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Sou h A ican Jou nal o Science
h p://www.sajs.co.za
Volume 111 | Numbe 11/12
No embe /Decembe 2015
Book Re iew Uni e si y access and success
Page 1 o 2
© 2015. The Au ho (s).
Published unde a C ea i e
Commons A ibu ion Licence.
Uni e si y access and success: An issue o
social jus ice
BOOK TITLE:
Uni e si y access and success:
Capabili ies, di e si y and
social jus ice
BOOK COVER:
AUTHOR:
Me idy Wilson-S ydom
ISBN:
9781138017771 (ha dco e )
PUBLISHER:
Rou ledge, Ox o d; GBP95
PUBLISHED:
2015
REVIEW TITLE:
Uni e si y access and success:
An issue o social jus ice
REVIEWER:
Alejand a Boni
EMAIL:
[email p o ec ed].es
AFFILIATION:
INGENIO Ins i u e, Uni e si a
Poli ècnica de València,
Valencia, Spain
POSTAL ADDRESS:
INGENIO, Uni e si a Poli ècnica
de València, Camino de Ve a s/n,
46022 Valencia, Spain
HOW TO CITE:
Boni A. Uni e si y access
and success: An issue o
social jus ice. S A J Sci.
2015;111(11/12), A . #a0130,
2 pages. h p://dx.doi.
o g/10.17159/sajs.2015/a0130
Uni e si y Access and Success ep esen s an ex emely aluable con ibu ion o he highe educa ion li e a u e
ela ed o access o uni e si ies. Bu , con a y o he mains eam app oaches o access which ely on school
pe o mance and admissions es s, Wilson-S ydom poses a he cen e o he analysis he issue o social jus ice.
As Wilson-S ydom explains: ‘When we conside issues o jus ice o injus ice, we canno me ely ask whe he
di e en people ha e achie ed he same ou come, bu a he , whe he di e en people ha e had he same
oppo uni ies o achie e his ou come’ (p. 151). This shi om ou comes o oppo uni ies is e y di e en om
o he app oaches o access and eadiness in highe educa ion (see Chap e 2).
The heo e ical amewo k is p o ided by he capabili ies app oach, which is well known hanks o he w i ings
o Nobel lau ea e Ama ya Sen1 and he con ibu ions o philosophe Ma ha Nussbaum2. Capabili ies could be
de ined as he subs an i e eedoms o eal oppo uni ies ha people ha e o lead he kind o li es hey ha e eason
o alue.1 Those eal oppo uni ies a e shaped and media ed no only by he pe sonal cha ac e is ics o people
(pe sonal con e sion ac o s in he capabili ies li e a u e), bu also by he social con ex (social con e sion ac o s),
which is e y di e en om o he app oaches o eadiness which a e mo e ocused on he pe sonal cha ac e is ics
o he lea ne s (see Chap e s 3 and 4).
Wilson-S ydom explo es ‘ he capabili y o pa icipa e in highe educa ion’ – he eal oppo uni ies i s -yea
s uden s ha e o pa icipa e in highe educa ion. She conduc ed excellen esea ch be ween 2009 and 2014 wi h
high-school lea ne s and i s -yea uni e si y s uden s in he F ee S a e P o ince in Sou h A ica. The da a collec ion
me hods included a quan i a i e su ey, indi idual in e iews, ocus g oups, isual me hods and w i en e lec ions.
F om a me hodological pe spec i e, his book is an excellen con ibu ion in he educa ional esea ch domain and i
b ings a ichness o da a ha allow he au ho o explo e in a deepe way he pe sonal and social con e sion ac o s
ha in luence he capabili y o pa icipa e (see Chap e s 5 and 7).
Wilson-S ydom d aws a i id pic u e o s uden s en e ing uni e si y, in which eelings such as loss, ea and
con usion ha e a big impac on hei con idence o lea n. S uden s’ pe sonal con e sion ac o s – such as he will
o lea n, he con idence o lea n and home language – a e a ec ing he eadiness o he s uden s and so need o
be ca e ully conside ed by uni e si ies.
