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Apprenticeship as social leveller? A critical exploration of vocational pathways through a social justice lens
Full text linkPurpose
This conceptual paper critically explores the role of apprenticeships in the UK as both potential social levellers and mechanisms of social reproduction. Drawing on theories of capital, social justice, and intersectionality, it investigates whether vocational pathways can meaningfully promote inclusion, economic agency, and identity transformation for underrepresented groups particularly within the further education sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a theoretically grounded approach, the paper synthesises key sociological and political frameworks, including Bourdieu’s theory of capital, Fraser’s model of social justice, and Crenshaw’s intersectionality. It engages in critical policy analysis of the Skills for Jobs White Paper and wider vocational education reforms to interrogate how structural inequities, marketisation, and employer-led models shape the apprenticeship landscape.
Findings
The paper argues that apprenticeships occupy a paradoxical space: while often positioned as inclusive, work-based alternatives to higher education, they risk reproducing existing inequalities through labour market segmentation, variable quality, and credentialism. However, when embedded in authentic employer partnerships, high-quality provision, and relational pedagogy, apprenticeships can function as transformative sites of social mobility, personal growth, and civic participation.
Originality/value
The paper contributes a new conceptual model that frames apprenticeships as potential social justice interventions, rather than solely as economic tools. It also calls for greater investment in FE-based research, the co-design of policy with learners and communities, and a reframing of vocational education as a space of democratic possibility. This reorientation is vital in addressing persistent inequities and realising the full promise of vocational learning in the 21st century
Falls risk assessment: Developing the interprofessional collaborative competences of undergraduate health and social work students
No full textAn interprofessional education intervention was designed to foster collaborative skills among undergraduate students from pharmacy, medicine, nursing, physiotherapy, social work and sports and exercise rehabilitation programmes through a simulated classroom-based falls risk assessment exercise. Working in multidisciplinary teams, students engaged with realistic patient scenarios, including history-taking, physical assessments, and the co-development of risk reduction plans. The session emphasised shared decision-making, understanding professional roles, and teamwork in managing fall risks. The intervention was assessed using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS) which showed significant improvements in students’ perceived interprofessional collaboration skills. The intervention was evaluated through focus groups in which students highlighted that they had gained an enhanced understanding of professional roles, patient-centred care, and the value of teamwork. While challenges such as uneven group dynamics and perceived professional hierarchies were noted, students noted that this provided insight into the complexities of real-world practice. Overall, the intervention proved effective in advancing students' self-reported readiness for collaborative, multidisciplinary care in falls prevention.
Format
Interprofessional group work involving a simulated patient case in a classroom setting.
Target audience
Undergraduate pharmacy, medical, nursing, physiotherapy, sport and rehabilitation therapy, and social work students.
Objectives
The principal objective of the intervention was to promote interprofessional collaboration between health and social work students in conducting falls risk assessments and co-designing risk reduction strategies with patients. Specific objectives were
Evaluating the feasibility and scalability of longitudinal placements for undergraduate pharmacy students in primary care.
