules which are offered during the daytimein the other semester of the year so that students havethe opportunity to fit their study choices around theirother responsibilities. Students are also able to move

Case Study 3


easily between full-time and part-time programmes iftheir circumstances change: ‘We have an “open door”policy on this.’

The team has made other practical moves to supportunder-represented students. In recent years there havebeen some fluctuations in recruitment of students: ‘20%to 27% are non-standard entrants; this dropped off a bitwhen fees came in but is gradually pulling its way backup again [….] We do what we can in terms of notcharging them for stuff and even giving them a sense of“value for money.”’ More and more departments arepassing photocopying costs on to students, especiallywhere there is an increased reliance on computer-basedmaterials, but King Alfred’s does not charge forphotocopying or booklets ‘and quite an appreciableamount of material will be handed out free.’ Attentionis also paid to the costs involved for students in buyingbooks for each module.

The co-ordinator of first year argues that problemswith academic work and problems of a personal nature‘aren’t unconnected factors’ and the team offers supportto students as they are adapting to HE and building uptheir levels of confidence. The team are careful to referstudents to appropriate support services when personalproblems impact more severely on their performance:

We have a very good student support service here [and] onething we did as a school two years ago was to tighten up on theway students were granted extensions. It [used to work] at thediscretion of the module tutors, but now we say they have tohave some kind of documented support for this. They can get [aform] from student services which will grade their problems andgive them concessions based on this. It is, of course, totallyconfidential [but] it allows us to push more people into thesupport system so we know that they are being tapped into thehelp network.

One of the other positive effects of this new system hasbeen that ‘casual’ requests for extensions have fallendrastically.

The subject team are heavily involved in theCollege’s broader initiative to encourage wideningparticipation. Lecturers are involved in a schemewhereby local schools each have a named contact in oneof the College’s departments. They have also beeninvolved in the delivery of college-led ‘summer school’courses and speak positively about them:

We have run for a few years, summer schools for 13 year–olds from schools in Basingstoke. They come for two days andare selected by their schools. They may be first-generationuniversity material. [The summer school works] to give thema sense of coming in here and getting a feel of it and a feel fordoing research. They do a whole range of activities. […] Weare tracking them and surveying them in the run-up before theychoose what to do in HE. For the first time this year we [also]had about 100 post-GCSE student—16 year olds fromvarious areas of the country but with no background inuniversity life. They stay for a week, Monday to Friday. Theyget a taste of Cultural Studies and Media Studies […] to givethem a sense of the degree. They get bombarded with everythingfrom Sports Studies to History. We [have] found that the 16year-old students could engage with the undergraduatestudents who were there to help and monitor them.

One of the lecturers explained that ‘we havedeveloped a commitment to widening participation’but as the Head of Subject explains, this commitmentdepends in the future of the proper resourcing of thenational widening participation initiative. Referring tothe target that 50% of people under 30 should haveexperience of HE by 2010, he commented: ‘I think it isa good thing, but only if it is properly funded. If it isnot funded, all that will happen is that students whoneed it most will be deprived of small class sizes, specialattention and support. It will be much more like a “sinkor swim” [situation].’

Case Study 4: Student views


Some second-year students from the English departmentat the University of Teesside were interviewed abouttheir experiences of applying to, and studying on, theEnglish programme there. The group did not reflect allcategories of under-represented students, but did providean insight into the educational experience of maturewomen students returning to education.

Contact with education

The students had had varied levels of contact witheducation since leaving school. One of the students hadattended occasional informal courses before studying onan Access course: ‘I gave up work when my son wasborn, then did a couple of creative writing courses justfor myself really, and then someone recommended theNew Opportunities for Women Course which is run byLeeds University one day a week. […] I had never done‘A’ levels and this got me interested in and gave me afeeling for education.’ Some students had no familyhistory of HE and Access courses had provided the firstpoint of contact. One student had learnt that it waspossible to become a mature student only through aconversation with an acquaintance in a supermarket.

Others did have some HE role models in theirfamilies: ‘My mother went to teacher training and wasone of the first to qualify for the Open University. I havetwo nephews and a niece who went to university and Ihave discussed it with my daughter.’ The youngeststudent felt that her own persistence in pursuing herstudies had helped her to realise that other members ofher family shared her ambitions:

My mother did ‘A’ levels and is now back at work havinghad children, and she really tries to gain knowledge of what Iam studying. Even my grandmother says that she wishes shehad been able to do this. I was completely unaware that they hadthese aspirations before I came here, that these two generationswanted to study and make more of themselves but simply didnot have the opportunity to do so.

Choosing English

For the students who were returning to education inorder to improve their family’s prospects, vocationaldegrees had originally seemed more realistic optionsthan courses in the humanities. One studentcommented that:

I came through an Access course and all I thought I could dowas a vocational degree leading to a career. But I was told [atthe English subject meeting on an access open day] to spend thetime thinking about who I was and what I wanted. I had felt

that I had to do a vocational degree as I have children who needsupport and the whole point was to find better employment.

