'My school has been quite pushy about the Oxbridge thing': voice and choice of higher education

Byrom, T, Thomson, P and Gates, P, 2007. 'My school has been quite pushy about the Oxbridge thing': voice and choice of higher education. Improving Schools, 10 (1), pp. 33-44.

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Abstract

Whilst government policies are now pushing teachers to listen to pupils, this concern is largely framed within the school improvement agenda. This is not the only arena where listening to pupils counts. This article examines the ways in which two young people, making a significant choice about which university to attend, felt unable to discuss their interests and concerns with their teachers. In one case, this resulted in a young woman doing less well in her examinations in order to avoid getting her first preference of Oxbridge, and securing her ‘real choice’ at another Russell Group university. The other was not invited by his school to apply to Oxbridge, despite a desire to go there which he felt unable to articulate at school. We suggest that, given the current concern over widening participation, these two cases provide hints that all is not well with school gate-keeping and career guidance procedures.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Improving Schools
Creators:	Byrom, T., Thomson, P. and Gates, P.
Publisher:	Sage
Date:	2007
Volume:	10
Number:	1
Rights:	Copyright 2007 by Sage Publications. All rights reserved. No portion of the contents may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Education
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 10:23
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2015 14:31
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/12290

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