White Working Class Males in British Higher Education the research , providing access to learners and their parents , although to increase the number of survey respondents , learners from other local school and colleges were also targeted .
Exploring the higher education entry and aspirations of white , working class men at the University of Portsmouth
Similar to the pre-entry research , the post-entry research was collected using a mixed-methods approach . A university-wide online survey of first-year undergraduate students was conducted in Autumn 2016 , yielding 678 completed responses , which represents a 12 percent response rate . Among the 678 respondents , 97 identified as white , male , British , traditional age ( 17-19 years old ), and first generation students . In addition to the qualitative and quantitative data gathered within the survey , three focus groups were conducted with 20 participants who were white , male , British , traditional age ( 17-19 years old ), and first generation students . While identifying participants who are ‘ working class ’ is challenging for reasons discussed earlier in this report , first-generation students are more likely to be from working class households ( Gardner and Holley , 2011 ), which is why this was one of the criteria for exploring the postentry data . A review of recent literature was conducted to provide the national and local context for the research .
2 . Context for the research
2.1 National policy context
The higher education white paper , presented to Parliament in May 2016 , encouraged universities to update their access agreements to commit to increasing participation among particular underrepresented groups within higher education , “ including increasing participation among young white males from lower socio-economic groups , who are five times less likely to go into higher education than the most advantaged white males ” ( Department for Business , Innovation and Skills , 2016 , p . 14 ). The higher education Green paper , presented to Parliament in November 2015 , revealed “ Only around 10 % of white British men from the most disadvantaged backgrounds go into higher education ” ( Department for Business , Innovation and Skills , 2015 , p . 37 ).
Tackling the underrepresentation of white young men from areas with low HE participation rates is also a strategic priority for the new Higher Education Funding Council for England ( HEFCE ) funded NCOP initiative . The nationwide programme , which will run from 2016-17 to 2019-20 , seeks to bring schools , colleges , HEIs and other stakeholders together to deliver collaborative programmes to learners in Key Stage 4 and 5 . The programme is targeted in locations where ‘ HEFCE ’ s analysis shows that participation in HE is particularly low overall , and lower than expected given the Key Stage 4 attainment levels in those areas ’ ( HEFCE 2016c ). The programme is aimed at making faster progress towards the government ’ s widening participation goals , which includes challenging the under-representation of young men from disadvantaged backgrounds .
2.2 National HE participation rates
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UCAS data ( UCAS , 2015 ) indicates that 42 per cent of English young people enter Higher Education by age 19 which shows that ‘ young people are over a quarter more likely to enter higher education than in 2006 .’ ( UCAS , 2015 , p . 12 ). However , despite entry rates increasing overall there are considerable variations in progression rates from different learner groups . In relation to ethnicity , the lowest entry rate in 2015 was for pupils in the white ethnic group , with an entry rate of 28 per cent compared to 41 per cent of young people from an Asian background and 58 per cent of Chinese young people . Perhaps most worryingly is that those from a white ethnic background had the lowest increase in entry rate , meaning the gap is widening between white young people and their peers from other ethnic backgrounds ( UCAS , 2015 ).