Later she reflected:

I sometimes wonder where I would be heading if I had beendoing a business or IT degree. It would have been easier in a wayas it would theoretically lead to a job [but] other types of degreedon’t make you feel something extra in every aspect of your life.English has that capacity and that is the great thrill of it.

Another student commented that ‘I have never known asubject [….] that allows you to learn about yourself sodeeply.’

Other students shared the view that one of the mostattractive features of the English degree is theopportunity it offers students to reflect on their ownexperiences and views in critical ways. One explainedthat ‘The course is not just about [reading “classic”literature], it also covers critical theory and gives youmore confidence in what you are thinking, [makingyou] more open to other things.’ Another agreed that‘academia opens up a whole other experience and wayof thinking.’ The extent to which these students hadengaged with the subject became clear when one womanargued that ‘Anything seems possible now. It’s not just afalse consciousness.’ The students also felt that it wasdifficult to ‘switch off ’ the critical approach they werelearning to adopt for their studies: ‘I was even pullingapart Harry Potter as my daughter read it, only for herto say “but I am just reading an adventure story!”’

The challenge of English

While the students confirmed the attraction of Englishas a subject that offered them the opportunity to thinkoutside vocational issues, all of them noted that this alsomade English a demanding subject: one which had ‘ahuge emotional impact.’ As one student commented,‘My expectations were to go to university and it not toopen me up—I would just get on with the rest of my life.’The others agreed that English ‘makes you engage withlife in a totally different way.’ One student reflected that‘I have learnt history [and] critical and cultural theorythat, although it sounds dry, can change the way youview everyday life. It can impact on the way you seeeverything.’ Another noted that she had thought ofherself as someone who had always reflected on her ownassumptions: ‘I was political at 18, but coming in at 40you enter into study with a lot of preconceptions andthe shattering of these can be very unsettling. Thefluidity of your thoughts, expanding as you study, is

Case Study 4


very exciting but also unnerving.’ One student evenechoed the language of government health warnings todescribe the extent of the challenge posed by her studies:‘This subject can seriously change the way you thinkabout yourself and it can be very scary, especially formature students.’

For students whose families and friends are unfamiliarwith HE, and not fully supportive, these changes can bemore unsettling than for more established students. Onestudent sympathised with others who lack support: ‘Ihave a partner who has been to university and I can talkto him, but my ex-husband was completely uninterestedin what I was doing and I can fully appreciate howdifficult [that] situation is.’ Although another studentwas relishing the challenge of the programme itself, sheadmitted that she often asked herself ‘“Why am I wastingthese years when I could be earning this money withouthaving a degree?” It is almost selfish [to study] because Iknow that right now my family would be better off if Iwas not studying.’

Support

The students argued that because English provokes themto reconsider their views and can affect them profoundlyit is especially important that tutors are supportive andtake time to help students build their confidence. Thestudents interviewed felt that this support was providedin the English department at Teesside and were reallyappreciative of it. One commented that ‘I have felt thatyou can talk to any tutor and they won’t laugh at you,they will listen, and we need this support.’ The studentsexplained that the support they were looking for as theydealt with the challenges of English as a discipline wasnot to be found via counselling services:

You go into a seminar with a tutor and you share a bond. Itmakes a big difference when you feel emotional about aparticular book and you can share the experience. With acounsellor I don’t think you would get this. I need to talk to thetutor to say that a book or a piece of work has emotionallyaffected me and I cannot do this with an outsider.

The students also relied on their peers for support butpointed out that some patterns of study could disruptthese networks or prevent them forming. One studentwho had returned to full-time study after a period as apart-time student on the programme explained that ‘Iuse my peers for support but I lost this as a part-timestudent and I was getting no continuity, finding differentpeople in different classes.’ The students interviewedwere happy that they would be referred to counselling or

other services if they were having significant difficulties.

When the students talked about the practical supportthey received in the English department, they drewattention to factors which might usefully be highlightedin materials issued during the application process. Thestudent who had taken the shortest break betweenschool and university had been very surprised—eventhough she had ‘A’ level qualifications—that it waspossible to proceed to university when she had childcareresponsibilities:

I got the ‘A’ levels I needed and my son went into theuniversity nursery in September. The university [department]was very supportive and said that nothing should stop me. Itshattered many of my ideas of how they might react.

An especially important factor for students was thesupportive manner in which they were helped to takeadvantage of the department’s mechanisms for helpingunder-represented students:

[The lecturers] have been very accommodating with megoing from full-time to part-time and back to full-time. Even theodd extension on an essay, explaining that childcare is an issuefor me, is very helpful. They are accommodating to themaximum and they never judge me.

