“You are capable of MORE!”—Validation procedures to authorise the ability to study between student’s perceptions and higher education’s gatekeeping

• Main Authors: Silke Schreiber-Barsch, Hanna Gundlach
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: SpringerOpen 2019-02-01
• Series: Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung - Report
• Subjects: Third educational route; Access to tertiary education; Validation; Learning outcome; Study ability
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40955-019-0126-z
• ISSN: 2364-0014; 2364-0022

Abstract The paper tackles the issue of procedures for the validation of competences, which are used in the tertiary education sector in order to evaluate an individual’s study ability on the basis of his/her vocational qualifications. This contested terrain will be explored by means of the University of Hamburg’s validation procedure (the so-called Eingangsprüfungsverfahren, §38 HmbHG). The focus of interest will be put on a qualitative reconstruction of individual decision-making processes during these periods of transition. For this aim, the paper introduces findings of a qualitative research project on students with such vocational qualifications background, using Grounded Theory Methodology and a triangulation of methods (participatory observations; focus groups; a quantitative questionnaire). The findings show that the validation procedure is indeed perceived by the sample as a legitimate and feasible instrument for assessing an individual’s ability of study—and serves, however, as an instrument for (re)producing discursive orderings of society in periods of transition during the life course.