The Class Politics of Foundation Years

Abstract

Social class remains a hidden (dis)advantage in access to, experiences of, and outcomes from higher education. Being working class is neither a legally protected characteristic nor an explicit widening participation criterion. However, as numerous studies and memoirs show, the impact of class identity is experienced viscerally by students, and is significant for their educational outcomes. Foundation years are a significant and growing route into HE for students from working class backgrounds. How these students and the institutions they are entering are perceived, understood, and represented by the practitioners who design and deliver foundation year provision is therefore significant, but published research largely focuses on the experiences of students. This article explores foundation year practitioners’ perceptions of barriers to working class inclusion and success, and the ways in which they see foundation years mitigating or ameliorating these. It identifies three broad ‘discourses’ or models of working class inclusion promoted by foundation years, and goes on to suggest some potential perverse (in terms of equality and social mobility) outcomes arising from the role of foundation years as a mechanism for working class inclusion in higher education.