| dc.description.abstract | The higher education (HE) sector is striving for effective ways of delivering equal opportunity of access and student outcomes. Finding solutions requires dialogue within institutional structures and attention to local needs, with reference to policy priorities and regulatory frameworks. This thesis draws on research I undertook for sector bodies and considers how practice reviews can contribute to progress to meet national objectives. I use the term practice review to denote research to investigate emergent activities within higher education providers (HEPs) in response to national policy priorities. The focus is across diverse priorities relating to: contextual admissions, widening participation outreach, teaching excellence and professionalisation of external examining. My original contribution was to work across academic and policy and practice divides with the aim to enhance HE access and the student experience, especially for widening participation students. The thesis allowed me to further develop understanding of the potential for practice reviews as an intelligence building tool, through reflection on their contribution to how equity policy objectives are operationalised. The studies enabled me to undertake different approaches to practice reviews - which are discussed in order to identify recommendations for this type of research as a resource to support effective implementation of sector objectives. Different methods provide different types of information but overall the results suggest practice reviews have usefulness in contributing to key debates in higher education, building understanding, developing tools and resources, and making recommendations for future directions of travel for institutions and the sector towards policy priorities. Practice reviews can identify promising approaches and can contribute to methodologies for planning, implementation, reflection and evaluation. The findings are useful in formulating knowledge about what ‘successful’ practices might look like, and how to operationalise national priorities. Practice reviews are most useful in supporting ongoing innovation and improvement as part of iterative knowledge building processes. The thesis argues for practice review studies that involve qualitative fieldwork with practitioners and scoping to inform the sample including considerations of maturity and balance between information-rich cases and achieving representative samples. It suggests more focus should be given to research which contextualises findings, values the expertise and experience encoded in the practices in higher education, and draws out the underpinning embedded behaviours. | en_GB |
