Understanding working-class 'drop-out' from higher education through a sociocultural lens: Cultural narratives and local contexts

Abstract

The 'drop-out' of working-class students from universities has been identified as one of the most pressing issues for the higher education (HE) sector in the United Kingdom. This article draws on the initial findings of a major research project that explores the meanings and implications of such withdrawal from HE amongst young working-class people. The article argues that drop-out should be seen not just as an educational problem, but also as a manifestation of sociocultural change. To understand drop-out we need to look beyond student support needs or institutional barriers to cultural narratives and local contexts. This enables us to use a sociological frame to understand the educational question, and employ the educational data to contribute to sociological debates on class. The article analyses 'drop-out' as a self-fulfilling cultural narrative that is increasingly connoted as working class, as well as being a consequence of the material exigencies of working-class circumstances. It illustrates how class identity mutates yet stays the same, with the working class still positioned in terms of 'lack'. Although the possibility of university study has become a part of working-class identity, the expectation that this experience may be 'flawed' or 'spoilt' has also become engrained. The article analyses drop-out as two sides of one coin: as both significantly influenced by local culture and as having a perceived impact upon that culture, with different effects in different locales.

Forming learning identities in higher education in Sweden

“…As the students say, to be a non-traditional student in HE is to be an outsider, having to study alone and longing to "know how it works there". The students are afraid of failing (Quinn, 2004) and want to do well, but have difficulty and are not willing to play the overly competitive part of the academic game in order to become top students. Many want to become good professionals after their studies and are struggling with what that means (Thunborg, 2009).…”

“…Collier & Morgan (2008) find differences in the interpretation of faculty expectations between traditional college students and students who were the first of their family to progress to HE study. Quinn (2004) shows that working-class students experience a tension between their class identity and the middle-class study culture. They also see themselves as facing the paradox of a double failure: they are undertaking study in order to get a better job, but should they fail and drop out they may end up in a worse position than if they had never entered higher education.…”

The Effect of Student Financial Constraints on University Non-Completion Rates

“…Although the reasons for dropping out of university are many and varied, studies show that the socio-economic status of students is the most fundamental cause of non-completion rates world-over (CHE, 2013;Chen & DesJardins, 2010;Letseka & Maile, 2008;Lofstrom, 2007;Munro & Fisher, 2004;Quinn, 2004;Titus, 2006;Vignoles & Powdthavee, 2009;Walpole, 2003). Many of these studies indicate that students from less privileged family backgrounds have greater chances of dropping out of university as compared to those from well-to-do families (Blanden & Gregg, 2004;Carneiro & Heckman, 2003;Christie, Corrigan, 2003;Cunha & Heckman, 2007;Davies & Elias 2003;Dearing, 1997;Feinstein, 2003;Gayle, Berridge & Davies, 2002;Haveman & Wolfe, 1993;Meghir & Palme, 2005;McGivney, 1996;Thomas & Quinn, 2006;Vignoles & Powdthavee, 2009).…”

‘I don’t feel like ‘a student’, I feel like ‘me’!’: the over‐simplification of mature learners’ experience(s)

“…For example, evidence is growing that 'marginal social groups', amongst whom the older, frequently working class, Access students are counted, are both under-represented in HE, and more likely to drop-out or withdraw (Quinn, 2004). Field (2003, p. 26) suggests that 'nontraditional' students 'risk entering an academic ghetto', which at best produces outcomes carrying lower status and value post-graduation compared to students from 'more conventional backgrounds '.…”