The students also identified areas where minorchanges in procedure would encourage applicationsfrom students with caring responsibilities:

The problem is that you come in and the next week studystarts, and then you have to arrange childcare. I found thatworrying because I can only relax once the children have beensorted out. But you literally have just three or four days beforeyou begin and you have to arrange childcare in that time. Itdoesn’t need to be that way.

Another student agreed: ‘This was one of my mainworries and to know the timetable even just a littleearlier would have taken a lot of anxiety away from me.’

Finance

For all of the students, the problems of funding a degreerepresented a real obstacle to study. As one studentexplained, ‘My sister did not go to university and saysshe would like to come back. But it is hard to say in onebreath, “Do it, it’s fantastic, but you will need a studentloan or £10,000 from the bank.”’ Another student whohad lost benefits after marrying during her degreeprogramme explained that ‘You have difficulty justifying[the fact] that you want to study for study’s sake, as it isso expensive.’ One woman struck a more optimistic


note: ‘I get independence allowance and yes I am goingto have a debt at the end of it, but I think that one hasto speculate to accumulate.’

Interestingly, a major source of anger about fundingwas the obstacle it posed for under-represented studentswho wanted to proceed to postgraduate study. Onestudent spoke passionately about her desire to do an MAbut said that the posters displayed in the departmentpromoting postgraduate courses were effectivelytaunting her because the option of continuing herstudies was illusory: ‘I really want to do the MA but Ihave to justify it and I cannot financially. It is like we arebeing offered the opportunity and then it is snatchedaway.’ There was some scepticism about the level ofopportunity being offered to under-represented studentsby the national agenda on widening participation: ‘Thegovernment seems not to value education. The conceptof Teesside—the University of Opportunities—impliesthat [the government] values only the career result ofstudy rather than the study itself.’ The need to makepostgraduate courses accessible and feasible for studentsfrom under-represented groups is a key challenge fordepartments, institutions and national funding bodies. Alarge number of the lecturers involved in this study cameinto English as students from ‘under-represented’ groupsand care needs to be taken so that the students beingrecruited under new initiatives have the opportunity, notjust to study English Language, Literature and CreativeWriting, but to find careers in academia in the long-term.

Ending under-representation

For all of the students, their own studies represented animportant example to their children and other people intheir communities. They commented variously that:

I can now take myself forward, not only for me but for mychildren.

I now feel that I have more opportunities to help my childrenand project the ambition I had at that age but could not fulfil.

My children can see that they can get out there, get thosequalifications, and not struggle.

My children have always believed they will go to universityand now perhaps [they] see it with less apprehension.

When my daughter goes to university, I will be able to talkto her with more understanding.

I would like to think that my experience has shown that it isnever too late and you are never too old to go to university.

[Now] I am frustrated with my mother who never evenwent to work. The experience has made me drive my childrento exceed their own expectations.

Case Study 4

Appendix A: Access and wideningparticipation for students with disabilities


Introduction

The materials below draw on some of the staffdevelopment resources available nationally in order tosuggest, briefly, some of the strategies that a departmentteaching programmes in English Literature, Languageand Creative Writing might consider adopting toimprove the provision of support for students withdisabilities. The suggestions here are by no meansexhaustive and it is recommended that staff consult theQAA’s Code of Practice on Students with Disabilities and theother resources mentioned below if they are reviewingtheir practice in this area. The Code of Practice,

…recognises that disabled students are an integral part ofthe academic community. It takes as its starting point thepremiss [sic] that acceptable and appropriate provision is not‘additional’, but a core element of the overall service which aninstitution makes available.20

It is likely that individual institutions will have madesome provision for disabled students and for staffdevelopment in this area, particularly now that theSENDA legislation has come into effect. Theintroduction of the new SENDA legislation oneducation and disability in the autumn of 2002 hasdone more than anything else to focus the attention ofinstitutions on disability issues. However, researchsuggests that provision for students with disabilities willlargely be a matter for departmental scrutiny. TheNational Disability Team has investigated the effects oflegislation similar to SENDA in Australia and MikeAdams, the Principal Co-ordinator of the NDT,concludes that:

Anecdotal evidence indicates that the majority of cases thatreached court (and where the judgement went against theinstitution) were directly related to teaching, learning andassessment. Such cases involved either direct discrimination(for example, refusing entry to a course without reasonablegrounds where the decision was based on the individual’sdisability rather than educational achievement) or[departments] not going far enough in making reasonableadjustments in teaching and learning practice to enableparticipation [and] access to materials in alternative formatsin a timely manner.21

Adams suggests that in Australia academic staff havedeveloped ways of working with disability officerswhich go beyond the kinds of referral processes current

in most institutions in UK HE and that these changeshave produced positive results: ‘Alongside day-to-daycurriculum issues [disability officers] work with coursedesigners so students’ learning needs are consideredfrom the outset and unnecessary barriers to learningcan be minimised at an early stage.’22 Collaborationbetween academics and disability officers, together withthe provision of generic and subject-specific trainingand support materials for academic staff, will helplecturers to develop effective strategies for supportingdisabled students.

