Widening participation in higher education: An exploration of barriers affecting incarcerated students’ engagement and participation in an Australian university’s enabling program.

Widening participation in higher education: An exploration of barriers affecting incarcerated students’ engagement and participation in an Australian university’s enabling program.

Efforts to broaden the participation of non-traditional students in higher education have led to the implementation of various pathway programs in many Australian universities. These programs offer non-traditional students alternative routes into higher education. In Australia, some universities provide incarcerated students with opportunities to enrol in a limited number of courses. It is widely recognized that incarcerated students encounter a range of significant challenges when engaging with higher education studies. This paper investigates the nature and range of personal and academic challenges encountered by incarcerated students, with the goal of developing a more nuanced understanding of these barriers. Students’ responses to a reflective assignment task about ‘challenges’ were collected at the conclusion of their six-week Study Management course. Data were collected from 112 students across three offerings of the course in 2023. Responses were analysed to identify patterns in the data and generate themes. These themes are discussed using the lens of 'bounded agency' (Rubenson & Desjardins, 2009) to explore how dispositional, situational and institutional factors may constrain students’ engagement and participation in higher education. The nature of deficit thinking and its potential impact on students’ participation and engagement in higher education is also considered, and a range of practitioner reflections and propositions are shared. This study provides valuable insights for practitioners and other stakeholders working in the field of carceral education.

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