English higher education: widening participation and the historical context for system differentiation

This chapter provides the context for understanding higher education marketisation, differentiation, equality and equity in England. It discusses the transition of widening participation (WP) work in institutional practice from the 1970s onwards to the beginnings of state involvement in WP following the Dearing Report and the election of a New Labour government in 1997. WP is used as a lens though which to explore the development and then intensification of market approaches within higher education, including the sharpening of institutional differentiation manifested in the distinction between those focusing on social mobility for (only) the brightest and those engaged in generic aspiration-raising outreach among all young people. It explores the tensions between these two developments and their competing claims made about increasing equity and diversity in the higher education population.