Publications

Despite major expansion of higher education (HE) in the UK over recent decades individuals from the least socially advantaged backgrounds continue to enter HE at lower rates than their more advantaged counterparts (Christie et al, 2005; Croll and Attwood 2013), and when they do, they enter less prestigious HEIs (Ball et al 2002, Reay et…

Widening participation in higher education has been a central pillar of UK Government’s higher education policy since the 1990s. In Wales, the centrality of the ‘widening access’ agenda within its strategy for higher education has resulted in pressure on HEIs to expand access to HE opportunities to those traditionally under-represented in it. With the aim…

Widening access to higher education has been a central theme within the Welsh Government’s strategy for higher education in recent years. This widening access agenda is predicated on the basis that particular social groups (namely, those from particular social, ethnic or geographical backgrounds) are under-represented in HE. Widening access to HE opportunities to these groups…

In recognition of inequitable rates of participation in higher education amongst individuals from different social groups, the Welsh Government has implemented policies putatively aimed at widening access to HE amongst social groups traditionally underrepresented therein (Welsh Government, 2009). Given the Welsh Government’s emphasis on widening access to HE in Wales in recent years, there are…

In recent years, widening participation in higher education in Wales has been a key policy drive of the Welsh Government. Central to meeting its widening access agenda has been the adoption of area based strategies to widening access to higher education(HE) in Wales. This has been manifest in the targeting of residents of Communities First…

The current state of Welsh education has become a matter of widespread concern in recent years. Certainly, many of those outside Wales have formed a view of Welsh education that is extremely unfavourable. For example, following a series of well-publicised clashes between representatives of the two governments, the UK Government has made clear its belief…

The Assisted Places Scheme was introduced in 1980 by the Conservative Government to provide a’ladder of opportunity’ for academically able students from poor homes. Over the next 17 years,more than 75,000 pupils received means-tested assistance from public funds to attend the mostselective and prestigious private schools in England and Wales. The Scheme proved highlycontroversial and…

The aim of the 2012 ESF Leavers Survey is to assist in assessing the effectiveness of labour market interventions delivered under ESF. Telephone interviews were conducted with over 4,000 people who had left an ESF project delivered under Priorities 2 and 3 of the Convergence Programme and Priorities 1 and 2 of the Competitiveness Programme…

There is wide variation in health outcomes even between countries at similar levels of economic development. Murray and Frenk wrote an evidence briefing on this topic for the World Health Organization in 2000 (1,2). That briefing discussed the several frameworks that existed then for measurement of health system performance and proposed a number of improvements…

The Foundation Phase is a Welsh Government flagship policy of early years education (for 3 to 7-year old children) in Wales. Marking a radical departure from the more formal, competency-based approach associated with the previous Key Stage 1 National Curriculum, it advocates a developmental, experiential, play-based approach to teaching and learning. The policy has been…