#011 – Sam Baars: white working class boys at uni

Dr Sam Baars is LKMco’s Director of Research. He talks to Iesha about his research exploring how higher education can become more accessible for white working class boys.

In this episode Iesha and Sam discuss

• Why Sam’s A-levels made him more politically engaged
• How Sam’s doctorate in Social Change led to the work that he does now
• Why research can help marginalised groups who otherwise might be ignored
• How surprisingly hard it is to define what a white ‘working class’ boy is
• Why feeling as if you belong is important for success at university
• Why working class pupils are less likely to go to university than middle class pupils
• Why many working class pupils don’t see the point in going to university
• Why supporting aspirations to attend university ought to begin to in primary school

Resources/people featured or mentioned

• The Great British Class Survey (BBC)
• The underrepresentation of white working boys class in higher education (LKMco/KCL)

Show notes and links for this episode can be found here.

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Music credits:

‘Oui’ by Simon Mathewson and ‘Jump for joy’ by Scott Holmes both from http://freemusicarchive.org

Want to contact us?

[email protected] / @ieshasmall or [email protected] / @sambaars