Title:
|
African-Caribbean students' experiences in British higher education : student perceptions & interpretations of post-entry influences upon retention and attainment
|
Diverse literatures about the student experience of British Higher Education now exist. In spite of references to racially-differentiated experience within British Higher Education Institutions, African-Caribbean Higher Education student’s points of view are, largely, unwritten. This study explores the ways in which silences about particular versions of ‘difference’ in British Higher Education research, policy and practice, can obscure the experiences of certain types of student. Moving beyond Access and Widening Participation, the study examines African-Caribbean student perspectives of post-entry institutional experiences and how this critically influences their Higher Education retention and attainments.
Using a modified Grounded Theory approach, the thesis addresses students’ narratives of lived experience across different Higher Education Institution contexts. The accounts reveal distinctive cultural perceptions articulated through the lens of ‘raced’ culture (see Taylor 2001), as opposed to ethnicity.
Findings indicate a requirement to adjust the practice of discounting ‘race’ in the formulation of policy, and in literatures, about British Higher Education practice and research. Culturally appropriate strategies are recommended as a means for understanding and improving African-Caribbean students’ experiences, retention and attainments within British Higher Education.
|