Learning Journal

One thing that has been concerning me of late has been EMA payments. Over the past few months, since the first block placement, I have become steadily more and more critical of certain students. Let me explain.
The EMA was an idea brought about by the need to widen participation, and increase student numbers in FE. It is advertised quite widely - I see animated adverts for it with spies in all over the internet, and what more is going to advertise something to a teenager than a cartoon spy? - and I presume it has been successful. Certainly, many students rely on their EMA payments, and many students without it complain that they want one too. It isn't exactly fair that some students get £30 a week, and students who don't get it do not receive £30 a week from their parents, but it would be hard to force parents to do this.
I am not sure, though, if such payments really allow students to join college courses. They seem to, I feel, motivate students to join, for the financial incentive. It is hard to see that £30 a week is going to persuade a student to join college rather than work, even on minimum wages, which would bring in considerably more. Instead, it is an incentive for students to join, and some of them seem to think that, in return for the EMA, they only have to turn up for class.
One case in point is a student who was in my class during observation 5, with my college mentor. I moved around the students to new groups for a discussion task, one that went very well and my mentor was pleased with. I purposefully placed this student in the group that was sat next to where my mentor was, in order that she might be persuaded to do work. Normally, this student sits with her friends, and responds to work by naming her handout and then leaving it. She rarely fills anything in, and when being asked to do work responds with a sigh. She often feigns an illness, a pain, a tiredness, and to start with I was quite considerate. But without some explanation, it is hard to understand that a student can be constantly ill in different ways, and she refuses to talk about her problem. I presume that she might well be working over the weekend. More importantly, though, she has no interest in talking to me, in trying to do the work, and simply files handouts away and listens mutely when I am speaking. She spends most of her time talking to her friends about various goings on and occasionally laughing too loudly.
When sat next to the mentor, she merely stared unpleasantly at the people around her, and upon leaving, my mentor mentioned that I could exclude her from class for her unco-operativeness and belligerence. I happily kept this in mind. I do not like to exclude students, and have only have to do it before for extreme lateness, but a student cannot come to class merely to get their EMA forms signed, doing nothing that could be construed as learning.
So, recently, I have been asking for signs of work in order the EMA forms be signed. This student has taken to turning up, enquiring whether my rules have changed, and then leaving early. I suppose that she doesn't want EMA anymore, or could be forging my signature (my students tell me this is a common practice). I've informed her personal tutor to ask if this is going on, and I log her leaving each week. I don't know what she's going to do when it comes to her exam, but I'm not sure she ever cared.
This sort of example makes me think that EMA, as it is, might not be widening participation as much as making college an easy place to be.