One of the key factors in developing effectivecurricula for students with disabilities is the acceptancethat ‘fair’ provision is not identical with ‘equal’provision for all students. Adjustments do need to bemade to the curriculum, its delivery and its assessmentif all students are to have equal opportunities to excel.Conventional modes for delivering or assessing coursesmay well operate to exclude or disadvantage studentswith disabilities and changes do need to be made on thebasis of informed judgement and individual studentneeds. Barbara Lloyd-Smith, the Director of theNational Disability Team, notes that when educationand disability have been subject to judicial scrutiny inthe United States, ‘Courts have been interested inindividual “needs” and circumstances rather than broad(prejudiced) views about disabled people that weretaken to be paternalistic and unacceptable … [and ingeneral the] misperception of the impact of disabilityhas been a factor in successful cases.’23

Provision for disabled students is key to the broader‘widening participation’ agenda. HEFCE is keen toconsider disability issues in the light of broader debateson widening participation and learning and teaching.24

Both HEFCE and SHEFC have funded projects in thisarea and are continuing to develop support andincentives to encourage change. The research onsupporting students with disabilities suggests that goodpractice for them is generally good practice for allstudents. The departments involved in this EnglishSubject Centre report on access and wideningparticipation have emphasised the need for goodcommunication and procedural changes to encouragethe recruitment, induction, teaching and retention ofunder-represented students. These principles provide asolid basis for any curriculum review which focuses on

20

Appendix A


disability. Any review, should of course, take account ofthe support and curricular needs of students withmental health difficulties.

The incorporation of guidance on these issues intotraining for new lecturers—both full- and part-time—andcareful attention to the voices of disabled students andstaff will help to ensure that provision for students withdisabilities becomes an automatic consideration incourse design rather than the subject of continualreview processes.

Support materials for lecturers

There are some very useful materials, availablenationally, that can be employed to raise awarenessabout disability issues in relation to departmentalpractice and the curriculum.

They support:

• Curriculum Review: One of the most usefulresources is the Teachability resource pack whichwould help a department to review its curriculumin terms of the needs of disabled students.25

• Lecturer Training: A resource in this area which iscontinuing to expand is the DEMOS projectwebsite. The site provides staff developmentmaterials online. Its online tutorial on dyslexia,which takes about an hour to complete, is usefulin helping staff to develop a clear sense of thedifficulties that dyslexic students encounter intheir studies, and is likely to be of real interest tocolleagues in English Language, Literature andCreative Writing. It provides samples of textwhich allow lecturers to experience textualinformation in the same way as dyslexic studentsdo, and encourages them to think about how toadapt provision.26 The DEMOS website alsocontains staff development materials onassessment and disability which could be usedalongside the Teachability resource pack in acurriculum review process.

• Electronic Resource Development: Lecturersdeveloping online materials will find it helpful toconsult Access All Areas: Disability, Technology andLearning which includes a range of articlesintroducing contexts and examples of practice inthis area.27

• Reviews of Teaching Practice: A guide which willgive staff invaluable practical help as they adapt

their materials for teaching and learning isAccessible Curricula: Good Practice for All.28 Some ofits recommendations—those most applicable toprogrammes in our subject areas—are summarisedbelow, but it would be good practice fordepartments to have a copy of this guide availableto full-time and part-time staff for immediatereference. Other disability-specific guides are nowbeing written and provide useful guidance onlearning and teaching for deaf students, forexample.29

• Referral Mechanisms: Another valuable sourceof information is the Student Mental Healthwebsite.30 This online manual provides a useful,practical guide to lecturers supporting studentswith mental health difficulties. For example, itsuggests strategies for use 'When a Student wantsto Talk' and gives advice on how lecturers shouldact when a student expresses concerns for anotherstudent.

We now consider some methods for improving theaccessibility of programmes and course materials.

Promotional materialsPromotional materials in leaflet or prospectus formshould be as clear as possible about the kinds ofteaching and learning methods used on a programmeand about the expectations a department has ofprospective students. Specific information, available ina variety of formats, about provision for disabledstudents will allow people to make informed and timelychoices about the suitability of a programme for theirneeds. Clarity in promotional materials forundergraduate and postgraduate programmes will alsohelp departments to avoid putting students in theposition of having to make continual requests forinformation or proper provision.

As a general principle, students should not needeither to ask if help is available or make repeatedrequests for the provision of support that has beenpromised to them. Recruitment information should asfar as possible explain the support mechanisms whichare built into practical procedures and the curriculumitself. If students have to make continual requests ofthis kind, a department will be in breach of the SENDAlegislation which requires departments to make study asunproblematic for people with disabilities as it is for allother students. It is important that all lecturers involved

Appendix A


in the recruitment process are in a position to talkconfidently about the department’s support of disabledstudents. Many departments are now developing theirlinks with local schools and colleges and this canprovide them with additional opportunities to promotethe accessibility of courses.

