Student Experience of Access to Egyptian Higher Education.

Focusing on the relationship between Higher Education (HE) and social justice in Egypt, this study attempts to identify the main socioeconomic factors affecting HE access in Egypt from the students' perspective through tracing and comparing students' narratives of their access processes in distinctively different socioeconomic settings. The study investigates the perceived effects of the General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC) students' socioeconomic conditions on determining their academic choices. Different socioeconomic dimensions, such as culture, social conditions and finance are examined. The study also looks at the way students incorporate issues of social justice such as fairness, distribution of resources and social connections into understanding the process of HE access. Following a snowballing approach to recruiting the research participants, 55 students of the Egyptian GSEC took part in the research. The analysis is based on two sets of data: 1) Quantitative data were derived from two questionnaires examining the participants' socioeconomic classes, their perception of their academic experience, their aspirations and attitudes towards HE, determinants of their HE access process, and their views of the (in)equality of the access process. Allocating the participants into 3 socioeconomic groups, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used and cross-tabulation and comparisons were made between the three groups and correlations were examined. 2) Qualitative data were derived from interviews: Narratives of 17 students were sought through comprehensive semi-structured interviews that aimed at capturing the students' perceptions of their journeys through GSEC and the HE access process. The interviewed cases were regarded as instruments to dig into the impact of the socioeconomic factors onto the HE access process. Bourdieu's theory of social and cultural reproduction was drawn upon to explain social inequality as an outcome of inequitable access to HE and socially differentiated educational attainment. The theory provides a framework of understanding that explains how education, rather than becoming a means of social reform and equality, has become a tool for the reproduction of classism. The study also examines social media as a research tool and discusses its potentialities and limitations in social sciences research

Revisiting communities of practice:the case of Egyptian graffitists

Purpose – The Egyptian Revolution gave birth to an intriguing community of graffiti artists that have been going through successful social learning processes. The naturally formed learning groups provided a fertile substance for social learning research and called for a comparison between the nature and elements of social learning and those of the learning taking place in the more traditional settings in an attempt to magnify factors of success. The purpose of this paper is to draw upon Wenger’s (1998) theory of Communities of Practice (CoP) and examines three major elements of learning in relation to it; namely, motivation, social practice, and the role of experts. Design/methodology/approach – The paper offers an in-depth analysis of perceptions of six Egyptian graffiti artists of their learning experiences. Findings – The paper argues that the motivational factor is underdeveloped in Wenger’s theory and that a concept that encompasses a combination of intrinsic motivation (IM) and identified regulation would provide a more accurate description of the driving force of a successful social learning process. Research limitations/implications – Although a snowballing approach was adopted, reaching the interviewees was not an easy task for security reasons; therefore, limiting the number to six was forced upon the researcher. Yet, a sense of saturation was reached. The paper underlines the vital role of social practice, which places meaning at the centre of learning, calls for revisiting the role of experts in Wenger’s theory and claims its marginality. Originality/value – Conclusions of this study suggest that the idea of a combination of passion and goal as core components of a CoP is an underdeveloped concept in Wenger’s (1998) theory and that outward motivational factors need to be discarded from the equation. This research proposes that a combination of IM and identified regulation provide a more accurate description of the driving force of a successful social learning process