Full text linkTo align with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists and enhance clinical readiness, UK undergraduate pharmacy education must provide meaningful experiential learning. This study explores the feasibility, sustainability, and scalability of longitudinal placements for final-year undergraduate pharmacy students in primary care. Ten primary care centres hosted 115 students for one day per week on alternate weeks for 20 weeks. Students engaged in clinical audits, physical assessments, and interdisciplinary shadowing, supervised by clinical link tutors. Placement site experiences were explored through semi-structured interviews. Student experiences were evaluated using the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET). Four themes emerged from the qualitative data: placement structure and feasibility, student support and learning environment, student experience and development and service and patient impact. Sites valued the placement model but raised concerns about clinical workload, physical space, and funding. The clinical link tutor role was essential to success. Students showed increased confidence and clinical engagement, though readiness for independent practice and integration into multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) were limited. PET responses (n = 103, 90% response rate) indicated high student satisfaction (mean overall satisfaction score = 8.26/10 ± SD 1.79 on a 10-point scale). Findings align with international literature advocating longitudinal placements as a means of enhancing clinical preparedness. However, this study highlights systemic barriers to sustainability, including placement funding and infrastructure. Limitations include potential bias from selective site participation, single-institution scope, and reliance on self-reported student data. Broader adoption will require investment in supervision models, MDT training, and resource planning to support scalable. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Institutionalised Gender-Based Harm: Transgender and non-binary students’ experiences of harm at university
No full textNumbers of university students who identify beyond the gender binary are increasing (Dolan & Matsuno, Safety strategies and the impact of misgendering among nonbinary college students: A minority stress perspective. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Advance online publication. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/dhe0000544, 2023; Budge et al., Minority stress in nonbinary students in higher education: The role of campus climate and belongingness. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 7(2), 222–229. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000360, 2020). Yet, evidence suggests that university can be a significant site of gender-based harm for transgender or non-binary students (Matsuno et al., ‘The default is just going to be getting misgendered’: Minority stress experiences among nonbinary adults. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 11(2), 202–214. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000607, 2022). This chapter uses qualitative data to analyse students’ perceptions of safety on campus and their experiences of gender-based harm (GBV) while studying at university. The data illuminates the role of institutional policies and practices in the perpetuation of gender-based harm for these students and the concomitant effects of this on their ability to engage with their studies
The transition of clinical Nurses to academic Roles: An interpretative phenomenological inquiry into identity development
Full text linkBackground: The transition from clinical practice to academia represents a profound career shift for nurses, involving significant changes in professional identity, skill application, and work environment.
Aim: To explore the experiences of nurses who had recently made the transition from a clinical nursing role to an academic teaching role.
Methods: An interpretive phenomenological approach was adopted. This was enhanced through using communities of practice as a theoretical lens. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven (7) nurses from across the UK. Interviews were participant led, allowing them to discuss elements of their professional identity, both old and new. Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to analyse the collected data.
Results: The following themes were identified within the analysis: finding my passion; institutional and colligate support; and acceptance of new(er) identity.
Conclusions: There is a need for structured onboarding programs and robust peer support networks to effectively integrate and sustain communities of practice; ongoing professional development opportunities, particularly in areas such as Information Technology, were identified as pivotal to aiding adaptation to academic roles
From Screens to Streets: The Blurred Boundaries Between Perpetrators and Victims of Gender-Based Violences
No full textThis chapter reconceptualises GBV by exploring the ideological grooming of young men and boys within the manosphere. While dominant narratives focus on women and girls as victims, this analysis positions boys and young men as vulnerable to coercive control that exploits emotional and developmental fragility. Using Stark’s (Coercive control: How men entrap women in personal life. Oxford University Press, 2007) theory of coercive control, the chapter examines how online subcultures, particularly incel communities, groom young men through fatalistic ideologies, aggrieved entitlement, and gendered distrust. Drawing on the mini-series Adolescence (Herbert et al., 2025), it links these dynamics to social, educational, and psychological contexts. The chapter argues that young men and boys are not solely perpetrators but are themselves ideologically groomed in the absence of institutional intervention, and it calls for a dual recognition of their vulnerability and accountability
How Has Neuroscience Positively Contributed to English Youth Justice?
