Widening Access to Scottish Higher Education: Unresolved Issues and Future Challenges

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The Scottish White Paper on independence (Scottish Government, 2013) highlighted the importance of higher education to Scotland's economy and society, noting growing divergence in social and education policy north and south of the Border. The White Paper argued that 'free education for those able to benefit is a core part of Scotland's educational tradition and the values that underpin our educational system. One of the major achievements of devolved government in Scotland has been to restore this right to Scottish domiciled undergraduate students' (Scottish Government, 2013, p.198). This approach was contrasted with that of the Westminster Government, which 'has pursued an increasingly market-driven approach to higher education, increasing tuition fees for undergraduate students to up to £9,000 per year' (ibid.). Despite the Scottish Government's frequent affirmation of its commitment to social justice principles, there has of late been a recognition of the need for firmer action to tackle the social class gap in higher education participation, reflecting wider social inequalities in Scotland. In a recent policy statement, Angela Constance, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, commented: '… a child born today in one of our most deprived communities should have no less a chance of entering higher education than a child born in one of our least deprived. We want every child – whatever their background – to have an equal chance of attending university'. In order to identify the action needed to ensure that 20% of university students are drawn from the most socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods, a Commission on Widening Access chaired by Dame Ruth Silver was set up by the Scottish Government in 2015, reporting in 2016. The following sections provide an overview of the policy context and key issues in the debate on widening access to higher education in Scotland. This is followed by an overview of the papers in this special issue, which highlight the complex problems which need to be addressed in order to achieve a fairer higher education system. 4 DEFINING WHAT COUNTS AS FAIRNESS IN ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION One of the challenges in the field of widening access to higher education is defining clearly how fair access should be understood and measured. As noted by Riddell and Minty (this special issue), within policy statements on the topic there is constant slippage between a version of social justice rooted in an equal opportunities discourse, and a rather more radical version rooted in an equal outcomes discourse. Equal opportunities approaches are based on the idea that public services such as education and health should be open to all, but that social outcomes are likely to vary because of individual differences in abilities, interests and choices. Equal outcomes approaches, on the other hand, are based on the premise that, within key social institutions, group disproportionalities in participation or outcomes should be treated as indicative of systemic discrimination (Phillips, 2004). This, of course, does not preclude individuals making choices according to their own values and preferences. A major theme of this special issue is the need for much greater clarity about what is meant by social justice in higher education, underpinned by a clearer understanding of what might constitute a socially just society. WIDENING ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION: THE POST-WAR POLICY CONTEXT Since the Second World War in western democracies, there has been a strong belief that achieving equality of educational opportunity is essential to the maintenance of social cohesion and economic performance (David, 2008; Trench, 2009). In the post-war years, whilst there were gradual moves to extend the period of compulsory education, higher education remained an elite system, including only 4% of the population. The Robbins Report, published in 1963, reflected the belief that all who were qualified by 'ability and attainment' should be entitled to a place in higher education, supported by a national system of grants. The recommendations for university expansion were accepted by the UK Government and a wave of new universities was established, leading to an increased participation rate of about 12% by 1980. The next period of higher education expansion took place in the 1990s, following the abolition of the binary divide between the universities and polytechnics in England and central institutions in Scotland. By the mid-1990s, about 32% of 17-30 year olds across the UK had experienced some form of higher education and by 2005, this proportion had reached 42%. However, as underlined in this special issue, higher education in Scotland, as well as the rest of the UK and Europe, remains a socially selective and institutionally stratified system.