Enrichment in colleges after COVID: Spaces for agency and/or cultural reproduction
Journal article
Authors | Esmond, B., Kaur, B. and Atkins, L. |
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Abstract | A longitudinal study of enrichment across post-16 colleges in England and Wales illustrates the possibilities and limitations of colleges’ societal and cultural impact. Over a four-year study, these activities outside subject curricula, widely intended to compensate for the mobilisation of cultural capital by students in privileged settings, increased in salience whilst responding to post-pandemic crises; but differed across settings in their aims and organisation, including the agency afforded to staff and students. This paper explores these differences, in the context of a longstanding theorisation of colleges as sites of social reproduction interruptible only outside the technical sphere, whilst drawing on contemporary understandings of structure, agency and stratification. Whilst analysis of survey and case study data suggests broad association of general education spaces with agentic enrichment practices, alongside vocational enrichment overlapping technical curricula or generic ‘support’, we suggest that contestation over the aims and content of enrichment takes place in the context of a hierarchical terrain of post-16 institutions and broader societal and policy developments unfolding over time. We argue that authentic and socially just enrichment requires its extension to the interests and agency of students across educational pathways, in contradistinction to the currently deepening stratification of post-16 education in England. |
Keywords | enrichment; social justice; cultural reproduction; stratification; COVID-19 |
Year | 2024 |
Journal | Journal of Vocational Education and Training |
Journal citation | pp. 1-23 |
Publisher | Routledge - Taylor and Francis |
ISSN | 1747-5090 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2024.2393105 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13636820.2024.2393105 |
Funder | NCFE Research |
Accepted author manuscript | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 19 Aug 2024 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 23 Jul 2024 |
Deposited | 30 Oct 2024 |
https://repository.derby.ac.uk/item/q7v72/enrichment-in-colleges-after-covid-spaces-for-agency-and-or-cultural-reproduction
Download files
Accepted author manuscript
Revised with author details_JVET SI_College_enrichment.docx | ||
License: CC BY 4.0 | ||
File access level: Open |
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