Identity formation among part-time Higher Education students in an English further education college.

This thesis reports an empirical study of identity formation among part-time higher education students in a Further Education College in England. Higher education within colleges has attracted attention from policymakers, increasingly with regard to the part-time modes of study that have traditionally dominated this provision. Yet the perspectives, identities and voices of its students have been underreported in higher education research. Data was collected from a sample of part-time students through semi-structured interviews and analysed to examine their construction of identity. Participants described identity largely through accounts of their earlier nonparticipation, which in turn shaped their identity formation and their apprehension of the possibilities opened up by higher education. Their own 'adult' identities were compared to those of traditional and nontraditional 'others'. Participants also described their relationships with work organisations, along with the social and geographical constraints affecting their engagement with higher education and their aspirations beyond it. This thesis offers insights into the processes through which adults take part in and make sense of higher education in a further education setting, which have implications for the expansion, differentiation and stratification of higher education systems.