Disclosure

It is important to establish a point at which students areasked to disclose information about their needs tomembers of the academic department in which they arestudying. While this information may well be disclosedto the institution in the application process, it alsoneeds to be available to members of staff who areplanning courses, preparing teaching materials and—as isincreasingly the case—organising work placements orother kinds of activities outside the institution.

A review of departmental practice might usefullyinclude a review of the processes through whichinformation about student needs is circulated within aninstitution and a department. Such a review shouldinvolve part-time tutors who are often involved in thedelivery of modules to students and would benefit fromtraining and support in relation to access and wideningparticipation issues.

If a student chooses not to disclose a disability, thisis within his or her rights. Students who choose not todisclose their disabilities are still entitled to expect thatlearning opportunities will be designed in broadlyaccessible ways. Now that lectures and seminar materialsare often developed in the form of word-processeddocuments, it is relatively easy for staff to providematerials to students so that they can convert them intoBraille or audio formats, or read them in documentform outside the teaching environment. A number ofEnglish departments are making use of film or audiomaterials in their programmes and the provision ofsubtitled materials or transcripts can often be arrangedin collaboration with library services.31 Even in the mosttraditional teaching and learning environments, smalladjustments can make it substantially easier for studentswith disabilities to learn and to participate fully. Someof these adjustments are discussed below.

Adapting teaching materials

There are some basic considerations which can help tomake the familiar teaching and learning environmentsof our disciplines accessible. If tutors deliver lecturesand seminars in traditional ways, they are likely to be

disadvantaging students. Failures to make changes willleave students disadvantaged, while changes are likelyto make a positive impact on the learning experience ofall students. In order to develop consistent practicesand to ensure consistent experiences for students,departments will need to review their use of teachingformats, take time to train lecturers, agree ondepartment-wide changes and ensure that students areaware of policies where appropriate. The guidelinesbelow are limited in scope, but used in conjunctionwith the other materials mentioned in this study offersome guidelines for discussion.

Some lecturers in English departments now act asdepartmental or faculty-level disability officers. Theselecturers are in an ideal position to co-ordinate policychanges. However, implementation will require the co-operation of all full-time and part-time colleagues. It isimportant to recognise that, given the legal changesbrought in by the SENDA legislation, this co-operationis not optional.

Departments and individual lecturers will need toensure that they are developing disability-awareresources and practices. Some of the recommendationsfrom Accessible Curricula: Good Practice for All 32 which aremost applicable to departments which teach EnglishLiterature, Language and Creative Writing are adaptedand summarised below. They remind lecturers todevelop disability-aware:

Support materials

• Make sure that resources provide visual orauditory support for students who may findinformation inaccessible in other formats.

• If students are referred to specific passages in textsduring a seminar, ensure that students with visualimpairments have had opportunities to focus onthese extracts in appropriate formats in advance.

• The Accessible Curricula guide provides detailedinformation about the development of accessibleOHP slides, PowerPoint and web materials.33 Italso describes the kinds of ‘assistive technology’which students may find helpful.

• The English Subject Centre’s Learning Linkdatabase illustrates that many colleagues are nowmaking use of the world-wide web or virtuallearning environments to deliver coursematerials.34 It is possible to design these resourcesin ways that support disabled students and

22

Appendix A


guidance on this is available through the ‘Bobby’service which sets targets for staff designingaccessible websites.35 An example of an onlineteaching resource which is already ‘Bobby-approved’ can be found at the website ofAMATAS, the Americanisation project.36 TheTechDis website and its published resourcesprovide detailed advice on assistive technologiesand web accessibility.37

Handouts

• Use sans serif fonts such as Arial and Comic Sanswhich are easier for many students to read thanfonts which are more elaborate.

• For students with visual impairments, providecopies of handouts in large text (e.g. 18 pointtype), but avoid using unwieldy A3 versions of A4materials.

• Use coloured paper rather than ‘bright’ whitepaper which can increase the distortion of printfor dyslexic students.

Clear verbal communication

• Always face the group when speaking to assist lip-reading students.

• Repeat students’ questions or comments if theyare not audible to everyone.

• Allow taping of lectures or provide summaries ortranscripts.

• Make provision for students who find it difficultto listen and make notes at the same time.

• Use a microphone where appropriate.

Good conditions for lip-reading

• Encourage students with hearing difficulties to sitat the front of the class.

• Avoid standing in front of windows or brightlights which make it difficult for students to lip-read.

• Avoid obstructing the student’s view of your lipmovements.

Assessment

• Encourage good practice in group work required ofstudents outside normal class-time and providesupport for all the students involved as appropriate.

• Make provision for alternative or adapted modesof assessment if oral assessment presentsdifficulties to the student.

• Liaise with examination officers about thelocation, conditions, format and timing ofexaminations.

• Make use of training materials (such as thoseprovided at the DEMOS website) andinstitutional training to develop awareness of bestpractice in, for example, the assessment ofdyslexic students.

