Males in enabling: Their lives, their experience, their perspective

Enabling programs play an important role in the up-skilling and development of students who want a second chance at gaining an undergraduate degree at university. Many Australian universities offer these types of programs, commonly known as Enabling, Preparatory, Transition or Access, as a way of developing and up-skilling students by assisting them in transitioning into undergraduate studies. These programs cater to a diverse cohort of both the male and female populace. An ever increasing number of students are utilising these programs as an alternative pathway to university. Within the Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies (STEPS) program at CQUniversity, there has been a notable disproportionate number of males to females enrolling in the program; however, this gap is slowly closing with a higher number of males enrolling in both internal and external mode of study. Recent research by the authors (James, Conradie, & Armstrong, 2014) began exploring the factors that inhibit or enhance the male experience within this program. This paper expands upon this research with a deeper focus into the male experience through more personalised accounts derived from focus groups. Through thematic analysis, three key themes emerged: Overall Benefits to Students (both extrinsic and intrinsic), Support Structures (internal and external) and Obstacles and Barriers. This research will reveal the commitment and dedication of these male students who shared their personal experiences within the STEPS program, but more than this, it has demonstrated that each one faced obstacles and barriers that could derail their dream; yet, they were successful in conquering the obstacles that would have once located them on the perimeter of higher education. The men in this study represent the empowering transformation that enabling programs instigate. These men, although positioned across different and competing formations of identity, aspire towards an idealized identity even when it is at odds with their lived realities.