ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 explores who Access to HE students are, examining how their participation in formal education is experienced by the structural factors that influence their choices and chances to access and participate in HE, particularly those that relate to their social location, such as class, gender, ethnicity and disability. The chapter also discusses how these structural dimensions, as well as prior educational experiences are crucial in mediating the ways in which the students understand themselves in educational contexts. The students appeared to make sense of their learning journeys by reflecting on the failures of their earlier educational experiences, and the structural educational disadvantage that they experienced. Analysing this intersectionality clarifies the barriers to learning many mature Access to HE students encounter and the support they need.
