The repositioning of parents in the neoliberal Higher Education landscape in England

This thesis critically examines the evolving relationship between parents and higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, analysing how parents have been systematically repositioned as stakeholders within a marketised and neoliberal higher education (HE) landscape. Using a multifaceted qualitative methodology the research illuminates the complex and contradictory ways in which parental involvement is constructed and enacted across policy, institutional practice, and family experience.
The policy analysis traces a thirty five year period (1987–2022) during which parents shifted from marginal supporters to central actors. Four roles were identified: advisors and decision makers, financial contributors, investors, and emotional supporters. This repositioning reflects neoliberal agendas that privatise educational risk, promote consumer choice, and responsibilise families.
A multimodal discourse analysis of twenty English university websites demonstrates how institutions operationalise these logics through promotional narratives and visual strategies. Universities present themselves as expert guides who can alleviate parental anxieties, framing HE as a high stakes investment. These discourses position parents as active consumers who must evaluate value, return on investment, and the risks associated with university choice.
The interview study captured the experiences of eight parents supporting children through the transition into higher education. Six themes emerged: facilitation with boundaries, emotional labour, parental capital, scaffolding the HE journey, autonomy and adulting, and navigating a marketised system. Parents commonly saw themselves as coaches who balance guidance with respect for student independence, yet the extent of this facilitation was shaped by uneven distributions of capital.
Three cross-cutting themes connect the studies: the construction of parents as stakeholders; tensions between student autonomy and dependence; and the reproduction of inequality through differential access to parental capital. The current positioning of parents reflects the interplay of policy, institutional strategies, and family resources. To genuinely widen participation, HE must move beyond market logics and ensure that the university journey remains fundamentally owned by students themselves.