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This special issue shares findings from research supported by a historical educational research to explore the impact of higher education (HE) on first-in-family students, some of whom self-identified as ‘disadvantaged’. Brian Simon was an English historian, a leading postwar educationalist and a former ½¿É«µ¼º½ president (McCulloch et al., 2023). The key objectives of the Far away from the ivory tower research project addressed the equity for educational opportunity that Brian Simon advocated. First, by exploring the story of university education for ‘the poor’ and ‘disadvantaged’ within Plymouth Marjon University’s archives. Subsequently, we invited staff, students and alumni to participate in discussion groups to interrogate history, comparing contemporary educational practice with historical practices, highlighting links between social justice and practices in access to, and participation in, HE, all refracted through the lens of their own experience.

It is important to note that the blog posts within this special issue present fragments from the wealth of rich data elicited through archival research and subsequent informal research conversations – words reverberate through time and space as HE continues to grapple with how best to support those identified as ‘disadvantaged’. These data were used to inform conversations between the authors, who include postgraduate students and staff at Plymouth Marjon University and are cowritten with author(s) from elsewhere in the UK and Iceland. The authors have diverse backgrounds and interests: for example, Balqis Mohammed’s research explores antiracist practice in history teaching, aiming to develop concepts to support teachers in their work; and Babs Horton is an award-winning novelist, ex-head of English in a Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service and writer of In the Lady Garden, a feminist comedy play that was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in summer, 2024. Some authors are early career researchers, who are completing or have recently completed doctoral studies; others are experienced researchers, who are regular contributors to ½¿É«µ¼º½ activities. What all the authors have in common is that they are the first generation in their family to attend university.

‘What all the authors [of the blog posts in this special issue] have in common is that they are the first generation in their family to attend university.’

Each blog post draws on literature from national and international contexts to explore findings from the Brian Simon fellowship fund project, which was a localised research study. All the posts consider a diverse range of perspectives to explore the experiences of people who were the first-in-family to go to university, including non-traditional students.

Alison MilnerÌý&²¹³¾±è;ÌýGil Fewings explore kindness as an aspect of pedagogy and practice, drawing on two examples shared by participants in the Brian Simon fellowship fund project. This blog post includes discussion about the use of archival resources within educational research, highlighting that sensitivity and ethical care need to be taken from both educational and archival perspectives.

In their contribution,ÌýTracy Hayes,ÌýBabs HortonÌý&²¹³¾±è;ÌýKatie Parsons consider the Brian Simon fund project findings through feminist perspectives of inclusion, exploring expectations, aspirations and perceived limitations through reference to the impact of patriarchy. This post includes a call to action through ‘feminist resistance’ (Gilligan & Richards, 2018).

Katie Major-SmithÌý&²¹³¾±è;ÌýRuth Woolsey focus on poverty and the working classes to explore how coming from a low-income family might impact experiences, and how attending university might be particularly challenging for students from working-class backgrounds. They highlight that despite efforts to widen participation, attendance of working-class students is still low compared with other students, and that there is still much to do to ensure equitable access to HE.

In their post,ÌýMiles Smith & Balqis Mohammed adopt a lifelong learning lens to explore the impact of HE as a catalyst for lifelong learning. As they highlight, with higher employment rates for graduates compared with non-graduates (Morrin et al., 2021), improved career prospects motivate many to pursue HE.

Mark Leather &²¹³¾±è;ÌýJakob Frimann Thorsteinsson consider how universities can provide spaces and places of safety, exploring how university spaces can become places – physically, emotionally, cognitively – that offer a sense of belonging, family and transformation.

In the final post in this special issue, we return to archival perspectives, as Gil Fewings & Ann Sawyer highlight that small-scale studies offer rich possibilities for family-history research in the archive, which can bear witness to the transformative potential of HE within social mobility and – most importantly – that disadvantage does not determine destiny.

The blog posts in this special issue take readers on a journey through the multifaceted experiences of the research participants, which were shared generously. The authors’ interpretations are presented through prisms reflecting the profound and often moving nature of the experiences themselves.

References

Gilligan, C., & Richards, D. A. (2018). Darkness now visible: Patriarchy’s resurgence and feminist resistance. Cambridge University Press.

McCulloch, G., Canales, A. F., & Ku, H. Y. (2023). Brian Simon and the struggle for education. UCl Press.

Morrin, M., Jones, M., & Salem, L. (2021). The pathway to lifelong education: Reforming the UK’s skills system. Lifelong Education Institute.