Butcher, John

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Open Research OnlineThe Open University’s repository of research publicationsand other research outputsListen to part-time learners and smart policy will followBook SectionHow to cite:Butcher, John (2015). Listen to part-time learners and smart policy will follow. In: Hillman, Nick ed. It’sthe finance, stupid: The decline of part-time higher education and what to do about it. Oxford: Higher EducationPolicy Institute, pp. 48–56.For guidance on citations see FAQs.c© 2015 The AuthorVersion: Version of RecordLink(s) to article on publisher’s website:http://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/part-time web.pdfCopyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyrightowners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policiespage.oro.open.ac.uk5. Listen to part-time learners andsmart policy will followJohn Butcher, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director forAccess and Curriculum at The Open UniversityPeople are stuck in a situation where they feel they want tolearn more, but financial constraints are the biggest barrier…my fees are paid through an employer, but other peoplemight not have that opportunity…I’m very sensitive to howpeople who want to study are going to pay thousands in fees.It’s a lot of money.The dramatic decline in part-time numbers in the UK over thelast five years (most marked in the 40 per cent drop in England)has been reported in trenchant terms, and suggested reasonsbehind it have been analysed extensively. Unlike full-timers,part-time students in England cannot access financial supporttowards maintenance costs and, as mainly mature learners, arerisk-averse in relation to taking on loan debt to fund theirstudies. This is clearly a critical issue for policymakers, especiallyas funding policies affecting part-time higher educationincreasingly diverge across the four nations of the UK:We’re very fortunate in Scotland that we do get a lot offinancial support, but as a country we need to look at makingpart-time HE more accessible financially.‘Crisis’ is not too strong a word, since the decline encompassesthreats to social mobility, a narrowing of access to higher48 It’s the finance, stupid! The decline of part-time higher educationeducation and a diminution of opportunities for the mostdisadvantaged adults in society. The consequences are cata-strophic for those individuals denied a chance to transformtheir lives and those of their families through part-time study.The UK Government have been unaccountably quiet aroundthis, which is disappointing as: degree apprenticeships willinevitably be part-time; and the RAB charge of part-timestudy is a positive for the Treasury, given that that part-timestudents are likely to be working while learning, contributingtaxes, and have higher earnings on graduation, thus repayingtheir loans more efficiently.However, the bare numbers behind the decline do not revealthe experiences of current part-time learners, who represent28 per cent of current undergraduate numbers. In a recentUK-wide study for the Higher Education Academy, surveyresponses were elicited from 1,567 part-time students inEngland, Scotland and Northern Ireland, complemented byinterviews with 25 participants. Added to the 1,344 surveyrespondents and 25 interviews from Welsh part-time studentsin a 2013 pilot study, the fraught experiences of part-timelearners (many the first in their families to enter highereducation) comes through loud and clear. The findings revealthe challenges faced by part-time learners, and suggest whatpolicymakers might do to address such issues.‘Choice’ is an increasingly familiar motif in higher educationpolicy, yet the notion that part-time students choose part-time is misplaced. Because of personal circumstances,www.hepi.ac.uk 49respondents reported having no choice other than studyingpart-time – despite almost all admitting they would ratherstudy full-time if they could – but they could not afford to giveup paid work:If I could turn the clock back, I would go full-time… if I wonthe lottery tomorrow I would.I am employed full-time, so can only study part-time, butwould prefer full-time in order to shorten the degree and domore with my family…  it takes a hell of a lot of commitment.Part-time higher education was not perceived as offeringvalue for money and was considered barely affordable:As a part-timer I can’t claim a maintenance loan… myincome is very low and yet I cannot claim anything apartfrom the tuition loan… people on their own would find itimpossible to cope and therefore would be denied theopportunity.I am finding it a financial struggle and my Dad offered to lendme the money.Over one-in-five (22 per cent) of the respondents describedthemselves as studying with a disability or long-term healthimpairment – coping with mental health problems, being onmedication, managing hospital appointments, beinghousebound or facing deteriorating mobility issues and weretherefore unable to study full-time (despite many reportingattempting full-time study earlier in their lives).50 It’s the finance, stupid! The decline of part-time higher educationRespondents confirmed that employability was a key driver:whether to gain promotion, an increased salary, changecareer direction or have an improved standard of living. Whilesuch aspirations figured strongly, especially for women, thiswas framed more in a personal sense of individual agency andcareer planning than policy discourses about graduatecareers aimed at 21-year-olds. While the majority ofrespondents worked full-time while studying, only halfstudied a discipline related to their employment. Those whodid saw benefits in being able to apply knowledgeimmediately to their professional environment, although theycould be demotivated if learning did not align with skillsneeded at work.But employability was not the only motivation. Significantproportions of respondents cited ‘love of subject’, theopportunity to engage with interests in the context ofpersonal fulfilment and getting a chance to do something foroneself: making up for lost time, having ‘missed out’. Therewere also comments around seeking to provide a good rolemodel for their children. Additionally (particularly for older,50+ students) intellectual stimulation was seen as drivinghigher education learning.There were gendered subject choices: men tended to beupskilling in Engineering, Technology and Maths, whilewomen were ‘in love with’ their studies in Humanities, Healthand Education. Intriguingly, it was only in the visual arts thatmature part-timers described higher education as transfor-www.hepi.ac.uk 51mative in lifestyle terms – something they had been steeredaway from by parents or employment prospects when young,but which now was, for them, closely