Student experiences of widening participation in initial teacher

education: a Bourdieusian analysis

Eileen Kelly-Blakeney St. Angela’s College, Sligo, Ireland

Education in the Globalised AgeUniversity of Sheffield

14 February 2014

Applying Bourdieu’s three-level approach to studying the field

1. Analyse the position of the field vis-à-vis the field of power2. Map out the objective structure of the relations between the positions occupied by the agents or institutions 3. Analyse the habitus of agents (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; p. 104-105)

What is the structure and position of ITE in HE in Ireland?How is WP and increasing access to ITE enacted in policy and practice?

How do non-standard entry-route students experience undergraduate concurrent ITE?

Level 1: ITE: a field within fields within fields…

The Hunt Report (DES, 2011)

The Landscape Document (HEA, 2012)

Report on Reconfiguration, Collaboration & Governance (HEA, 2013)

Criteria & Guidelines for programme providers (TC, 2011)

Literacy & Numeracy

for Learning & Life

(DES, 2011)

Report on Review of the Structure of ITE provision

in Ireland (DES, 2012)

Level 2: WP in ITE: policy and practice• Accessing data from HEIs on entrants to ITE from

Access courses – difficult• Data obtained from personal communication with

HEA and Central Applications Office (CAO) • Fewer Mature entrants to ITE (10.6%) than

average across all programmes (14.5%)• Steady increase in HEAR applicants since 2010 • Now more HEAR – route students in ITE (7.9%)

than average across all programmes (4.5%)• Not all HEAR applicants receive HEAR place – thus

not eligible to avail of supports provided

Level 3: Student teachers’ stories

• Face-to-face interviews with 9 non-standard entry-route students in 2 HEIs in Ireland

• 6 Access-Route Students (4F, 2M), 3 Mature-Entry Students (2F, 1M)

• A layered approach used in data analysis: narrative analysis of narrative (Polkinghorne, 1995), intertwined with Bourdieu’s concepts

• Narrative – focus on the ‘relational’ • Field positions of students at time of

interviews: ‘Belonging’ or ‘Adjusting’

Field Positions

‘Belonging’• Transition easy• ‘Same’ as everyone

else• Capacity to draw on

and convert capital• High level of agency

in negotiating both fields

• Heightened reflexivity

‘Adjusting’• Non disclosure of entry

route• Feeling ‘different /

inferior’ to others• Capital not identified• Failure experienced in

one/both fields – ‘Struggling’

• Resilience • Available supports not

always drawn on

Implications

• Visibility and targeting re: WP routes to ITE at pre-entry stage

• HEIs: ‘normalisation’ of WP entry routes would serve to enhance the student teacher experience

• HEAR scheme is successful in WP to ITE, but needs to be adequately resourced

• Pre-entry Access courses very beneficial • Teaching Council: Increasing accountability re WP