New article: constructions of students in English policy documents

An article from the project, entitled ‘The construction of higher education students in English policy documents’ has been published (open access) in the latest issue of the British Journal of Sociology of Education. The article argues that, contrary to assumptions made in much of the academic literature, students are not conceptualised as ‘empowered consumers’; instead their vulnerability is emphasised in documents by both government and unions. It also identifies other dominant discourses, such as students as ‘future workers’ and ‘hard-workers’, which articulate with extant debates about both the repositioning of higher education as an economic good and the use of the ‘hard-working’ trope across other areas of social policy. You can read the full article here.