Good communication with students and others

• Some students will want to maintain totalconfidentiality about their disability andconversation with them will help lecturers toestablish methods of working which support theirlearning and their privacy. All students willappreciate the unobtrusive provision of support.

• Academics in our disciplines are likely to besensitive to the politics of naming. Nevertheless itcan be helpful to remember some basicguidelines. It is better use the term ‘disabled’rather than ‘handicapped’ and to refer to peopleas ‘wheelchair users’ rather than as ‘wheelchairbound’. Avoid identifying students entirely withtheir disability: it is a better idea to refer to ‘astudent with dyslexia’ than to ‘a dyslexic’.

• In seminars, workshops and lectures make keyconcepts and tasks available in written and/orelectronic as well as oral form. This can be helpfulto dyslexic students, for example.

• Strategies for providing students with assessmentfeedback may need to be adapted so that feedbackis fully accessible and a coherent departmentalstrategy will be helpful here.

• Liaison with other departments in which studentsare working, and with appropriate supportservices in the institution will be helpful.

• Liasing with support assistants who accompanystudents to seminars and lecturers will help themto provide the best possible support for studentson your programme.

• Keeping part-time tutors involved in developmentsand providing them with support will help toensure that students have a coherent experience.


• When changes of location or seminar time areinevitable or when staff-student committees arebeing organised, notice-boards may not provideeffective means of communicating with disabledstudents. Develop good communication strategiesin advance, using large print or Braille notices,email, (mobile) phones or text messages asappropriate so that students are notdisadvantaged.

• Seek out feedback about provision so that practicecan be improved across the department, subjectcommunity and institution. The QAA Code ofPractice notes that ‘Disabled students alreadyenrolled on programmes are often a useful sourceof advice. Their participation at every stage ofprovision, from design to evaluation, is likely toensure that developments are both effective andefficient in increasing access and improving thequality of disabled students’ experience of highereducation.’38 It will, of course, also be valuable toattend to the views of lecturers with disabilitieswho teach in the disciplines of English Literature,Language and Creative Writing.

Placements and conferences

• As English departments start to introducemodules which involve work-based learning, theywill need to develop procedures which will helpthem to identify the requirements of disabledstudents and ensure that they are being adequatelymet. It may be helpful for lecturers to look at thekinds of provision made in subject areas moreaccustomed to arranging field work, and theEnglish Subject Centre’s website will provide up-to-date links to materials—developed inassociation with other subject centres—that willsupport work in this area. Individual institutionsmay be able to advise lecturers on procedures fordisclosure and ongoing support during any work-based placement.

• Research projects in English language programmesmay involve students in substantial field work andproper support mechanisms need to be developedto ensure that students are supported and assessedfairly.

• Theatre trips and other curriculum-related outingsneed to be planned with the needs of disabledstudents in mind. Details about provision shouldbe made available in promotional material.

• Provision for disabled students and staff shouldbe made when lecturers are organising researchconferences as well as conventional teaching.Enquire about the needs of delegates, ensure thatvenues are accessible and advertise provision in avariety of formats.

These guidelines are limited in scope. The suggestionsmade here are by no means exhaustive and it isrecommended that staff consult the QAA’s Code ofPractice on Students with Disabilities, and the otherresources mentioned here if they are reviewing theirpractice in this area. It is likely that resources in thisarea will proliferate and the English Subject Centrewebsite at www.english.ltsn.ac.uk will continue toprovide up-to-date information.

The English Subject Centre welcomes informationabout examples of good practice in provision forstudents with disabilities. If you would like tocontribute to the development of subject-specificresources in this area, please contact us.

Appendix A

References


1. ‘41.5% of those aged 18-30 enter higher education at present. The Government target is to increase thatproportion to 50% by 2010’. Christopher Barnham, Higher Education Issues Document, Department forEducation and Skills, November 2002, p. 6.

2. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001, c. 10)http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm. A SENDA Code of Practice hasbeen developed by the Disability Rights Commission and is available at http://www.drc-gb.org/drc/Campaigns/Page431.asp#three. Additional resources, developed by Skill,the Bureau for Students with Disabilities, are available via http://www.skill.org.uk

3. ‘The Government has set a target that, by the year 2010, 50 per cent of those aged between 18 and 30should have the opportunity to benefit from higher education.’ HEFCE, Partnerships for Progression: Callfor Strategic Plans to Release funding, HEFCE 02/49, p. 2. http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2002/

4. HEFCE, Funding for Widening Participation in Higher Education, HEFCE 02/22http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2002

5. SHEFC has established a site at http://www.goals.ac.uk

6. The Action on Access website is at http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/conted/action/

7. Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), Widening Access to Higher Education: Strategies,HEFCW W00/114HE. http://www.wfc.ac.uk/education/hefcw/pub00/w00114he.html

