Do I really have a choice? The decision making behaviours of post-16 pupils: a qualitative case study

In 1997, Lord Dearing proposed a vision that sought to widen participation in higher education (HE) to include young people who would not normally access a university education, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those with alternative qualifications to the traditional advanced (A’) level. The report acted as catalyst for subsequent government policies, resulting in three decades of changes in the HE sector, including a significant growth in the courses and settings available to potential applicants. The context of the present study is therefore that in which young people appear to have more HE choice than ever before, and one in which a government led information agenda has provided potential applicants with a wealth of information to support them in making informed choices. Nevertheless, despite the range of choices available, the author’s personal experience necessitates a hypothesis proposing that this choice may not be as wide for some young people as it first appears, particularly for those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, or those with alternative level 3 qualifications. By employing the theoretical lenses of Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory and Elster’s theory of adaptive preference, the study seeks to establish the choice processes from the perspective of the young people involved. In the first phase of the study, questionnaires are distributed to year 12 students in two contrasting settings, in order to ascertain how their level 3 choices were made. Meanwhile, in the second phase, a series of focus group activities is conducted in the same two settings, in order to identify the factors that influence the participants’ university choice, and whether there are any perceived barriers to this choice. The findings indicate that while the participants do not suggest that there are any constraints on their choices, there are certain limitations due to their earlier choices. In some cases, these limitations appear to originate from self-imposed barriers, however these are often a result of parental or school expectation. Furthermore, despite providing the participants with a range of statistical evidence to enable them to compare and contrast HE settings, the results reveal that they are far more likely to base their choice on a best fit, rather than one deemed to be the most expedient.