When I wrote my undergraduate dissertation I didn't think I would be undertaking more research on the same subject just over a year later. To be honest, I even didn't I was undertaking this research at the time. It is only upon reflection that I find myself the subject of my own research and really feel the need to share it.
My research concerned the concept of the normal student. I looked at undergraduate prospectuses and analysed them through the lens of normalcy. What I found was a set of institutions that had found their "normal" student and had tailored their prospectus to fit. If you didn't exist within that normal student framework you were either not mentioned, or mentioned in a specific way that roughly translated to "your a burden and we don't want you here", or thats how I read it. There are certain characteristics that mean you move closer to being that normal student and of course further away. Call it the universities equivalent of a catchment area, but based on you instead of where you live.
I graduated last year with a first class honours degree. I then slipped into doing things that "normal" 29 year old's do and got married and had a baby. It was around the middle of August that our family realised that the best option for our future would be for me to return to study and become the primary income earner.
I found the application difficult. There was no space for why we as a family needed me to study this course as it was all about me and why I wanted to. However, for the first time in my educational career it wasn't just me I was considering, or even why I wanted to study. I did, and I do have personal reasons for doing this. However, the overriding reason is to provide for my family unit. I didn't include this on the application as I felt that it wouldn't be received well.
I submitted the application and waited for a response. I was called for an interview on the first week of September. This is where it all falls apart. Whilst at the interview I was informed that the course was due to start in 3 days time. I had submitted my application in mid august and received the offer of an interview on the 15th August. There was no indication on there that this would be the start date. Freshers week wasn't for another two weeks.
Whilst I am not adverse to the concept that as a student there are certain sacrifices you have to make in order to study, this left no time for your average "abnormal" student to arrange things like childcare, or disability support, or other minor details like moving home and other such minor technicalities. As a normal student at this institution, it would appear that you needed to have the ability to drop everything and turn up to start a course in three days time prepared and ready to study.
Upon completion of the interview I was promptly told that I wasn't going to be offered a place. After a week or so I received feedback as to why.
I had apparently arrived at the interview ill prepared. This was due to the fact that I had failed to provide my English and Maths GCSE certificates, Degree certificate and photo Identification. Fair enough you say, but let me explain in more detail the reasons why this isn't "fair enough" and actually a really big barrier to the abnormal student (and something pretty ironic and funny at the same time).
I spent the whole three weeks before my interview preparing for it. When I say preparing for it, I mean ripping apart my house to find my GCSE certificates which seem to have mysteriously vanished off the face of this earth. As I mentioned I have recently got married and had a baby. This involved moving house. For anyone who has moved before I don't need to explain the chaos that surrounds you for it appears months and perhaps even years on end after the event. This is made somewhat harder by the fact that I was pregnant at the time of moving so things are still a little out of place with us having a new born baby. But, this isn't the biggest problem, or the reason why I consider this to be an attack on the abnormal student, although it is a part of it. I did my GCSE's fourteen years ago. When I rang my old school up they couldn't even tell me what exam boards they used for my year or even had any computer records for me. I did my GCSE's in the year 2000, computer records didn't exist. I am a relatively young student. For any mature student this requirement is a bit restrictive, especially when one considers that this is for a post graduate course and that I have a degree (did I mention I got a first?). I find it strange that so much merit is placed on a qualification that I received as a sixteen year old. The irony is that I was under the false impression that universities needed to see these upon enrollment. Yes, that's right, I studied at the same university at undergraduate level, and graduated last year. I did mention that they needed to see my degree certificate... mmhmm..
Without revealing the subject area (which I am reluctant to do as I want to preserve anonymity) it is difficult to highlight this. However, in all areas of post graduate and even undergraduate study it is of vital importance to have a certain level of English and Maths. However, I have forgotten most of, if not all of my GCSE level work. That's not to say I'm not competent in these areas, its just to say that using my GCSE certificates is not an accurate measure of these competencies. My degree required a certain level of English which I am sure is the equivalent to a GCSE. I live independently and manage my finances to a reasonable standard. Again, I am sure this shows a level of functional maths skills that is equivalent to GCSE maths.
This restricts the abnormal student from applying and studying at a university if they either don't have or can't provide their GCSE certificates. In this case the abnormal student could be "mature" or "disabled" or even "international" or from other non traditional educational backgrounds.
I couldn't provide them with photographic identification. Whilst this isn't entirely true, the sentiment is accurate. My passport is still in my maiden name. I haven't used it since getting married and I have been busy changing my name on all the other records that various organisations have on me (including this institution). It costs 90 pounds to change your passport if you are a female who changes their name by marriage. You have to buy a brand new passport. It's not the top of my to do list. I was rudely asked for my driving license instead. However, I can't drive on medical grounds. I provided them with a copy of my marriage certificate and my passport. This wasn't good enough. This is a double blow to the abnormal student. The ones who can't drive for legitimate reason, or that don't have the need for a passport, or who have got married. I hasten to add that my marriage certificate was enough evidence for the institution to change my name on their records to produce my degree certificate in my married name. It is also sufficient evidence for a DBS check, and even a credit card application.
The other point was my lack of experience within education. Again I will attempt this without revealing the subject area but it could be hard. The requirement for subject specialist knowledge and experience at post graduate level is not unusual or unexpected. However, what this institution have said to me is that my experiences don't fit within their very specific and narrow framework of what is "relevant" or essential to starting their course.
Aside from my vast experience of supporting students within education through placement work and similar activities, I have spent the last 14 years within post compulsory education, and of course before that within compulsory education. As a student who carries the label of being disabled I have had my fair share of both positive and negative experiences of this sector, and it is from those experiences that I became motivated to study. It wasn't from supporting other students but my own authentic experiences of actually being there and studying within education. My debate on the tuition fee rises doesn't come from the classroom through theory or taught knowledge, but my own experience of seeing the impact that this has had on education whilst I have been studying. I started within higher education when there were no fees, and watched as the government put the fees up how the students and institutions reacted to that. The theory helps to explain it, but I apply my experience to theory and it mixes it together to make it come alive. But all this experience was dismissed outright. I didn't have a good enough level of educational experience.
This dismissal of the abnormal surprised me at first. But then I thought back to my dissertation and research project which highlighted that it wasn't unexpected. It is a shame though, that by failing to account for the abnormal during the admissions process we are simply ignored and even more under represented in the higher education system, which makes me even more determined to carry on fighting and highlighting these inequalities and the discrimination that exists, even if it is under cover and systemic considered standard practice.
