Education

The area of study is disadvantage, community learning in the voluntary sector and progression to achievement among young people in Oxford and London.

I would specifically like to address important questions about how young people aged 18-24 who have experienced disadvantage through having been in progress into further education or higher education through their engagement in community learning in the voluntary sector.

In addition, research will focus on the specific contribution that education delivered outside of a school or college setting makes and the benefits of what is often vocational learning in the community. I would like my study to consider how disadvantage through social conditions shapes the learning experience. The focus would also include a consideration of individual barriers (cultural, economic) to progression that exist for these young adults both in decisions and motivation to engage in community learning and the ability to derive significant even life changing benefits.

The comparative element of the project will explore how young people in the elite university city of Oxford and the urban capital city of London face similar and different challenges with different opportunities to progress with education and training in a community setting, drawing on the voluntary sector and what it has to offer.