Widening participation and its impact: the mathematical background of students from a vocational educational programme

This paper is focussed on students entering University from a BTEC (Business & Technology Education Council Edexcel) background. Specifically it reports the results of a Higher Futures project with two main aims: (i) to better understand and summarise the student entry profile and thus (ii) to develop and provide suitable pathways to improve progression. The results are presented in a format to be of optimum use both for admissions tutors who wish to assess student suitability and for year one tutors (and maths learning support services) looking to provide appropriate and targeted support.