Michael Donnelly

A new approach to researching school effects on higher education participation

A new approach to researching school effects on higher education participation is proposed here, which combines insights from the school effectiveness field of research with sociological theories and concepts of schooling. In doing so, it draws attention to some of the problems with the dominant approach often taken in this area and attempts to offer a more analytically precise way of measuring and explaining school effects on higher education choice. It will be argued that whilst past approaches can make it difficult to decipher school effects, the new approach proposed here provides greater understanding about the extent and nature of the school’s influence.

The Road to Oxbridge: Schools and Elite University Choices

ABSTRACT This paper explores hidden messages sent out by schools about Oxbridge, using Basil Bernstein’s concepts of classification and framing. Research in three case-study schools captured these messages from their everyday practices and processes, including their events and activities, sorting mechanisms, interactions and resources. Whilst all of the schools sent out strong classificatory messages, marking out Oxbridge as special, they differed in their strength of framing, making explicit to differing degrees which students are ‘Oxbridge material’.

Inequalities in Higher Education: Applying the Sociology of Basil Bernstein

This article seeks to re-invigorate debate about how we theorise inequalities in higher education. The work of sociologist Basil Bernstein has not yet been brought to bear in this area, despite the affordances it brings in teasing out the implicit rules that perpetuate inequalities in higher education. Drawing on empirical findings from a qualitative study into the impact of university-led ‘outreach’ work in the UK context, the article applies and tests the work of Bernstein. It is argued that his framework offers the analytical precision to expose the implicit rules and principles that underlie young people’s encounters with higher education.

International Mindedness in Practice: The Evidence from International Baccalaureate Schools

International Mindedness is an overarching construct related to multilingualism, intercultural understanding and global engagement (Hill, 2012). The concept is central to the International Baccalaureate (IB) and sits at the heart of its education policies and programmes. The aim of this research study was to examine systematically how schools offering International Baccalaureate programmes (so-called IB World Schools) conceptualise, develop, assess and evaluate International Mindedness (IM), and to understand related challenges and problems, with a view to improving practice in schools. Nine case study schools, identified as being strongly engaged with IM, were selected for in-depth scrutiny of their practice and thinking related to IM. Conclusions from this study will also inform on-going debate on other similar global initiatives.

Regional structures of feeling? A spatially and socially differentiated analysis of UK student im/mobility

Abstract This article explores the patterning of student im/mobility internally within the United Kingdom, using exceptionally detailed student records data on full-time undergraduate entrants from 2014. For this cohort of students, geographic mobility was clearly the preserve of the most socio-economically advantaged, and was less common for Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups. Significantly, the student’s ‘home’ region emerges as the most important factor driving im/mobility even when social, ethnic and educational differences are held constant. The concept ‘structures of feeling’ can help make sense of immobility in areas of the North-East, North-West and Wales, where students are likely to look on higher education choice through a different lens of accumulated and contemporary, inter-generational cultural experience. Exploring exceptions to the dominant trends, we also find a more complex patterning of im/mobility that is likely to reflect the deep historical and structural framing of young people’s socio-spatial horizons.

Deterred by debt? Young people, schools and the escalating cost of UK higher education

ABSTRACT Popular commentaries lament that reforms to the financing of Higher Education (HE) in the UK will operate as a significant deterrent to HE participation amongst students from less advantaged backgrounds. This view of debt as a deterrent is powerful and exists not only at a societal level, but also, as we show, is present in schools. Our data reveal, however, that these ‘debt commentaries’ play out very differently across schools according to the nature of their catchment and the sorts of views staff hold about pupils in relation to their fear of debt. Furthermore, students’ views on debt largely contradict these popular ‘debt-as-deterrent’ narratives and instead are often characterised by acceptance, ambivalence and at times positive orientations towards the prospect of debt. These findings vividly illuminate both the regional and institutional specificity of staff and student decision making in relation to ‘debt’, hence they have substantial implications for HE funding policy specifically and debates about widening participation in HE more generally, where ensuring greater equity in the scope of choices young people have when it comes to choosing a university is a pressing concern.

Book review of 'Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education' by Sara Delamont (ed.)

chapter addresses the issues involved in tailoring accounts for different audiences and discusses the importance of dissemination in bringing about positive change. If I have one overarching criticism of this book, it is that its lack of clearly drawn out theoretical debates and frameworks (for example, feminist and post-structuralist perspectives) weakens its argument for theory as an essential underpinning of credible and rigorous research. I also wonder if this omission is in part responsible for the theoretically decontextualized and sometimes contradictory claims referred to earlier. However, one of its key strengths lies in the way it addresses the needs of a readership who are both practitioners and researchers, illuminating the connections between research, practice and policy and their historically situated and politically invested natures.

Book review: Sara Delamont (ed.), Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education:

chapter addresses the issues involved in tailoring accounts for different audiences and discusses the importance of dissemination in bringing about positive change. If I have one overarching criticism of this book, it is that its lack of clearly drawn out theoretical debates and frameworks (for example, feminist and post-structuralist perspectives) weakens its argument for theory as an essential underpinning of credible and rigorous research. I also wonder if this omission is in part responsible for the theoretically decontextualized and sometimes contradictory claims referred to earlier. However, one of its key strengths lies in the way it addresses the needs of a readership who are both practitioners and researchers, illuminating the connections between research, practice and policy and their historically situated and politically invested natures.