tied to their sense ofwho they were. This belies the notion that so-called MickeyMouse courses are unsatisfying or unpopular among second-chance students.Despite policy discourses advocating (and indeed claiming)flexibility in higher education, the experience of part-timelearners is that too often, institutions are intrinsically inflexibleand fail to meet the needs of time-poor students jugglingwork commitments and caring responsibilities in busycomplex lives. Students with disabilities or chronic healthproblems or with work or caring commitments were mostlikely to have missed a formal element of their course due toinsufficient time:It is demanding on top of a full-time job, especially whenwork commitments clash with deadlines.The result is a diminished student experience. Generally, part-time learners felt they were unacknowledged as a studentgroup by institutions, regarded as ‘an inconvenience’, as‘shoehorned’ and ‘side-lined’ into one-size-fits-all systemsaimed at full-time students: The institution is not as adaptable as it might be to studentswho work full-time.52 It’s the finance, stupid! The decline of part-time higher educationToo often, the communication from institutions to part-timelearners was insufficiently differentiated or tailored, leavingthem unaware of timetabling changes or prey to changes toprogramme structures which increased the length of time forwhich they had to study. Part-time students found it difficultto get to see tutors on dispersed campuses in the limited timethey had available – they felt on the fringes when campuseswere like ‘ghost towns’ in the evenings or at weekends. As a part-time student you don’t feel as valued as the full-timestudents – the lecturer is assigned late, VLE [virtual learningenvironment] not working, late notice of rooms, term dates.Respondents felt it was unreasonable that tutors expectedstudying to be the first and only priority of part–timers:being a Dad, married … your personal circumstances areunavoidable and impact on study.The benefits of peer learning, social support networks andpro-active institutional systems for pastoral care are wellestablished in the literature on successful full-time study.However, part-time students tended not to interact with otherlearners, and were isolated from the student cultures andcommunities taken for granted by full-timers. I wish I’d done it when I was younger … I miss out on anybeneficial relationships with other students, I feel isolated.Many part-time learners did not identify themselves as‘students’, often taking an ‘instrumental’ view solely in relationwww.hepi.ac.uk 53to the benefits of having a NUS card, considering themselves‘too old’ to be a real student – one of these was only 21, butperceived students as younger and full-time.Some learners in full-time employment hid their studentstatus fearing they would be ‘found out’ in their jobs. Othersviewed their personal or professional identity as dominant,and were indifferent to their student identity, while a fewexpressed conflict around a deeper sense of being a ‘lifelongor mature learner’ rather than a student.The problem with being part-time is that people assume theycan come and steal your time…it takes a lot of changing yourlifestyle, to plan not to be at everyone’s beck and call.Very difficult to do work and study at the same time. It’s likehaving two different personalities…it’s very challenging.A minority took a more integrated view, in which a sense ofachievement, commitment and excitement reflected a ‘secret’student identity. Part-time learners with a disability weremore likely to identify themselves as students.While interviewees felt online and distance learning hadadvantages in terms of flexibility, they regarded it as requiringself-organisation, and carrying the risk of learner isolation ordisassociation: You do feel like you’re at the end of a very, very long piece ofthread away from where it’s all happening.54 It’s the finance, stupid! The decline of part-time higher educationwww.hepi.ac.uk 55Websites and traditional media are awash with information,advice and guidance aimed at 18-to-21 year old full-timestudents at traditional universities. Unfortunately, thecomplex needs of adult part-time students are ill-served: aparticularly damning indictment is that 80 per cent ofpotential part-time learners were not aware that studentloans were available for part-time study.There is less opportunity for people to go and do things part-time – what if they want to go…and there is only full-time?Respondents in this research relied on personal savings, andpersonal debt as well as their paid work. Part-timers neededfinancial, health-related and personal advice, as well asacademic advice around qualification pathways, deliverymode and workload, but it was not always readily accessible.Policymakers deserve to be held to account for the fact thatyoung full-time students are unable to solve the skillsshortage on their own as well as for the productivity crisis. Theargument in the Leitch report that the workforce of 2020have already been through education is truer than ever. Thecountry needs to upskill and retrain adults, who often haveno choice but to study part-time. The lack of attention givento nurturing a vibrant, accessible, viable and student-centredpart-time sector has resulted in critical decline.If policymakers listen to those part-time students resilientenough to persist, answers are available:• Incentivise all universities to develop an attractive andflexible part-time offer through a refocused StudentOpportunity Allocation, which could drive genuinely flexiblepart-time provision rather than ad hoc infill.• Clarify the information advice and guidance aimed at part-time mature students in one place, so no potential learner isunclear about the funding available to support their studies.• Support the aspirations of part-time learners across the UKequitably by fee subsidies and part-time maintenance loans(on which the likelihood of quicker payback is greater thanfull-time) to remove their fear of debt.Widening-access policies that include the neglected part-timeadult learner will result in increased upskilling and rolemodels that more adults can aspire to, enabling them totransform their lives. Social mobility can be galvanised by anenergetic part-time higher education sector. Such proposalswould enable current barriers to part-time learning to beremoved. Let us not forget: the majority of part-time learnersare in employment and already contributing to theExchequer.56 It’s the finance, stupid! The decline of part-time higher education

Listen to part-time learners and smart policy will follow

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Listen to part-time learners and smart policy will follow

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