Abstract
Up-over & Down-under: Student experiences from opposite ends of the world
Annual Conference 2025 Abstracts, pp.1-26
Foundation Year Network Annual Conference 2025 (University of Westminster, London, UK, 10/07/2025–11/07/2025)
11/07/2025
Metrics
5 Record Views
Abstract
While both Foundation Years Programs in the UK and Enabling Programs in Australia each have their own history and context, they have evolved to serve ostensibly similar roles, supporting students from under-represented and often socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education in highly differentiated and stratified cultures (Pittman & Trinidad, 2016). Both programs identify their pedagogy as emancipatory (Freire, 1993) and are designed to address aspects of social inequality (Bourdieu 1973; 2005). Recently there have been scholarly studies benchmarking enabling programs in Australia (Davis et al., 2023; Syme et al., 2021); however, there is relatively little data which compares preparatory programs internationally.
This presentation explores early outcomes from a ground breaking exploratory study of the preparatory programs at Durham University, Sheffield University, UK and Southern Cross University, Australia which aims to understand these transformational educational programmes from both student and practitioner perspectives. The study draws on the lived experiences of students in the UK and Australia in a unique cross-cultural study that uses a range of approaches informed by the authors’ diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including narrative enquiry, to explore similarities and differences in the lived experiences of students undertaking these preparatory programmes. It provides a unique, insight into the practices and impact of these preparatory programs and the international HE landscape.
Details
- Title
- Up-over & Down-under: Student experiences from opposite ends of the world
- Creators
- Suzi Syme - Durham UniversityStephen Leech - Durham UniversityValeria Wrigglesworth - Durham UniversityMartina Diehl - Durham University
- Publication Details
- Annual Conference 2025 Abstracts, pp.1-26
- Conference
- Foundation Year Network Annual Conference 2025 (University of Westminster, London, UK, 10/07/2025–11/07/2025)
- Identifiers
- 991013297455402368
- Academic Unit
- SCU College
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Abstract
- Local Fields
- Evidence Based Practice - SoLT