Oxford University, Widening Participation, and the Education Market
Allouch, Annabelle
Oxford University, Widening Participation, and the Education Market - 2017.
18
Initiated in the early 2000s, widening participation schemes at Oxford University aim to encourage more applications from pupils from less advantaged social backgrounds. Using an approach inspired by the sociology of markets, this article illustrates the ways in which these schemes try to coordinate an elitist educational “supply” with the educational “demand” of working-class populations. The process is based on three steps: segmenting populations by offering short-term training sessions calibrated for pupils with specific social and academic dispositions; adapting the presentation of Oxford’s educational offerings to the candidates’ expected social dispositions through the social neutralization of the university environment and by using a personal and playful tone in explaining the educational offerings and their specificities; and attempting to reduce the role played by school teachers in constructing pupils’ aspirations either by restricting their role to material supervision or by ensuring their loyalty. These schemes are less about converting students to particular social codes than of playing on their current dispositions to ensure their “commitment” as customers. While approaches focusing on socialization are generally used to understand the social effects that these schemes have on pupils’ dispositions and aspirations, an approach looking at “channeling” sheds light on a process of interaction between an individual and an institution that is precisely not a matter of socialization.
Oxford University, Widening Participation, and the Education Market - 2017.
18
Initiated in the early 2000s, widening participation schemes at Oxford University aim to encourage more applications from pupils from less advantaged social backgrounds. Using an approach inspired by the sociology of markets, this article illustrates the ways in which these schemes try to coordinate an elitist educational “supply” with the educational “demand” of working-class populations. The process is based on three steps: segmenting populations by offering short-term training sessions calibrated for pupils with specific social and academic dispositions; adapting the presentation of Oxford’s educational offerings to the candidates’ expected social dispositions through the social neutralization of the university environment and by using a personal and playful tone in explaining the educational offerings and their specificities; and attempting to reduce the role played by school teachers in constructing pupils’ aspirations either by restricting their role to material supervision or by ensuring their loyalty. These schemes are less about converting students to particular social codes than of playing on their current dispositions to ensure their “commitment” as customers. While approaches focusing on socialization are generally used to understand the social effects that these schemes have on pupils’ dispositions and aspirations, an approach looking at “channeling” sheds light on a process of interaction between an individual and an institution that is precisely not a matter of socialization.
Réseaux sociaux