ABSTRACT

Understanding the role of higher education in a system of high participation is becoming more important to providers and policymakers internationally. In this system, whereby increasingly higher education is taking place in vocational institutions, there has been renewed focus on the distinct nature of this provision, and the benefits it may hold for participants. This paper explores the experiences of mature students participating in higher education in a vocational institution in England. Using data from a multiple case study, four narratives are presented to illustrate the conceptualisation of employability by those students and the notion of academic capital and graduate identities is used to frame them. Reconsidering employability in this way challenges a competency-based model of employability reflected in skills-centred policy discourses. In doing so, the paper argues that HIVE is distinct and holds benefits for its participants, but for in different ways than those purported by policymakers.

摘要

了解高等教育在高参与系统中的作用对于国际上的提供者和决策者来说变得越来越重要。在这个系统中，越来越多的高等教育在职业机构中进行，人们重新关注这一规定的独特性质，以及它可能为参与者带来的好处。本文探讨了成年学生在英国职业院校接受高等教育的经历。使用来自多个案例研究的数据，提出了四种叙述来说明这些学生对就业能力的概念化，并使用学术资本和毕业生身份的概念来构建它们。以这种方式重新考虑就业能力挑战了以技能为中心的政策论述中反映的基于能力的就业能力模型。