How do care experienced young people make choices about progressing to Higher Education?

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Care experienced young people have reportedly the lowestrates of participation in higher education (HE) comparedwith any other social group, and for those who enter HE,evidence suggests that they are making different choicesto the general student population. A recent study byHarrison (2019, p.10) found that care experienced studentswere more likely to be attending post-1992 institutionsthan Russell Group universities, even when taking intoaccount entry qualifications. There's a significant gap inresearch on how care experienced young people makechoices about HE participation. I will respond to this gap inthe literature by investigating how care experienced youngpeople make decisions about HE participation, with a focuson course and institution choices, and the wider role of HEstudy in care experienced young people's longer-termstrategies for adulthood. I will use a mixed methodsapproach. I plan to survey care experienced studentscurrently studying in HE to investigate what influencedthem to study at HE, and the key drivers behind theircourse and institution choices. I will also carry out casestudies of up to 3 virtual schools, following a cohort ofstudents through Year 13. I will use a combination of indepth interviews, focus groups and participatoryworkshops. For my theoretical framework, I plan tocombine Markus and Nurius' (1986) theory of 'possibleselves', with Amartya Sen's Capability Approach (Sen,1998).