Early struggles, peer groups and eventual success: an artful inquiry into unpacking transitions into university of widening participation students

This paper is based on research conducted as part of a Doctorate in Education (EdD) and explores the transitional period into higher education (HE) of ten first year undergraduate students at Southeastern (a post-1992 university). The students come from widening participation (WP) backgrounds, based on socio-economic characteristics. The literature on WP students’ experiences suggests that they encounter potential difficulties during their transition into HE (Gale and Parker, 2014). This paper focuses on extracting transitional experiences using artful inquiry. Collage, as a method of artful inquiry, provides insights into the early HE experiences of WP students. This paper demonstrates that these WP students endured difficult initial experiences, mainly due to a mismatch between expectations, embodied capitals, awareness of HE and their university environment. Unlike other WP studies (Reay, Crozier and Clayton, 2009 and Christie, Tett, Cree and McCune, 2016), this sample rebounded once peer groups were formed, suggesting that peer connections are key to ensuring smooth transitions , at least within post-1992 institutions (Yorke and Longden, 2007 and Wingate, 2007).