No full textThis chapter explores the contributions of neuroscientific evidence of adolescent brain development to youth justice law and policy in England and Wales. It will show that the youth justice system in England and Wales continues not to support children and young people's developmental immaturity and lack of capacity. In English law, children are held criminally responsible and punished for their actions from 10 years of age because it is assumed that they possess the legally relevant capacities necessary for blame. However, the latest neuroscientific evidence suggests that maturation is a long and complex process that stretches into adulthood. The developmental differences in the brain’s biochemistry and anatomy limit children’s ability to perceive risks, control impulses, understand consequences, and control emotions. The prefrontal lobe is involved in the control of aggression and other behavioural impulses related to criminal responsibility. Yet, this lobe is the last area to mature, developing in the twenties rather than the teen years. This evidence highlights that the child’s inexperience and under-developed powers of self-control and reasoning make them prone to acting in ways they cannot help, understand, or intend. These insights show that some children deserve to be excused from criminal responsibility, and abolishing the defence of doli incapax was short-sighted. This chapter will develop the argument that the youth justice system should support the child’s development by more explicitly considering the Child First imperative of promoting their status as capacity-evolving persons. The chapter will conclude by proposing the introduction of a developmental immaturity defence
A pedagogy of vulnerability: The dynamic of relational practice in Higher Education
No full textThis chapter attempts to highlight the complexities, challenges and dilemmas for one educator in adopting a pedagogy of relation in Higher Education (HE). The current agenda of HE, is focused on the neoliberal challenge of fostering economic growth through competition, quality assurance and accountability. This has created an overly transactional relationship between students and their teachers. In doing so, we have become tasked with valuing what can be measured rather than measuring what we value. Often absent in the discourse around student success in HE is the pedagogical importance of the relationship between HE students and their lecturers to the same degree that it is explored in other phases of education. Through the analysis of my diary over the course of an academic year, I captured daily events and incidents to gain a deeper understanding of my practice as relational. Thematic analysis of the diary revealed vulnerability to be at the core of these experiences for both the teacher and the HE Student. The contradicting power dynamics between students, staff, structures and systems, created dilemmas in how to respond to this vulnerability. Here, I share my analysis of examples of practice where the need to embrace vulnerability was essential for a pedagogy of relation but where it was met with resistance. This dynamic response to relational practice in the personal, social and cultural space of higher education, I describe as a ‘pedagogy of vulnerability’. I hope that by sharing my experiences and dilemmas, a dialogue can open which helps to understand the nature of the HE teacher-student relationship and its vital importance in supporting and defining graduate success and how to adjust the systems and cultures to enact a pedagogy of relation in higher education
A Qualitative Systematic Review of the Experiences of Older People and Practitioners in Recognising and Responding to Domestic Abuse in the Older Population
Full text linkThe aim of this qualitative systematic review was to synthesise best evidence exploring the experiences of identifying and responding to domestic abuse (DA) in the older population from the perspectives of older people and of practitioners. Whilst awareness of DA in the older population is growing, there is still limited awareness and understanding of these experiences. Fifteen databases were searched for studies that included older victims-survivors (aged 60+) and/or practitioners’ experiences of DA with a total of 29 articles selected which met the inclusion criteria. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Qualitative Studies Checklist was used to undertake a critical appraisal, and included studies were analysed using thematic synthesis. The studies provide a wide-ranging overview of this phenomenon highlighting unique characteristics of DA in the older population. Key findings included that the identification of abuse in the older population as DA is problematic, as is the nature of agency and organisational responses, such as availability of suitable resources. The findings highlight a range of interconnecting complexities which influence help-seeking and professional responses to DA in the older population, including systemic failures, institutional biases and deeply embedded ageist assumptions which affect older victims-survivors. It is also evident that there is a lack of research which explores this area from an intersectional perspective including, for example, consideration of age alongside gender, disability, ethnicity and sexuality. Several recommendations are suggested to enhance intervention in this area, including the need for policy and practice reform, as well as additional research
Prediction Bias for Physical Exertion in Chronic Fatigue: Evidence from an Observational Paradigm.
Full text linkMany clinical conditions are associated with a high incidence of chronic fatigue. While some physiological causes for chronic fatigue are established, e.g., processes connected to inflammation, psychological factors may also contribute. The metacognitive theory of dyshomeostasis proposes that a mismatch between cognitive predictions and sensory evidence for actions undermines self-efficacy and perception of control, contributing to chronic fatigue. We aimed to investigate alterations in prediction for physical exertion in participants with chronic fatigue using a new paradigm based on observation, therefore avoiding sensory feedback from the periphery. Participants watched randomised sets of videos with people exercising at different physical exertion levels. Participants had to predict the rate of physical exertion (RPE) of the individuals observed in the videos. Additionally, questionnaires for chronic fatigue, disability, mood, clinical history and body characteristics were assessed. 49 complete data sets from participants with chronic fatigue and 74 data sets from control subjects were analysed in this study. Compared with the control group, participants with chronic fatigue predicted a significantly higher RPE for the observed exercising individuals across all exertion levels. Multiple linear regression models revealed that in the control group, the variance of the bias in the prediction of exertion was significantly explained by the characteristics of the individuals observed in the videos. However, in the chronic fatigue group, the variance of bias in the prediction of exertion was strongly explained by the characteristics of the observer, i.e. fatigue levels and disability. Outcomes revealed that participants with chronic fatigue predicted higher exertion levels during observations and that levels were strongly influenced by their clinical symptoms, suggesting a prediction bias for exertion being present even without performing physical tasks. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.