Catherine Lido

The impact of engagement with extracurricular activities on the student experience and graduate outcomes for widening participation populations

This research examined extracurricular activity (ECA) effects on students’ experiences, outcomes and future job prospects. A survey of diverse undergraduate students, along with alumni and potential employer interviews, revealed differences in students’ engagement with ECAs beyond the classroom. Variations between ‘traditional’ and ‘widening participation’ student groups emerged, with older and ethnic minority students spending more time with non-university ECAs, engaged in family, religious and solitary activities. Lower socio-economic status (SES) students spent more time working, and less time engaging in ECAs. Alumni reflected ECAs as key to developing self-identity, social networks and career prospects/pathways. Employers stressed the value of ECAs for ‘distinguishing’ candidates, providing evidence of cultural fit, leadership, commitment, and ‘selling’ original activities. As (university-linked) ECAs were key for undergraduate outcomes and graduate employment prospects, emerging ethnic, age and SES patterns of engagement have implications for persistent inequalities in employment (despite widening participation agendas).

Personal stories: how students’ social and cultural life histories interact with the field of higher education

Learners’ biographies affect their engagement with knowledge and shape how their learning is understood. This article uses an educational life history approach to investigate how students’ social and cultural educational experiences affect their engagement with their university. Qualitative evidence is presented from interviews with students with different life experiences, which explored issues of belonging and identity in the context of lifelong learning. While there is some evidence that students from some minority ethnic backgrounds do less well at university than would be expected, there is little research that looks at the reasons behind this discrepancy. The research suggests that ethnicity does interact with other variables such as socio-economic status, age and gender to affect student outcomes. However, what is significant from these life stories is that even middle-class minority ethnic students have a different engagement with their universities to their White British peers.

Reflexology treatment for patients with lower limb amputations and phantom limb pain—An exploratory pilot study

OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study were to evaluate the possibility of reflexology being used as a non-invasive form of phantom limb pain relief and of empowering patients to maintain any positive results with self-treatment. SETTING Prosthetic Services Centre, Herbert Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. DESIGN A same-subject, experimental pilot study, recording the intensity of phantom limb pain in weekly pain diaries over a 30-week period, which was divided into five phases: phase 1 gave a baseline of pain, whilst phase 3 was a resting phase. Phases 2, 4 and 5 provided the reflexology interventions. SAMPLE Ten participants with unilateral lower limb amputations and phantom limb pain were selected from the database at the Prosthetic Centre. REFLEXOLOGY INTERVENTIONS: In phase 2, six weekly reflexology treatments were given, which consisted of: full foot reflexology to the remaining foot and full hand reflexology to the hand of the amputated side of the body. In phase 4, six weekly hand reflexology teaching sessions were carried out; patients copied on their own hands what the therapist did on hers. A hand reflexology booklet gave the sequence of the treatment and was used as a reference. In phase 5, the patients self-treated for 6 weeks at home, using the reference material. RESULTS Over the 30-week period, there was an improvement in the perception of the presence and the intensity of the phantom limb pain, with a corresponding improvement in the duration of the pain and the affect on the persons lifestyle. The improvement was maintained when the clients self-treated. FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONNAIRE: A follow-up questionnaire was carried out in 2007--12 months after the project had ended--to elicit whether the patients had suffered from phantom pain over the previous 12 months, whether they still had relief from phantom limb pain and whether they still self-treated. CONCLUSIONS The project indicated that reflexology treatment, teaching and self-treatment were effective in eradicating or reducing the intensity and duration of phantom limb pain, in this group of clients. The follow-up questionnaire revealed that there was a maintained improvement in the intensity of phantom limb pain the patients experienced and that the majority still self-treated.

Older learning engagement in the modern city

Abstract This research employs novel techniques to examine older learners’ journeys, educationally and physically, in order to gain a ‘three-dimensional’ picture of lifelong learning in the modern urban context of Glasgow. The data offers preliminary analyses of an ongoing 1500 household survey by the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC). A sample of 1037, with 377 older adults aged 60+, was examined to understand older learner engagement in formal, in-formal, non-formal and family-learning contexts. Preliminary findings indicate that all forms of older learning participation are lower than younger and middle-age counterparts. However, there is a subset of ‘actively ageing’, socially and technologically engaged older adult ‘learner-citizens’, participating in educational, physical, cultural, civic and online activities (including online political discussions and boycotts). These older learners were more likely to be working, caretakers and report better health overall. Long-term disabilities were associated with less engagement in non-formal learning activities. Additionally, engaged older learners’ GPS trails show more city activity than their matched non-learning-engaged counterparts. Place-based variables, such as feeling safe and belonging to the local area, moderated adult participation in learning activities. The full data-set will be accessible to researchers and the general public via UBDC, providing a complex data source to explore demographically diverse learners’ within an urban context.

Choosing a student lifestyle? Questions of taste, cultural capital and gaining a graduate job

Higher education (HE) participation is increasingly pervasive across the United Kingdom. Participation rates are at about 43 per cent of young people entering HE. Much of the debate over the last 10 years has focused on widening participation (WP) for young people from lower socio-economic groups, but, more recently, a debate has opened up, which focuses on how socially mobile our society is (Milburn, 2009; Clegg, 2011), and HE is seen to be a key component of creating upward social mobility.