Working class women on Access to HE courses two decades apart - A comparative analysis of risk, opportunity and (re)constructing identities across a 20 year period

Widening participation in higher education (HE) is a significant component of UK education policy. It aims to create a HE system that addresses the under-representation of particular groups. Mature working class students are a target group yet they have become largely invisible in this agenda. The journey for those who enter via an Access to HE course can provide valuable context to the widening participation agenda. This paper presents a longitudinal analysis, drawn from two narrative enquiries conducted 20 years apart. It evidences the value of progressing into HE for mature working class women taking an Access to HE course. The research makes visible the realities of class-based inequalities and how they are experienced and continue to shape trajectories. The women were motivated yet constrained by their classed consciousness. This paper presents practitioner led enquiry as a valid epistemology which can provide important insights into mature students journeys into HE.