Part of the English Subject Centre Report Series.
The move to promote access and widening participation in Higher Education (HE) represents a major policy change which impacts on all institutions and has its effects in turn on academic departments and practice at the disciplinary level. Departments which teach English Literature Language and Creative Writing are being challenged by faculties and institutions to develop policies and strategies to support underrepresented students. English is traditionally an inclusive discipline sensitive to the ways in which exclusions on the grounds of gender race age and physical ability operate. Nevertheless all departments will need to review some aspects of their practice in terms of their recruitment procedures induction strategies and curricula.
This report offers colleagues examples of current good practice in relation to widening participation. It presents case studies of departments with experience of teaching underrepresented students. It places them in the context of broader national debates within HE and suggests strategies for consideration by departments which are reviewing their practice.
