Who controls the remote? Examining the motivations of Widening Participation practitioners towards online provision using Expectancy-Value Theory

Abstract

Many widening participation (WP) organisations moved their operations online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and since then anecdotal evidence has suggested that most are retaining an online element to their provision. This study seeks to discover to what extent this is the case, and what providers expect to be the impacts of this shift. By surveying and interviewing sector staff we find that most organisations delivering WP activities to young people plan to continue with some remote delivery. However, our respondents also felt that such sessions were less effective across several measures. We use the framework of Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) to examine this apparent disjunct. Our research finds that while most practitioners do not expect online delivery to be as effective due to issues such as lack of engagement and personal contact, this deficit is balanced by value benefits to themselves and their employers, such as cost and time savings, and increased geographical reach. The study demonstrates the utility of EVT in analysing the decision-making processes of WP staff specifically, and more generally for educators other than classroom teachers.