{"title":"How does learning space shape students’ experience of a bespoke Higher Education bridging module for those affected by homelessness?","authors":"Sandra Lyndon, Becky Edwards","doi":"10.1080/0309877x.2023.2267465","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis paper draws on findings from the From Adversity to University project, a unique widening participation initiative developed by one university to support a diverse range of people into Higher Education through engagement with a 12-week bridging module. This small-scale case study presents an in-depth exploration of how learning space shaped students’ experience of a bridging module during the COVID-19 pandemic. Space is conceptualised through a theory of embodied cognition which recognises the complexity of social, cultural, and cognitive inter-relations between space and students’ learning experience. An interpretative narrative methodological approach was taken, drawing on the Listening Guide [LG]. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with five students who completed the bridging module during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. All had been affected by homelessness and most were in recovery from alcohol and/or drug addiction. For all participants, there was a complex and dynamic interconnectivity between learning spaces and their experience of the bridging module. The findings demonstrate for the five students how learning spaces (including the flexibility of the space) contributed to participants’ sense of belonging, recovery from drugs and alcohol addiction, mental health and well-being. Implications of the study point towards the need for further research into the connection between learning space and the creation of a sense of belonging particularly for students from marginalised groups.KEYWORDS: Learning spaceHigher EducationhomelessnessbelongingCOVID-19widening participation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).","PeriodicalId":47389,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2023.2267465","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACTThis paper draws on findings from the From Adversity to University project, a unique widening participation initiative developed by one university to support a diverse range of people into Higher Education through engagement with a 12-week bridging module. This small-scale case study presents an in-depth exploration of how learning space shaped students’ experience of a bridging module during the COVID-19 pandemic. Space is conceptualised through a theory of embodied cognition which recognises the complexity of social, cultural, and cognitive inter-relations between space and students’ learning experience. An interpretative narrative methodological approach was taken, drawing on the Listening Guide [LG]. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with five students who completed the bridging module during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. All had been affected by homelessness and most were in recovery from alcohol and/or drug addiction. For all participants, there was a complex and dynamic interconnectivity between learning spaces and their experience of the bridging module. The findings demonstrate for the five students how learning spaces (including the flexibility of the space) contributed to participants’ sense of belonging, recovery from drugs and alcohol addiction, mental health and well-being. Implications of the study point towards the need for further research into the connection between learning space and the creation of a sense of belonging particularly for students from marginalised groups.KEYWORDS: Learning spaceHigher EducationhomelessnessbelongingCOVID-19widening participation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
期刊介绍:
Journal of Further and Higher Education is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing scholarly work that represents the whole field of post-16 education and training. The journal engages with a diverse range of topics within the field including management and administration, teacher education and training, curriculum, staff and institutional development, and teaching and learning strategies and processes. Through encouraging engagement with and around policy, contemporary pedagogic issues and professional concerns within different educational systems around the globe, Journal of Further and Higher Education is committed to promoting excellence by providing a forum for scholarly debate and evaluation. Articles that are accepted for publication probe and offer original insights in an accessible, succinct style, and debate and critique practice, research, theory. They offer informed perspectives on contextual and professional matters and critically examine the relationship between theory and practice across the spectrum of further and higher education.