Breaking Through: How do Adult Learners negotiate Class prior to, during and after Higher Education?

This thesis sets out to explore the experiences of adult learners and how they have negotiated class prior to, during and after higher education. Class is a difficult subject to talk about, however, it is important that it is examined particularly in relation to the education system as much of the literature outlines that there is a direct correlation between class background and educational inequality. While the study involves eight participants and is relatively small so cannot be applied universally to working class experience, nonetheless the findings and analyses demonstrate common themes which highlight the need for further exploration of this topic. Issues such as low expectations in relation to inequality emerged from the findings rather than economic factors which are typically attributed to such phenomenon. Other issues emerged such as the sense of having to alter one’s way of being in terms of accent and behaviour in order to be accepted by middle class values and norms. These findings demonstrate the need for a fresh examination of social class inequality and highlight the importance of the issue particularly now in the face of momentous shifts in society.