Mo eo e , Wilson-S ydom highligh s he social con e sion ac o s ha a ec s uden s’ oppo uni ies. The school
con ex is o pa amoun impo ance; and absen o poo -quali y eache s, a gene al lack o esou ces, limi ed
subjec choices, and ew oppo uni ies o engage wi h a di e si y o ideas and people a e majo in luencing ac o s
in he capabili ies o lea ne s.
Also, he socio-economic con ex has p o ed o be ele an in he way lea ne s spend hei ime ou side school.
Lea ne s li ing in ownship a eas spen mo e ime han o he s uden s walking o school and ca ing o amily
membe s han engaging in educa ional en ichmen ac i i ies. This inding is especially ema kable o gi ls: hey end
o ha e mo e esponsibili y han boys a home, bu a he same ime gi ls ended o be be e p epa ed academically
o uni e si y han boys; in ha sense, gende appea s o ope a e in ‘somewha con lic ing ways’ (p. 144).
I is no only he ichness o da a and i s in e p e a ions ha make his book wo hwhile, bu i s heo e ical con i-
bu ions a e also ex emely aluable. Roo ed in p e ious wo k ha has used he capabili ies app oach in highe
educa ion,3-5 Wilson-S ydom p oposes ‘a lis o capabili ies o he ansi ion o uni e si y’ (p. 131) o mula ed using
a comp ehensi e heo e ical analysis and aking in o accoun he oices o lea ne s ha eme ged om he esea ch.
The lis , p esen ed in Chap e 6, includes he ollowing capabili ies: (1) p ac ical eason, (2) knowledge and
imagina ion, (3) lea ning disposi ion, (4) social ela ions and social ne wo ks, (5) espec , digni y and ecogni ion,
(6) emo ional heal h and (7) language, compe ence and con idence.
This lis could p o ide a no ma i e amewo k o unde s anding wha is needed o access o uni e si y. This
amewo k poses a i s cen e, he well-being o s uden s, and aises issues o equi y, pa icipa ion and di e si y. Also,
as Wilson-S ydom poin s ou (p. 132), he capabili y o language akes us beyond he adi ional ocus o access
o esea ch on measu able pe o mance as a basis o making admission decisions and p edic ing he likelihood
o success.
In ha sense, his book o e s in e es ing a enues o ac ion in he uni e si y ealm. As Wilson-S ydom no es
in Chap e 8, uni e si ies should con on injus ice, and e en i he changes a e complex and di icul o achie e,
schola s and esea che s commi ed o social jus ice should ake ac ion o ocus on he ‘ emediable injus ices
we see a ound us’6. Cohe en ly, Wilson-S ydom no only p oposes some ideas, bu she also ansla es hem
in o p ac ice and p o ides some p elimina y esul s o a wo kshop wi h s uden s in a Social Wo k depa men .
He hones and cohe en commi men o social jus ice ha you can pe cei e h ough he pages o his book, makes
his con ibu ion, in my iew, e en mo e aluable.
Re e ences
1. Sen A. De elopmen as eedom. New Yo k: Knop ; 1999.
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Sou h A ican Jou nal o Science
h p://www.sajs.co.za
Volume 111 | Numbe 11/12
No embe /Decembe 2015
2. Nussbaum M. Women and human de elopmen : The capabili ies app oach.
Camb idge: Camb idge Uni e si y P ess; 2000. h p://dx.doi.o g/10.1017/
CBO9780511841286
3. Walke M. Highe educa ion pedagogies. Be kshi e and New Yo k: Socie y o
Resea ch in o Highe Educa ion and Open Uni e si y P ess; 2006.
4. Boni A, Walke M, edi o s. Uni e si ies and human de elopmen . A new
imagina y o he uni e si y o he XXI cen u y. London: Rou ledge; 2013.
5. Walke M, McLean M. P o essional educa ion, capabili ies and he public
good. London: Rou ledge; 2013.
6. Sen A. The idea o jus ice. London: Allen Lane Penguin Books; 2009.
Book Re iew Uni e si y access and success
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