Review of Widening Participation Research: Addressing the Barriers to Participation in Higher Education

There are inequalities in participation in post-compulsory education and training by socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity, among other characteristics. These surface inequalities are largely reproduced in higher education. This section forms the start of a review of evidence on the barriers to widening participation (WP) in higher education in England. The section looks at the nature of the review, the established patterns of participation in education and training, and considers the notion of ‘barriers’ to participation.