Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Volume 61 - Number 1 - April 2021 - Try before you buy: using enabling programs to negotiate the risks of higher education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Marglet

The study examines how enabling-program students in Tasmania, Australia experience risk and opportunity as they progress through their first semester of higher education. Qualitative interviews with students and staff reveal a nuanced relationship: risk is evident, yet participants prefer narratives of opportunity and still proactively manage risk. The enabling program functions as a “safe space” for unpacking risk and “trying out” university, strengthening students’ contributions while challenging how outcomes are measured, especially attrition.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 61, Number 1, April 2021 Try before you buy: using enabling programs to negotiate the risks of higher education Lynn Jarvis For some students, entering higher education entails considerable risk – that is, the potential for harm or uncertainty. This is particularly true for students entering university via an alternative entry, enabling program. This study explored student experiences in Tasmania, Australia, as they progressed through their first semester of study inan enabling program, using the lens of risk to consider the issues and challenges they faced, and the strategies they employed to negotiate these. Qualitative data were collected from both students and staff via semistructured interviews. A complex and nuanced relationship between risk and opportunity emerged. While considerable risk was clearly evident, students and staff both preferred a narrative of opportunity. However, this narrative did not prevent students from proactively managing risk. In this process, the enabling program emerged as a‘safe space’where risk could be unpacked and managed and where they could ‘try out’ university. These findings highlight the considerable strengths enabling-program students bring to their university experience, sitting in opposition to the more common characterisation of such students as disadvantaged and lacking. They also challenge the way in which enabling-program Try before you buy: using enabling programs to negotiate the risks of higher education 27 outcomes are measured, particularly in terms of attrition, rendering current understandings of them incomplete. Keywords: higher education, enabling program, access, risk, disadvantaged student, opportunity Introduction The dominant discourse of higher education in Australia is one of opportunity; that is, that education provides a well understood and legitimate pathway to improving one’s social position (Cloward & Ohlin, 1960). It paves the way to higher incomes, better jobs, better health and better outcomes for one’s children. (Ross & Mirowsky, 1999; Bynner, Dolton, Feinstein, Makepeace, Malmberg & Woods, 2003). Yet, not everyone gets to go to university, and even for those that do, some students are more likely to succeed (complete their course) than others. Students in enabling programs typically represent those students who struggle to get to university, and those who struggle to stay. Common characteristics of enabling-program students, such as lower levels of education attainment, disrupted educational journeys, coming from low socio-economic (LSES) backgrounds and being mature-aged,(LomaxSmith et al., 2011; Kemp & Norton, 2014; Habel et al., 2016; Lisciandro & Gibbs, 2016) are all indicators oflow university engagement and attainment (McKenzie and Schweitzer, 2001; Rienks & Taylor, 2009) . While the experience of enabling-program students has begun to attract attention, the focus of research has largely been on how programs impact students, that is, how they support or hinder students to succeed, rather than on how students interact with programs, the strategies students use and develop to negotiate their experiences. This paper explores some of the unique characteristics of enabling-program students and how they manage the risks that they face in entering university. It outlines the proactive way one cohort of students approached their study, and how this makes enabling programs particularly unique phenomena within university environments. This in turn has important implications for how students are viewed and how success is understood and measured. 28 Lynn Jarvis Background University participation, how to increase it and how to make it more equitable are topics which have been on the public and political agenda in Australia for the past 40 years. Starting with the Dawkins White Paper (1988) there have been a number of reports and policy initiatives implemented by successive Australian govern

FAQs

What is the main focus of this study?

It investigates student experiences in an enabling program using the lens of risk, including the challenges faced and strategies used to negotiate those risks.

How do students and staff characterize risk and opportunity?

Although considerable risk exists, students and staff prefer a narrative of opportunity and still take proactive steps to manage risk.

What role does the enabling program play according to the findings?

The enabling program operates as a “safe space” where risk can be unpacked and managed, allowing students to “try out” university.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Marglet