From widening access to fair access

Although narratives on access-participation-mobility have been punctuated by changes in Government, some concepts have straddled different policy eras, and this is particularly the case for access. Access is the only one of the three concepts to have featured explicitly in each of the four White Papers. Specific policy

expressions of access have, however, developed over time, with widening access featuring in 1987 and 1991, compared with fair access in 2003 and 2011.

At their broadest, expressions of access have some basic similarities in their concern for the principles and mechanisms bearing on entry to higher education. The framework shows that an important narrative of continuity across the twenty-five year period is the alignment to the Robbins Principle on Access as a policy rationale. As a guiding principle, the Robbins perspective on access to higher education has been adopted and affirmed almost universally during each policy era and across different Governments. Although appearing in different contexts and under different interpretations, notions of equality of opportunity, fairness and meritocracy, as general tenets of the Robbins Principle, have relevance in each of the White Papers.

The purpose and emphasis of policies on access provide further clues to the sets of ideas underpinning the different iterations of access. In 1987 and 1991

widening access is primarily about broadening the entry routes into higher

education and opening up recognised routes for adults to re-enter at any life stage. The focus on qualifications, as currency for higher education entry, reinforces a key feature of education and access in England. As noted in Chapter 1, Turner’s model of sponsored mobility (1960) and its focus on merit and

selection, is embodied in the 1987 articulations of access. Indeed, widening access was not about open access and the message was clear that academic achievement should, in the main, continue to govern entry to higher education. Nevertheless, and despite being framed by a heavily technocratic discourse, 1987 was a

significant milestone for access to higher education in England. Access underwent a much broader interpretation than in previous policies, including the Robbins inquiry.

Given that the 1991 White Paper simply reiterates the 1987 policies on widening access, for the purposes of examining articulations of access-participation- mobility 1987 and 1991 can be considered as one policy era. Access policies in 2003, then, became more numerous and various; and were allied to notions of

social justice and fairness. By 2003, while the economic rationale for widening

access is transferred to the drivers for widening participation (particularly the 50 per cent participation target), fair access is underpinned by an explicit policy concern for the collective, civic role of higher education. The extent of access policies is at its broadest in 2003, not least with the creation of a national independent body responsible for monitoring fair access (OFFA) and the

requirement on institutions to produce Access Agreements. The 2003 expressions of access also initiated the idea of fair admissions as a guiding principle for equity, and led to the publication of related, official texts such as the Schwartz Review of Fair Admissions.

The career of access, as a policy motif for equity, took on a new direction in 2011. At the same time, the majority of the 2003 access policies feature in 2011, despite a change in Government. However, the ideas of social justice and fairness do not feature explicitly alongside the later articulations of fair access. The rationale for fair access is a more individualised version in 2011; and the focus moved from the entry of all under-represented groups to all forms of higher education to one

time undergraduate education at the most selective universities. This narrowing of focus is evidenced by research that highlights both a persistence of inequality in these areas (Boliver, 2013; Sutton Trust, 2010, 2011). It also combines a lessening or, indeed, silencing of policy interest in patterns of inequality associated with other under-represented groups, including specific ethnic minorities (Boliver, 2014). Participation in other types of higher education is underplayed, although greater competition between public and private providers was expected to diversify types of provision and modes of study.

The context and discourse of austerity limits the scope of the 2011 articulations of access. Furthermore, near-universal participation (more than half the age group in higher education) had already been achieved by 2011. Nevertheless, the access policies continued to be relatively extensive and narratives on fair admissions advanced considerably between 2003 and 2011. Different sets of ideas also come to the fore in 2011, some in tension with each other. As an example, the more directive approach to affirmative action in 2011 placed greater responsibility on higher education institutions to mediate fair access through their own contextual admissions institutional policies. Although a specific call by Government, this policy was perhaps in place of a state organised approach and was framed by an acceleration of marketisation, traditionally associated with a reduced role of the state. A state organised approach would, indeed, have challenged the idea of institutional autonomy and, even without a nationally organised approach, the 2011 articulation of fair access in admissions proved highly controversial (Henry, 2012).