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ABSTRACT 1 Bridging to the Future: What works? Helen Anderson Tertiary education in our current world is a significant pathway into employment and the consequent societal benefits. Bridging/enabling education works to make these benefits accessible to people who are undoubtedly talented but who don’t have the specific skills and credentials for entry to further study and the workforce. Frequently, those accessing enabling education are also members of minority groups, under represented groups and those who have experienced significant deprivation. Creating access to tertiary education through enabling programmes subscribes to the goals of social justice, contributes to expanding the talent available for social and economic development as well as influencing individual life chances. These are the goals and commitments enabling educators share and the consequent responsibilities are the focus of this address. With the hopes and aspirations of individuals, our communities and the society raised by the provision of enabling education, ensuring that it “works” must occupy a significant place in the design and management of programmes. Analysing “what works” operates on three levels. The first of these is the current and successful engagement in education of those who join enabling programmes. The second level is the successful transition to and participation in the destination programme or workplace, and the third lies in preparation for survival and better in our rapidly changing world of technology. For the first two, this address offers frameworks for analysis, for the third, this address can offer speculation on the essentially unknowable future and a few strategies for managing the attendant uncertainties.
The Social and Economic Impacts of Bridging Education: A New Zealand Study Helen Anderson Bridging education programmes in universities and polytechnics aim to provide pathways into tertiary study for students who have career aspirations but not the required entry qualifications. The study reported in this paper investigated the social and economic impacts of participation in bridging on women in the years following programme attendance. The method of investigation included the collaborative development of an initial survey tool between the researcher and past participants in bridging programmes, conducting a first survey of past participants from five tertiary institutions and repeat surveying volunteers from the first survey. This process provided data from past participants from one year to six years on from their bridging courses. The results of this study include identification and quantitative analysis of social and economic impacts including effects on family, income, work prospects, indebtedness, self and community esteem and participation in crime. The relative importance of these aspects to the participants is quantified and supported by qualitative description. It may be concluded
that bridging programmes have the capability to alter the life chances of
participants, to transform their contribution to the economy and the society and
that for many the impact is both enduring and incremental.
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