The changing policy language of widening participation in the English HE market: from WP to 'fair access' and 'social mobility'

• Published in: Widening participation and lifelong learning Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 8 - 32
• Main Author: McCaig, Colin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Open University 20.08.2025
• Subjects: Access To He; Discourse; Graduate Outcomes; Marketisation; Policy Change; Retention
• ISSN: 1466-6529
• DOI: 10.5456/WPLL.27.2.8

This article analyses the changing language of 'widening participation', in general use since the Dearing Report of 1997 (NCIHE, 1997) and employs policy discourse analysis of six policy texts to link the evolution of language to describe the work of widening participation over almost three decades. The article shows clear links between the changing use of language of policy discourses employed to justify the ongoing marketisation of the higher education (HE) system through five stages between 1987 and 2017 (McCaig, 2018). It also explores the language changes in relation to different perspectives or lenses, most evident in the shift from the societal aim of widening participation to the individualised language of 'social mobility' as students came to be seen as consumers and policymakers' attitude towards system expansion began to change, with increasing emphasis on vocational further and higher education.