8. It is notable the HEFCE’s recent set of case studies on access and widening participation — SuccessfulStudent Diversity: Case Studies of Practice in Learning and Teaching and Widening Participation, HEFCE 02/48,— contains no case studies based on humanities subjects. HEFCE 02/48 is available athttp://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2002/02_48.htm

9. English Benchmarking Statement http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/topic/benchmark/index.htm

10. Brennan, John and Ruth Williams, The English Degree and Graduate Careers, English Subject Centre ReportSeries 2, February 2003, ISBN 0 902 19463 1 http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/projects/gradcareer.htm.The English Subject Centre is funding a project on ‘English in the Workplace’ run jointly by DeMontfort University and the University of Loughborough. For further details seehttp://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/projects/deptprojects/workplace.htm

11. Williams, Sadie, Admission Trends in Undergraduate English: Statistics and Attitudes, English Subject CentreReport Series 1, p. 47. http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/topic/admissions.htm

12. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001, c. 10)http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm

13. See Disability Provision Development Plans 2000-01, HEFCW W01/03HE; see also Disability DiscriminationAct Planning: Funding Development Plans 2001/02, W02/03HE. Reports available viahttp://www.wfc.ac.uk/education/hefcw/pubs.html

14. The Speak-Write website is at http://www.apu.ac.uk/english/speakwrite/

15. Holland, Siobhán and Aidan Arrowsmith, Practising Theory Online, (Newcastle: Assessment and theExpanded Text, 2001). Available athttp://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/topic/expandtxt/casestudy.htm

16. The PADSHE project case studies are available athttp://www.http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/padshe/case-studies/case-studies.html

References


17. The Student Psychological Health Project website is at http://www.le.ac.uk/edsc/sphp/studresults/html

18. For further details, see our website at http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk

19. For details of the English Subject Centre’s events programme, seehttp://english.ltsn.ac.uk/events/index/htm. The Directory of Experience and Expertise can be accessedat http://english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/general/expertise/Experience_search.asp

20. Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Code of Practice for the Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards inHigher Education, Section 3: Students with Disabilities, (Gloucester: QAA, 1999).

21. Adams, Mike, ‘A Postcard from Australia’, National Disability Team Newsletter, 2001:03, p. 4.http://www.natdisteam.ac.uk

22. See reference 21.

23. Lloyd-Smith, Barbara, ‘What Can we Learn from America?’, National Disability Team Newsletter, 2001:03,p. 6. http://www.natdisteam.ac.uk

24. HEFCE, Improving Provision for Disabled Students: HEFCE Strategy and Invitation to Bid for Funds for 2003-2005, HEFCE 02/21. http://www.hefce.ac.uk

25. Teachability: Creating and Accessible Curriculum. Available athttp://www.ispn.gcal.ac.uk/teachability/index.html

26. The DEMOS website at http://www.demos.ac.uk includes staff development materials on topicsincluding dyslexia and assessment.

27. Phipps, Lawrie, Allan Sutherland and Jane Seale, (eds.) Access All Areas: Disability, Technology and Learning,(London: JISC TechDis Service and ALT, 2002). Contact the English Subject Centre for a free copy.Also available at http://www.techdis.aac.uk/accessallareas.AAA.pdf

28. Doyle, Carol and Karen Robson, Accessible Curricula: Good Practice for All. (Cardiff: UWIC Press, 2002).http://www.uwic.ac.uk/ltsu/accessible.html

29. Mole, Judith and Diane Peacock, Learning, Teaching and Assessment: A Good Practice Guide for LecturersTeaching Art, Design and Communication to Deaf Students (Wolverhampton: University of Wolverhampton,2002). Available at http://www.wlv.ac.uk/teachingdeafstudents/booklet.htm. The guide isaccompanied by an online glossary of British Sign Language signs for terms which may well be of use tostudents, lecturers and Sign Language interpreters working with students of English Literature, Languageand Creative Writing. See http://www.artsigns.ac.uk.

30. See the Student Mental Health Manual website at http://www.studentmentalhealth.org.uk/. The mostuseful sections for lecturers are likely to be sections 3 and 7. Further resources are suggested on theEnglish Subject Centre website at http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/projects/access/disability.htm

31. We would be grateful if staff in English departments who are using film or audio sources would shareinformation with the English Subject Centre about the strategies they are developing to supportstudents with disabilities.

32. See reference 28 for details. It would be good practice for departments to make copies of this guideavailable to full-time and part-time colleagues for easy reference.

33. See reference 28.

34. The English Subject Centre’s LearningLink database is available athttp://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/learninglink/

26

References


35. The Bobby Service is available at http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

36. The website for AMATAS, the project on Americanisation and the Teaching of American Studies iscomprehensively tagged to make it easy for all users to benefit from it. http://www.uclan.ac.uk/amatas

37. The TechDis website is at http://www.techdis.ac.uk/ and provides comprehensive resources for peopledesigning electronic learning materials for teaching and learning. For details of the organisation’spublications in this area, see reference 27.

