Edited by Michael Osborne, Jim Gallacher and Beth Crossan

Published: July 2004
256pp: 234x156mm
Hardback ISBN: 0-415-32236-7: £75.00 
RoutledgeFalmer
www.routledgefalmer.com
 

The authoritative volume is a truly international contribution to the worldwide debate on how best to widen access to lifelong learning.
The first section of the book comprises research studies from around the world, reflecting the diversity of contexts in which widening access is researched and considers issues central to the access debate, including different understandings of the concept of access, organisational and structural change, curriculum development, entry policies, performance and retention and labour market outcomes. The second illustrates a range of diverse and innovative methodological approaches that have been employed by researchers in the field and considers the range of approaches available to researchers.

Given the growing concern around the world on the need to combat social exclusion and to improve economic circumstances through access to lifelong learning, this book acts as a unique reference point informing the ongoing debate, exploring the interrelationship between research, policy and practice. It will be essential reading for students, academics and policymakers researching the global phenomenon of widening access to education.

Contents

Part 1: Key Issues
1. An international perspective on researching widening access, Michael Osborne and Jim Gallacher
2. Researching widening access: an overview, Peter Scott
3. Researching access in a rapidly changing context: experiences from higher education in South Africa, Shirley Walters
4. Looking through the kaleidoscope: diversification, accessibility and inequality in Scottish higher education, Brenda Morgan-Klein and Mark Murphy
5. Discourses of access: changing views in a changing world, David Boud
6. Widening access and literacy, Joseph Lo Bianco
7. Widening access for the education of adults in the United States, Juanita Johnson-Bailey and Ronald M. Cervero
8. E-learning and access: getting behind the hype, Jo Barraket
9. Access as more: issues of student performance retention and institutional change, Hunter R. Boylan
10. After access: researching labour market issues, Ewart Keep

Part 2: Methodological Issues
11. Participatory paradigms: researching 'with' rather than 'on', Ramón Flecha and Jesús Gómez
12. Questions of access and participation: some contributions from qualitative research, Beth Crossan and Michael Osborne
13. Biography and narratives: adult returners to learning, Barbara Merrill and Peter Alheit
14. Counting access: problems and puzzles, Alasdair Forsyth and Andy Furlong
15. E-learning, marginalized communities and social capital: a mixed method approach, Sara Ferlander
16. Organisation behaviour, research and access, Chris Duke
17. The case study approach to research in adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL, Rob Mark
18. Researching widening access: the future agenda, Jim Gallacher and Beth Crossan

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