JFHE learning as a community of practice FINAL Dec 14.pdf (249.09 kB)
"We all know why we’re here”: Learning as a Community of Practice on Access to HE courses
journal contribution
posted on 2015-03-09, 16:39 authored by Nalita James, Hugh Busher, Beth SuttillThis article examines the extent to which Access to HE courses can be defined as
communities of practice. Other studies have already revealed the importance of
mutual engagement and supportive relationships between students, and students
and tutors in facilitating learning. While previous studies carried out on Access to HE
(AHE) courses in England and Wales have largely focused on single colleges, the
study that this article draws on was carried out in three urban Further Education (FE)
Colleges using a linked case studies design and a social interactivist lens. It
investigated mature students' perspectives of their changing learning identities
through their developing relationships with their tutors and with each other during
their AHE courses. Qualitative data was collected from five to six self-selecting AHE
students in each College using focus group interviews and from their tutors using
individual interviews.The findings suggest that the AHE students in this study
generally participated and interacted in a supportive and collaborative way, guided
by their tutors, and how and why they did this. This mutual engagement around
particular core values helped to construct communities of practice although some
students remained peripheral participants. Within these communities were
considerable inequalities of power, largely sustained by the institutional structures
and professional discourses within which the AHE courses were located.
History
Citation
Nalita James, Hugh Busher & Beth Suttill (2015): ‘We all know why we’re here’: Learning as a community of practice on Access to HE courses, Journal of Further and Higher EducationAuthor affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE/Institute of Lifelong LearningVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)