‘But no one in my family has been to University’ Aiming Higher: School students’ attitudes to Higher Education

Abstract

In this paper, we present findings from the second stage of a three year longitudinal study involving 3,570 students aged 13-18 in a London Borough looking at the impact of Widening Participation (WP) on the attitudes of students. We outline findings from a previous stage and then focus specifically on two cohorts of Year 10 students (aged 14-15) in two consecutive years. The students completed the specially designed Attitudes to Higher Education Questionnaire (AHEQ) and provided information on WP activities in which they had participated. Data on the students' academic attainment and social backgrounds were also included. There were significant sex and cohort differences and interactions which were found to be related to WP activities specifically aimed at increasing the participation of socially disadvantaged students in higher education. The implications of findings are discussed in relation to theories of social identity and self concept and the implementation of strategies to increase participation in Higher Education.

‘I am–we are’: personal and social pathways to further study, work and family life

“…Self-esteem is a global sense of self-worth that is central to a plethora of studies, yet evidence is equivocal that self esteem is a single critical factor in motivating behaviour and learning (see Emler 2001). In this way, our work builds new ideas that integrate personal, relational and group motivations for planned pathways; as an advance on classic expectancy-value models of motivation for participation (e.g., Bornholt 2001;Eccles and Wigfield 2002;Hofer and Pintrich 2002;Maras 2007).…”

“…1). It is therefore useful to consider the apparent 'layers' of motivations, without suggesting an inherent hierarchy (see Bornholt 2000;Maras 2007). Yet, it is important to acknowledge that we are concerned here with motivation within persons.…”

“…There were 4 to 5 items in each scale. (c) Relational motivations include identification with friends, family and school, expectations by friends and family, learning support, and information of work and study from the Attitudes to Higher Education Questionnaire AHEQ (see Maras 2007 with at least 5 items in each scale). (d) Group motivations parallel the personal aspects where single items cover a group sense of individuality, belonging, and place, as well as the group's self concepts and task values.…”

The crisis discourse of a wicked policy problem: vocational skills training in Australia

“…Labor governments on the other hand have argued for a more nuanced schoolto-work biography, given the variance in the abilities of young people in respect of finding full employment (Crump 2007;Maras 2007;Stevenson 2007;Vickers 2007). Labor governments since Hawke have tended to see that work has never been as simple and secure as the standard biography asserted; that full employment has rarely been achieved (Jones 1985) and that over the last 20 years the taken-forgranted patterns of work and transition to work have become less dominant.…”

Investigating the Instructor's Role in New Student Sense of Classroom Community

“…Within the school context, Voelkl (1996) is credited with creating the most comprehensive measure of belonging; she included questions focused on school pride and identified differences between gender and racial differences. Although developed using students in the eighth grade, the Identification With School Questionnaire is effective in determining sense of belonging and value in students of all ages (i.e., Nasir, Jones, & McLaughlin, 2011;Maras, 2007).…”