Inclusive higher education learning outcomes for rural and township youth: developing a multi-dimensional capabilities-based higher education index

农村和乡镇青年的包容性高等教育学习成果：制定基于能力的多维度高等教育指数

• 批准号: ES/N010094/1
• 负责人: Melanie Walker
• 金额: $ 85.49万
• 依托单位: University of the Free State
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2016 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FN010094%2F1
• 关键词: Inclusive; higher; education; learning; outcomes

South African higher education (HE) is characterised by inequalities of access, participation and success, and hence youth disadvantage, yet it is also seen as central to economic development and social mobility. The aim of the research, captured in the production of an innovative HE Index, is to develop an integrated, policy-oriented theorisation of pathways to learning outcomes that foregrounds equality and quality for young people from rural areas and townships when they are preparing for university, their experiences at university, and their graduate outcomes, and to understand what enables the realization of the transformative potential of HE for them. The project conceptualises raising learning outcomes as a process of multi-dimensional 'capabilities' expansion and realization of plural valued 'functionings'. Using the capability approach allows an understanding of how various factors interact to inhibit or enable capabilities that are valuable to individuals and to building a decent society. The project will uncover interrelated personal, educational and social challenges that account for the inequities in outcomes experienced by young people from challenging backgrounds, and standing in the way of quality HE for all. In particular, the project will focus on HE students supported by Thusanani Foundation (http://www.thusananifoundation.org), a youth-led not-for-profit organisation. Working with the Foundation provides access to disadvantaged youth and their educational pathways into, in and beyond higher education, and is a site through which important user insights can be gained. The mixed-method study will explore contextual factors - families, schools, university educational and social arrangements, and work-readiness activities - that enable and inhibit higher education pathways for these students. In particular, it will investigate what learning outcomes are valued by students themselves and by other stakeholders, why they are valued, and whether and how they are achieved. Engagement with stakeholders and impact activities are built into the project from the outset; the evidence-informed and consultative process will generate practice recommendations and policy options. The main research participants are Thusanani Foundation supported students, attending four historically diverse universities, over four years from 2nd HE year to post graduation. Against a backdrop analysis of documentation, literature and national statistical data of inequalities and learning outcomes (cohort analyses), we will use quantitative (survey of n=700 Thusanani supported students; final year students n=1600), longitudinal qualitative methods (life histories; interviews, n=48 x 4 years), as well as notes of stakeholder meetings and visual methods to explore, at macro and micro levels, student experiences and learning outcomes. The methodology includes a participatory element with young people (students plus mentors) as researchers (n=32) and the interviews they conduct (n=40), to allow co-construction of ideas and to explore how participation in research might enhance learning outcomes. Interviews with Foundation student mentors (24); Foundation Board members (5); and, ethnographic field notes of Foundation work with school pupils will provide insight into the motivations, strategies and possibilities of raising learning outcomes. The project thus provides an integrated analysis of access, higher education experiences and graduate outcomes, with attention to educational, social and economic impacts. The data will be analysed in terms of: (1) structural distributive patterns of opportunities and achievements, including an analysis of the differences made by Thusanani Foundation; (2) a framework of capabilities inhibition and expansion, profiled inductively and deductively; and, (3) multi-dimensional HE learning outcomes Index of practical use to policy makers and development agencies, going beyond narrow measures of completion rates.

南非高等教育（HE）的特点是入学、参与和成功的不平等，因此青年处于不利地位，但它也被视为经济发展和社会流动的核心。该研究的目的，在生产中捕获的创新HE指数，是制定一个综合的，以政策为导向的理论化的途径，以学习成果，突出平等和质量的年轻人从农村地区和乡镇，当他们准备上大学，他们在大学的经验，他们的研究生成果，并了解什么使他们能够实现HE的变革潜力。该项目将提高学习成果概念化为多维“能力”扩展和实现多元价值“功能”的过程。使用能力方法可以了解各种因素如何相互作用，抑制或促进对个人和建设一个体面社会有价值的能力。该项目将揭示相互关联的个人，教育和社会挑战，这些挑战导致来自具有挑战性背景的年轻人所经历的结果不平等，并阻碍了所有人的高质量HE。特别是，该项目将侧重于由Thusanani基金会（http：//www.example.com），一个青年领导的非营利组织支持的高等教育学生。www.thusananifoundation.org与该基金会合作，为弱势青年提供了进入高等教育、高等教育和高等教育以外的教育途径，也是一个可以获得重要用户见解的网站。混合方法的研究将探讨背景因素-家庭，学校，大学教育和社会安排，以及工作准备活动-使和抑制这些学生的高等教育途径。特别是，它将调查学生自己和其他利益相关者重视哪些学习成果，为什么重视这些成果，以及是否以及如何实现这些成果。从一开始就将利益攸关方的参与和影响活动纳入项目;循证和协商进程将产生实践建议和政策选择。主要的研究参与者是Thusanani基金会支持的学生，参加四个历史上不同的大学，从第二年到毕业后的四年。在此背景下，分析关于不平等和学习成果的文件、文献和国家统计数据（队列分析），我们将使用定量（调查n=700 Thusanani支持的学生;最后一年的学生n=1600），纵向定性方法（生活史;访谈，n=48 x 4年），以及利益相关者会议的记录和视觉方法，在宏观和微观层面上，学生体验和学习成果。该方法包括一个参与性的元素与年轻人（学生加导师）作为研究人员（n=32）和他们进行的访谈（n=40），允许共同建设的想法，并探讨如何参与研究可能会提高学习成果。与基金会学生导师（24）、基金会董事会成员（5）以及基金会与学生合作的人种学实地记录的访谈将深入了解提高学习成果的动机、战略和可能性。因此，该项目提供了对入学机会、高等教育经历和毕业生成果的综合分析，同时关注教育、社会和经济影响。将从以下方面对数据进行分析：（1）机会和成就的结构性分布模式，包括对Thusanani基金会所做差异的分析;（2）能力抑制和扩展的框架，归纳和演绎;以及（3）对决策者和发展机构实际使用的多维高等教育学习成果指数，超越了对完成率的狭义衡量。

项目成果

A Capabilitarian Participatory Paradigm: Methods, Methodologies and Cosmological Issues and Possibilities

能力主义参与范式：方法、方法论以及宇宙学问题和可能性

• DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2021.2013173
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities
• 影响因子: 1.5
• 作者: Martinez-Vargas C

Recognising poor black youth from rural communities as epistemic contributors.

认识到来自农村社区的贫困黑人青年是认知贡献者。

• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning
• 作者: Mathebula M

Socially Just Pedagogies, Capabilities and Quality in Higher Education

高等教育中的社会公正教学法、能力和质量

• 发表时间: 2017
• 作者: Melanie Walker

Conceptualising (dis)advantage in South African higher education: a capability approach perspective

南非高等教育的优势（劣势）概念化：能力方法视角

• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Critical Studies in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education
• 作者: Gore O

Higher Education Pathways South African Undergraduate Education and the Public Good

高等教育途径 南非本科教育和公共利益

• 发表时间: 2018
• 作者: McLean, M.