How does the experience of Degree Apprenticeships for students normally under-represented in Higher Education (HE), suggest that apprenticeships can support increased access to HE in England?

Hinton, Karen Anne (2026) How does the experience of Degree Apprenticeships for students normally under-represented in Higher Education (HE), suggest that apprenticeships can support increased access to HE in England? Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This study explores the experience of apprentices on Degree Apprenticeship programmes based in the East of England. The study considers whether the experience of studying and delivering apprenticeships reflect the expectations outlined in the legislation that introduced Degree Apprenticeships to England in 2015; and explores whether Degree Apprenticeships can increase participation in English Higher Education (HE). The study employs a mixed-methods approach, surveying apprentices to gain quantitative insights into their reasons for study and their previous aspirations and expectations of HE, and qualitative narrative inquiry interviews with apprentices, university staff, and employers. Analysis of the interviews was abductive, utilising both inductive and deductive inquiry, and uses reflexive thematic analysis. Findings are considered in relation to the theories of possible selves (Markus and Nurius, 1986), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1994), and the role of pedagogic practice in cultural reproduction (Bernstein, 2000).

Findings from this study evidence strong professional identity and self-efficacy for apprentices, which challenges academic literature that suggests under-represented groups are disadvantaged in the HE environment. The study identified challenges for apprentices in their engagement with HE learning, and conflict between apprentices and full-time students relating to professional and student identities. The study also found that the identity of university staff as ‘academics’ was impacted by the negative effect that Apprenticeship Standards, bureaucracy, and regulation had on their sense of self-efficacy. This was found to exacerbate challenges already experienced by academics through the neoliberalisation of the HE sector. The study shows that while apprenticeships could be said to have made HE more accessible for the individuals involved, any positive outcomes relating to the participation of under-represented groups is by accident rather than by design. Employers within the study predominately used Degree Apprenticeships to upskill existing staff rather than employing new staff. This study offers valuable and original insight into the experience of apprentices on Degree Apprenticeship programmes, and the employers and university staff involved. It makes an important contribution to the literature about widening participation, vocational education, apprenticeships, HE policy in practice, and employer-university partnerships; and introduces the new concept of probable selves.

The study makes recommendations about the apprenticeship experience and provides important insight into the challenges for HE, and their staff, in delivering education within a restrictive vocational sphere.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Bethany Turner
Date Deposited:	22 Sep 2026 11:53
Last Modified:	22 Sep 2026 11:53
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104613
DOI:

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