Brenda Johnston

The Shape of Research in the Field of Higher Education and Graduate Employment: Some issues

This article offers a critical evaluation of research in the field of graduate employment in the UK. In these days of ever-growing research and governmental interest in the nature of graduate employment, as well as in the purposes and efficacy of higher education, such a review is timely. Every field in every discipline has its particular shape, which is usually unquestioned and which arises out of historical influences, disciplinary traditions, the personal interests of leading figures past and present macro-societal and intellectual developments funding arrangements for research and so on. The field of higher education and graduate employment is no exception. This article will probe the shape of the graduate employment literature and query some taken-for-granted norms in the field. The article will explore issues such as the forces shaping research in the field, the foci of the research, and the scholarly and methodological limitations of the research. The article offers a selective critique, rather than a comprehensive review.

Chasing shadows: defining network boundaries in qualitative social network analysis

Defining network boundaries is a key challenge in social network analysis. In our recent qualitative study of network influences on educational decision-making — based on interviews with 107 individuals from 16 case study networks — the set of members with whom interviews were secured in each case represented only a sub-set of the broader networks from which they were drawn. Following an introduction to our study and an outline of our approach, we consider some of the processes of filtering and selection that affected the specific composition of our network sample, and reflect upon what this tells us about the processes by which participants in network-based research make decisions about the representation of their networks within research contexts. We then explore the question of whether the partiality of our data actually matters, and conclude that it reflects the permeable, partial and dynamic nature of social networks, characteristics which are central to qualitatively-informed understandings of SNA.

Young people, social capital and network-based educational decision-making

This paper explores whether and in what ways young peoples perceptions and experiences of higher education (HE) can facilitate the transmission within their social networks of social capital both upwardly (from child to parent) and horizontally (from sibling to sibling), and thus can potentially provide bridging capital to family members, especially in families with little or no prior experience of HE. It utilises data from a project that explored the embedded nature of decision‐making about HE amongst a group of ‘potentially recruitable’ adults and their wider networks. The study researched 16 networks, and the resultant sample of 107 individuals included six teenagers and 15 young people in their twenties. The paper concludes that, despite the general emphasis within existing theoretical approaches to network capital on the downward transmission of social capital, the educational experiences of younger generations can be critical in shaping the perceptions of other (including older) network members, albeit not always in ways that encourage formal educational participation.

Approaches to reflexivity : navigating educational and career pathways

This paper provides a critical appraisal of approaches to reflexivity in sociology. It uses data from social network research to argue that Archer’s approach to reflexivity provides a valuable lens with which to understand how people navigate their education and career pathways. The paper is also critical of Archer’s methodology and typology of reflexivity as ‘types’; it is argued that social network research suggests people reveal different approaches to reflexivity in different situations. It concurs with Archer that the concept reflexivity is central to our understanding of the relationships between agency, structure and social change

German and UK higher education and graduate employment: the interface between systemic tradition and graduate views

This article presents a comparative analysis of the German and UK higher education systems and their relationship to graduate employment. It scrutinizes the complex interconnections between (1) higher education systems and traditions; (2) the role of higher education in the state, society and the economy; and (3) the views of graduates as expressed in interviews. We explore how far and in what ways opinions, expectations and experiences are shaped by (1) national traditions and culture and (2) current economic, social, political and educational developments. We find that today’s student expectations and perceptions are shaped and transformed by economic, political and social factors, including potent higher education beliefs dating back to earlier centuries, as illustrated by the reflections of graduates five years after graduation. The analysis explores the commonalities within each country grouping which lead to striking differences between the countries that transcend the mostly country‐independent disciplinary differences. The analysis has possible implications for the Bologna protocol and issues of European comparability.

‘A uniform seemed the obvious thing’: experiences of careers guidance amongst potential HE participants

The growth of higher education is a global phenomenon and provides challenges for educational leaders in schools and universities. Raising aspiration and participation requires an understanding of the sources of advice and information available to potential participants and how these are used when they decide whether or not to participate. This article draws on a qualitative study using social network analysis undertaken in England. This study examined the nature of decision making amongst individuals who have chosen not to participate in higher education despite possessing the qualifications and experience which would enable them to be admitted to a university programme. The research sought to identify their decision‐making processes within the ‘networks of intimacy’ that are their family, friends and significant individuals in their educational and/or working environments, past or present. Lying at the heart of the research is the belief that, in social network analysis, it is the interpersonal relationships rather than the individuals that form the unit of analysis. This article examines the role of information, advice and guidance (IAG) on individuals when they make the decision whether or not to participate in higher education. It considers the experience that individuals had at school, and explores their career decision making engaged in outside the school environment, and beyond the age of 18. It spells out the implications for educational leaders and managers in schools and universities as well as policy makers concerned about improving participation rates in all sectors of the community.

'Getting by' or 'getting ahead'? : gendered educational and career decision-making in networks of intimacy

In social network analysis it is social relationships rather than individuals that form the unit of analysis. A key strength of this approach is that it prevents decisions and behaviour being viewed as either individually or structurally determined. This chapter draws on research that is examining the potential of network data to help explain educational decision-making , with a specific focus on Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom. The study is designed to explore the ways in which ‘networks of intimacy’ (Heath and Cleaver 2003) made up of family and friends may provide a critical context within which thinking about HE is embedded and co-constructed. The following discussion represents an early attempt to explore the network of intimacy as the unit of analysis for understanding decisions about education , including the decision to participate, or not, in HE. For the purposes of this chapter, we are focusing on one network which we suggest is illustrative of (among other issues) the gendered nature of educational ‘choices ’ and transitions .

How Personal Networks Govern Educational Decisions

The chapter by Sue Heath, Alison Fuller, and Brenda Johnston tackles the question on how personal networks govern individual educational decisions. The case study illustrates different ways in which the decision to pursue higher education is influenced by one’s personal network. The study demonstrates the social embeddedness and complexity of what we usually consider an “individual” decision. Besides, in focusing on those who did not pursue higher education, the study questions the voluntary and conscious character of decisions and brings to the fore the significance of identities, norms, habits, and habitus in understanding social action.

Action research in teaching and learning: a practical guide to conducting pedagogical research in universities

Taylor and Francis Ltd CJFH_A_487321.sgm 10.1080/0309877X.2010.487321 Journal of Further and Higher Education 030977X (print)/1469-9486 (online) Book Review 2 10 & Francis 34 002 1 Dr BrendaJohnston .H.M.Johnsto @so on.ac.uk Action research in teaching and learning: a practical guide to conducting pedagogical research in universities, by Lin Norton, London, Routledge, 2009, 224pp., £23.99(paperback), £22.99(hardback), ISBN 978-0-415-437943, ISBN 978-0-415-46846-6.