The aim of this chapter is to establish the current context of art and design Access to Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom. In the 1970s and 1980s working -class participation in HE was actively encouraged and celebrated. The movement to widen participation in HE aimed to ensure that the demographic of students studying for degrees was more representative of the population as a whole, gained momentum in the 1990s and into the new millennium. Recently, however, there have been fewer serious attempts at promoting social mobility through educational policies. Indeed, some recent studies suggest that the limited gains in social mobility achieved over the last 30–40 years are now in reverse (Goldthorpe 2016; Blanden et al. 2004). This chapter describes how post -Access students are routinely referred to in policy documents and in the literature of educational research as ‘mature, non-traditional or non-standard’. It is argued in this chapter that these labels disguise the class-based selection that occurs in non-compulsory education, and that post-Access students studying for HE degrees in the field of art and design are systemically constructed as the ‘pedagogised other’. The literature concerning the transition of students, and in particular mature students, to HE is then reviewed. It is argued that mature students’ previous experiences of education and of life contribute towards the judgements they make during their degrees (their practical wisdom or phronesis), and that this can potentially help them to adapt to new situations and to be able to navigate their way around their situatedness as ‘the pedagogised other’ and the additional barriers they may experience during their periods of study.

The post-Access students’ personal narratives about their educational experiences were recorded from the meetings that took place over three years. The recordings were transcribed and critical moments were then identified and analysed (Andrews et al. 2013, p. 49). Each participant’s collection of stories was represented in the form of a case study (Andrews 2014; Butler-Kisber 2010; Clandinin and Connelly 2004). The process was critically reflected upon to ensure that the claims inferred from the work were tentative and contingent.

Of the eight participants who took part in the study, four were selected for inclusion within this book because they represented the diversity of people who undertake Access to HE diplomas. Chad was a white woman and mother with extensive caring responsibilities who aspired to be a textiles designer. Bob was a white working-class man in his 50s who had always dreamed of studying at art school. Eliza was a middle-aged, well-educated black woman who loved learning for its own sake. She hoped further study would lead to a more creative career. Finally, Jane was a middle -class woman in her 50s who wanted to take part in education for her own sense of achievement now that her children were grown up.

Bernstein’s (1958, pp. 160–161) definition of class was used to describe students; the middle classes were defined by educational achievement and employment in skilled or non-manual work alongside a particular attitude towards the achievement of long-term goals.

By using these criteria, Eliza could be described as middle class because she had achieved educational success and pursued a professional career. Bob had worked within industry while having a history of frustrated educational participation. This began with not being able to go to art school. This was because gaining stable work, rather than studying art after Bob left school, was seen as an important priority to him and his family. Bob’s history and outlook on life seemed to indicate he was working class.

Chad and Jane’s class identity appeared to be more ambivalent as they had not enjoyed the educational success of Eliza. Jane dropped out of her ‘A’ levels, feeling that she was not an academic person. After a short time in employment Jane got married and had children. Chad had previously achieved an ‘A’ level but this was only to fill in time until she could join the Navy. Both women had an attitude that they could meet their long-term goals if they worked at it, which would suggest a more middle -class background.

The method of narrative inquiry enabled an analysis of localised situations or contexts. Therefore, generalisations could not be easily made or applied to other, different contexts. However, human stories can have a powerful impact on others and provide models for possible action by other practitioners and students (Nussbaum 1990; Skilleås 2006). The narratives , presented in this book, have been co-constructed between the researchers and the participants, whilst acknowledging that there is no one ‘true’ story.

During the 1980s there was an expansion of ‘non-conventional students’ into HE which coincided with an increase in Access courses (Wakeford 1993; Osborne et al. 1997). The Access route was seen as the ‘third’ way for students to enter university (DES 1987). Parry (1996, p. 11) claimed that Access courses were set up for those students who were ‘excluded , delayed or otherwise deterred by a need to qualify for (university ) entry in more conventional ways’. Currently, HEIs (higher education institutions) have a range of strategies for including mature students on their degree courses. Some accept students who have studied an Access course in a Further Education college. Others deliver their own form of Access or enabling course within the university or HEI; these routes may also have a direct progression route for students onto a degree programme within the institution.

In 2011/2012 there were 42,150 students studying on Access to HE courses and 6% of University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) applicants accepted onto an HE course held an Access qualification (QAA 2013, p. 12). There was a 22% drop in numbers of these programmes specialising in art and design from the previous year (QAA 2013, p. 3). Recently, a report by the Independent Commission on Fees (2013) has shown that, since 2010 the introduction of the £9000 fees regime has had a serious and damaging impact on ‘second chance’ students. There has been a 15.4% drop in applications to HE from people over 25.

The focus of this paper is on those students who had achieved an Access to HE diploma in art and design and had gone onto study an appropriate degree. The objectives of the Access course were to work with mature students to enable them: to achieve a Level 3 qualification, to prepare a portfolio of work and to progress onto an art and design degree. The Access course was aimed at mature students who had not been in conventional education for at least a year. What constituted a mature student had become progressively vaguer; students could be as young as 19, but may have found the pace of an Access course more suitable to their needs than a pre-BA Foundation course or ‘A’ levels, which were seen as the more traditional route to degrees (Hudson 2009, p. 25).

Within a typical cohort there was usually considerable variety in the ages of students ranging from 20- to 70-years-old and upwards; often they had a diverse set of experiences and backgrounds. It was therefore not useful to make assumptions about the class , gender, race or age of these students, as non-traditional, mature students were not (and arguably have never been, nor will ever be) a homogenous group (Osborne et al. 2004, p. 295). Mature students with an Access to HE diploma tended to be a diverse group of people (Busher et ...