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The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience

Ceryn Evans Orcid Logo

Higher Education

Swansea University Author: Ceryn Evans Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s10734-025-01563-4

Abstract

Despite decades of widening participation agendas in UK higher education (HE) policy, students with experience of the care system remain substantially under-represented in HE in England and Wales and are more likely to drop-out of university early. Universities in England and Wales now provide a ran...

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Published in: Higher Education
ISSN: 0018-1560 1573-174X
Published: Springer Nature 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70645
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last_indexed 2025-12-19T04:25:29Z
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spelling 2025-12-17T16:11:32.5126075 v2 70645 2025-10-13 The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience 8667761b1ae1cf33956bb056c4367452 0000-0002-0019-1017 Ceryn Evans Ceryn Evans true false 2025-10-13 SOSS Despite decades of widening participation agendas in UK higher education (HE) policy, students with experience of the care system remain substantially under-represented in HE in England and Wales and are more likely to drop-out of university early. Universities in England and Wales now provide a range of mechanisms to support care experienced students, including financial and practical support. However, less emphasis has been placed on the relational dimension of provision, namely social and emotional support. This omission is striking given the importance of caring, reliable and empathetic relationships in care experienced young people’s lives. Drawing on the voices of care experienced (CE) students and graduates, this paper reveals that relationships characterised by love and care were crucial to students’ experiences of university and retention in it. However, these kinds of relationships were seldom found in the formal mechanisms of support at university, but were more often embedded in relationships with friends, partners, foster carers or professionals outside of HE. Implications for HE policy and practice are discussed, including how a relational dimension of HE may support the engagement and retention of some of the most vulnerable students in HE in the UK and internationally. Journal Article Higher Education 0 Springer Nature 0018-1560 1573-174X Care experienced students; Love; Care and higher education 16 10 2025 2025-10-16 10.1007/s10734-025-01563-4 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) The research was funded by the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE). 2025-12-17T16:11:32.5126075 2025-10-13T11:01:26.3274777 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Ceryn Evans 0000-0002-0019-1017 1 70645__35574__f3930ed4fa2247d6a04535dcc98edf89.pdf 70645.VOR.pdf 2025-11-06T15:15:16.9088927 Output 691609 application/pdf Version of Record true This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
spellingShingle The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
Ceryn Evans
title_short The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
title_full The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
title_fullStr The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
title_full_unstemmed The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
title_sort The ethics of love and care in higher education: Perspectives of students with care experience
author_id_str_mv 8667761b1ae1cf33956bb056c4367452
author_id_fullname_str_mv 8667761b1ae1cf33956bb056c4367452_***_Ceryn Evans
author Ceryn Evans
author2 Ceryn Evans
format Journal article
container_title Higher Education
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publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 0018-1560
1573-174X
doi_str_mv 10.1007/s10734-025-01563-4
publisher Springer Nature
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description Despite decades of widening participation agendas in UK higher education (HE) policy, students with experience of the care system remain substantially under-represented in HE in England and Wales and are more likely to drop-out of university early. Universities in England and Wales now provide a range of mechanisms to support care experienced students, including financial and practical support. However, less emphasis has been placed on the relational dimension of provision, namely social and emotional support. This omission is striking given the importance of caring, reliable and empathetic relationships in care experienced young people’s lives. Drawing on the voices of care experienced (CE) students and graduates, this paper reveals that relationships characterised by love and care were crucial to students’ experiences of university and retention in it. However, these kinds of relationships were seldom found in the formal mechanisms of support at university, but were more often embedded in relationships with friends, partners, foster carers or professionals outside of HE. Implications for HE policy and practice are discussed, including how a relational dimension of HE may support the engagement and retention of some of the most vulnerable students in HE in the UK and internationally.
published_date 2025-10-16T05:31:58Z
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score 11.09611

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