Table of Contents

Introduction: Conceptualising Access and Retention (Rochelle Kapp and Bongi Bangeni, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 1. Students' Negotiation of Learning and Identity in Working Class Schooling (Rochelle Kapp, Elmi Badenhorst, Bongi Bangeni, Tracy S. Craig, Viki Janse van Rensburg, Kate Le Roux, Robert Prince, June Pym and Ermien van Pletzen, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 2. Three Mathematics Students Talk about their Transitions to and through their Undergraduate Degrees in the Sciences (Kate le Roux, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 3. A Longitudinal Perspective on a First Generation Female Student's Decision to Leave University (Judy Sacks and Rochelle Kapp, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 4. Humanities' Students' Negotiation of Language, Literacy and Identity (Rochelle Kapp and Bongi Bangeni, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 5. The Role of Religion in Mediating the Transition to Higher Education (Bongi Bangeni and June Pym, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 6. A Longitudinal Account of the Factors Shaping the Degree Paths of Black Students (Bongi Bangeni, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 7. Enabling Capabilities in an Engineering Extended Curriculum Programme (Tracy Craig, University of Cape Town, South Africa) 8. The Impact of Previous Experiences and Social Connectedness on Students' Transition to Higher Education (June Pym and Judy Sacks, University of Cape Town, South Africa) Conclusion: Learning from Students' Journeys (Bongi Bangeni and Rochelle Kapp, University of Cape Town, South Africa) References Index

Promotional Information

A qualitative longitudinal lens on the issues of access, persistence and retention in higher education.

About the Author

Bongi Bangeni is Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and is a Mandela Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University, USA. Rochelle Kapp is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Reviews

Negotiating Learning and Identity is a must read for anyone in higher education. While the research is located in the specific context of the University of Cape Town, it speaks to global issues of access and retention, and the often conflicting intersections of race, gender, class, culture, home, school, and language as experienced by young working class students attempting to navigate what the authors aptly call the “labyrinth” of a university education. The book presents both a compelling challenge and ways forward to change institutional structures, support programs, and pedagogies to better support students’ academic and psycho-social growth throughout their years of study.
*Anne Herrington, Distinguished Professor of English Emerita, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA*

The longitudinal studies in Kapp and Bangeni’s groundbreaking collection show how student identities cannot be fixed as “disadvantaged” or “first generation”, but instead are negotiated over time in institutional spaces mediated by discipline-specific practices. For anyone interested in understanding the stresses and strains of democratizing higher education in South Africa, this is the book to read.
*Jonathan Trimbur, Professor, Emerson College, USA*