38. See reference 20, p. 4.

Bibliography


Doyle, Carol and Karen Robson. Accessible Curricula: Good Practice Guide for All, ed. Simon Ball and DavidCampy. (Cardiff: UWIC Press, 2002). http://www.uwic.ac.uk/ltsu/accessible.html

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Funding for Widening Participation in Higher Education,HEFCE 02/22. http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2002/02_22.htm

HEFCE, Partnerships for Progression: Call for Strategic Plans to Release Funding, HEFCE 02/49.http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2002/02_49.htm

HEFCE, Successful Student Diversity: Case Studies of Practise in Learning and Teaching and Widening Participation,HEFCE 02/48. http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2002/02_48/htm

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), Widening Access to Higher Education: Strategies, HEFCWW00/114HE. http://www.wfc.ac.uk/education/hefcw/pub00/w00114he.html

Holland, Siobhán and Aidan Arrowsmith, Practising Theory Online, (Newcastle: Assessment and the ExpandedText, 2001). http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/topic/expandtxt/casestudy.htm

Mole, Judith and Diane Peacock, Learning, Teaching and Assessment: A Good Practice Guide for Lecturers teaching Art,Design and Communication to Deaf Students (Wolverhampton: University of Wolverhampton, 2002).http://www.wlv.ac.uk/teachingdeafstudents/booklet.htm

Phipps, Lawrie, Allan Sutherland and Jane Seale, (eds.) Access All Areas: Disability, Technology and Learning,(London: JISC TechDis Service and ALT, 2002). Copies are available from the English Subject Centre or athttp://www.techdis.ac.uk/accessallareas.AAA.pdf

Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Code of Practice for the Assurance of Academic Quality and Standards in HigherEducation, Section 3: Students with Disabilities, (Gloucester: QAA, 1999).http://www.qaa.ac.uk/public/COP/COPswd/contents.htm

Williams, Sadie, Admissions Trends in Undergraduate English: Statistics and Attitudes, English Subject Centre ReportSeries, 1. http://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/topic/admissions.htm

Links


Action on Accesshttp://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/conted/action/

Artsigns: An Online British Sign Language/English Glossary for Art and Design Educationhttp://www.artsigns.ac.uk

Bobby: Web Accessibility Softwarehttp://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

DEMOS: Online Materials for Staff Disability Awarenesshttp://www.demos.ac.uk

Disability Rights Commission: SENDA Code of Practicehttp://www.drc-gb.org/drc/Campaigns/Page431.asp#three

English Benchmarking Statementhttp://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/topic/benchmark/index.htm

English Subject Centrehttp://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk

Higher Education Funding Council for Englandhttp://www.hefce.ac.uk

Higher Education Funding Council for Waleshttp://www.wfc.ac.uk/hefcw/index.htm

Learning Link: C&IT Resources for Englishhttp://www.english.ltsn.ac.uk/learninglink/

National Disability Teamhttp://www.natdisteam.ac.uk

Scottish Higher Education Funding Councilhttp://www.shefc.ac.uk

SENDA, Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001, c. 10)http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm

Skill: National Bureau for Students with Disabilitieshttp://www.skill.org.uk

Student Mental Health: Planning, Guidance and Training Manual http://www.studentmentalhealth.org.uk

Student Psychological Health Projecthttp://www.le.ac.uk/edsc/sphp/studresults.html

TechDishttp://www.techdis.ac.uk

The English Subject Centre report seriesElectronic copies are available on the English Subject Centre website: www.english.ltsn.ac.uk

Report no. 1 Admission Trends in Undergraduate English: statistics and attitudes, Sadie Williams, April 2002, ISBN 0902194437

Report no. 2 The English Degree and Graduate Careers, John Brennan and Ruth Williams, January 2003, ISBN 0902194631

Report no. 3 Postgraduate Training in Research Methods: Current Practice and Future Needs in English, Sadie Williams, February 2003, ISBN 0902194682

Report no. 4 Access and Widening Participation: A Good Practice Guide, Siobhán Holland, February 2003, ISBN 0902194739

Report no. 5 English and IT, Michael Hanrahan, December 2002

Report no. 6 Creative Writing: A Good Practice Guide, Siobhán Holland, February 2003, ISBN 090219478X

Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX T• 01784 443221 F• 01784 470684 [email protected]

www.english.ltsn.ac.uk

University of LondonRoyal Holloway

CCUE

Council for

College and University English

The English Subject Centre supports all aspects of the

teaching and learning of English in higher education

in the United Kingdom. It is part of the Learning and

Teaching Support Network (LTSN) www.ltsn.ac.uk.

As one of its activities, the Centre gathers and

disseminates information to the subject community.

This report series publishes the outcomes of

substantial projects undertaken or commissioned

by the Subject Centre.

ISBN 0 902 19473 9

Documents

Access & Widening Participation: A Good Practice Guide