Understanding the targeting strategies and underpinning drivers of school staff in the figured world of a widening participation initiative

Targeting refers to methods used to identify and select individuals for widening participation (WP) initiatives. Research mostly focuses on WP outcomes, policy and university perspectives. The targeting actions of school staff are under-researched. These actions are generally positioned as (non)-adherence to the intentions of WP initiatives and the resultant recommendations often over-simplify targeting within schools. This study, of school WP leads enacting targeting of a restricted number of pupils to participate in a WP initiative, addresses the school perspective research gaps. Holland and colleagues’ lens of figured worlds (FWs) yields new insights into targeting which highlight the agency and contextually embedded professional judgement of school staff working to enhance aspiration and opportunity among pupils. Three examples illuminate contrasting targeting strategies, each underpinned by a combination of three interlinked drivers: principles, pragmatics, and predictions. Contextualised application of these strategies and drivers determines which few pupils, from many who could have been selected, enter the WP initiative’s FW. These insights into pupil-level targeting provide a counter-narrative to deficit-oriented discourses, which could help universities to understand and value contextualised enactment of targeting by school staff.