Calling the shots on a degree place
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Calling the shots on a degree place
https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/calling-shots-degree-place
So widening access is king, reinforced by looming shortages among a whole range of professionals, including healthcare staff, engineers, social workers and teachers. The result is that, if the families who traditionally would have considered these occupations for their offspring will not do so, the search has to be broadened to find people who will. Ironically, therefore, those who could come to the rescue of the professions might well be those from the least professional backgrounds of all. In the process, such pressures may do more to erode the elitist traditions of the universities than any “access regulator”.
These efforts will have to reckon with parents, however. A survey last week by our sister paper, The Times Higher Education Supplement, showed parents becoming increasingly interventionist in reaching decisions on behalf of their children about what they should study - no doubt partly because they are paying for so much more of it. It is a reminder that, no matter how dirigiste we try to be, parents and students will still call the shots.
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