Educational inequality and transitions to university in Australia: aspirations, agency and constraints

Polesel, John; Leahy, Mary; Gillis, Shelley

doi:10.1080/01425692.2017.1409101

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…In this sense our findings have an affinity with the notion of aspirations, which has drawn much attention in studies of young adults, focusing particularly on education and employment. For instance, in their recent Australian study Polesel, Leahy, and Gillis (2018) found that young adults’ aspirations for and experiences of post-secondary pathways into various types of education and employment correlated closely with their socio-economic status (SES). Moreover, although the notion that aspirations map onto social positions has been problematised, those who have contested these claims have nevertheless found a gap between realistic and ideal aspirations for their respondents.…”

Section: Anitamentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency, futurity and representation: Conceptualising hope in recent sociological work

Cook

Cuervo

2019

The Sociological Review

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Although humanities and social science disciplines have witnessed an explosion of interest in the topic of hope in recent decades, uptake of this concept has been comparatively uneven in sociological research. Hope has garnered substantial attention in relation to topics such as health, poverty, youth and work within creative industries, while attracting sporadic interest elsewhere. However, despite this uneven engagement, studies addressing hope in each area have echoed many of the same ambiguities. We focus on two such ambiguities: the relationship between hope and futurity, and the relationship between hope and agency. Drawing on the observation that recent treatments of hope appear to either emphasise a hoped-for outcome situated in the future or focus on the role of hope in coping with the present we reframe this debate, contending that these tendencies suggest two distinct modes of hope: representational and non-representational. By reframing the relationship between hope and futurity thus we seek to, in turn, untangle the ambiguous relationship between hope and agency. We test the utility of our conceptualisations of hope by placing them into dialogue with longitudinal case studies compiled from biennial interviews and annual surveys conducted over a 10-year period. We ultimately put forward some means by which recent sociological treatments of hope can be unified, and in so doing contend that conceptualising hope not as an individual experience, but as part of broader political economies of hope can attune us to the ways in which inequalities are manifest through uneven distributions and experiences of hope.

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Section: Anitamentioning

confidence: 99%

Agency, futurity and representation: Conceptualising hope in recent sociological work

Cook

Cuervo

2019

The Sociological Review

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“…The movement into and through university is perceived as a fraught process for many students, but particularly for those from diverse or equity backgrounds (Bryan & Simmons, 2009;Polesel, Leahy, Gillis, 2018;Reay, 1998Reay, , 2003Reay, , 2016Reay, , 2017.…”

Section: Setting the Scenementioning

confidence: 99%

Crossing boundaries: rethinking the ways that first-in-family students navigate ‘barriers’ to higher education

O’Shea

2019

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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Crossing Boundaries: Rethinking the ways that first-in-family students navigate 'barriers' to higher education This article explores how one cohort of first-in-family students narrated their movement into and through university, proposed as a form of boundary crossing.These metaphors emerged from the stories that students told about their persistence, with references ranging from institutional or organisational boundaries through to those imposed by self and others. Applying the sensitizing lens of boundary crossing, an analysis is provided of how learners navigated their transition into university and the types of persistence behaviours adopted. The focus is on those who traversed these boundaries, considering the nature of incursions and the ways these were negotiated within students' everyday lives.This cohort all self-identified as being the first in their family to attend university but also acknowledged a variety of additional social, cultural and economic factors that impacted upon their educational journey.

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“…As Polesel et al . () argue, students’ capacity to make agentic decisions about their futures is ‘bound by their understanding of the hidden and informal rules which govern access to different spaces within the curriculum offered in their schools as well as access to the range of post‐school destinations’ (p. 2).…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such fixed and inflexible perceptions and practices around transition-modelled as they are on an idealised view of students entering higher education-have serious consequences for students who enter higher education through alternative pathways (away from the 'traditional' school to university route), and who are labelled 'non-traditional' students. Studies of 'non-traditional' students' transitions into higher education are well documented in the literature, particularly for students from working-class or low socioeconomic backgrounds (Christie et al, 2008;Davey, 2009;Quinn, 2010;Fragoso et al, 2013;Evans, 2016;Jones, 2017;Polesel et al, 2017). These studies have highlighted the importance of students' relative familiarity with higher education, and noted the impacts of students' networks, identity, emotions and academic preparedness.…”

Section: Educational Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies have highlighted the importance of students' relative familiarity with higher education, and noted the impacts of students' networks, identity, emotions and academic preparedness. As Polesel et al (2017) argue, students' capacity to make agentic decisions about their futures is 'bound by their understanding of the hidden and informal rules which govern access to different spaces within the curriculum offered in their schools as well as access to the range of post-school destinations' (p. 2).…”

Section: Educational Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methodological diversity as an asset for transition‐focused higher education research with students from refugee backgrounds

Baker

Irwin

Taiwo

et al. 2018

Review of Education

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This paper discusses the methodological and logistical complexities that underpin multi‐method, multi‐sited, multi‐phased research with vulnerable communities. The project on which we draw was a 3‐year Australian government‐funded, longitudinal and cross‐sectional exploration of students from refugee backgrounds (SfRBs) as they moved into, through and out of higher education from three different contexts, educational pathways and localities in Australia. While all students entering and participating in higher education may experience challenges, for SfRBs these are compounded by their linguistic and cultural diversity, instability, possible trauma and disrupted schooling. In the project presented in this article, these complexities and their relationships with transitions to higher education were captured through diverse methods and methodologies at three research sites, including longitudinal research with repeat interviews and cross‐sectional, explorative methods. The opportunities provided by this methodological approach far outweighed the ethical and practical difficulties navigated by each of the research teams. The ‘thick’ data produced through prolonged and repeat engagements with a small cohort of participants at one site were made richer through explorations of differing social and geographical contexts across all three sites. Further, our collective interpretations of the data were made more robust through the reciprocity and reflexivity inherent in ethically researching with (not on) SfRBs and through multiple cross‐site research team interactions.

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Educational inequality and transitions to university in Australia: aspirations, agency and constraints

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Agency, futurity and representation: Conceptualising hope in recent sociological work

Agency, futurity and representation: Conceptualising hope in recent sociological work

Crossing boundaries: rethinking the ways that first-in-family students navigate ‘barriers’ to higher education

Methodological diversity as an asset for transition‐focused higher education research with students from refugee backgrounds

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