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Location and locational capital: an examination of factors influencing choice of higher education applications by working-class students in a sixth-form college

Woodward, Philip (2021) Location and locational capital: an examination of factors influencing choice of higher education applications by working-class students in a sixth-form college. Educational Review. ISSN Print: 0013-1911 Online: 1465-3397

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Abstract

This paper explores the differential ways that working-class sixth-form students in England utilise cultural and social capital when applying to university. This process is examined in terms of the university and course choices made and associated social advantage and prestige. It employs an interpretive paradigm using qualitative methods and a conceptual framework derived from Bourdieu. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were employed and a grounded approach to data analysis was utilised. Findings suggest that access to cultural and social capital is limited to familial influence and educational environment had a limited impact on student decisions. When making choices the most notable themes linked to general locality. Locational preference linked to degree of geographical cultural knowledge and led to the development of the notion of locational capital. This corresponded to intentions to avoid certain locations such as “the rural” or “the provincial” and helps to understand choice. These geographical constructions, linked to perceptions concerning Higher Education Institutions, often triggered concerns regarding “fitting-in” and “social class” and for many resulted in limitations on choice. This imposed a limitation on applying to prestigious HEIs.

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© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way

Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: locational capital, higher education, choice, social class
Divisions: College of Arts, Humanities and Education > School of Education
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Copyright Info: Open Access article
Depositing User: Philip Woodward
Date Deposited: 17 Feb 2021 09:46
Last Modified: 30 Jul 2021 15:50
URI: https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207

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