“I generally say I am a mum first...But I’m studying at uni”: The narratives of first-in-family, female caregivers transitioning into an Australian university.

Abstract

The university student experience is both evolving and diverse. Increasing numbers of older students are accessing universities worldwide, and also access for student equity groups is a key policy driver in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, and others. However, among this change and flux, how individuals manage their transition into this environment with reference to new and existing identities is worthy of further exploration. This article draws on 2 separate but complementary Australian research projects that explored the experiences of students who had all commenced university after a significant gap in learning. The participants that feature in this article are all female caregivers who also identified as being first-in-family to come to university. The article seeks to explore how the women managed this move into this tertiary environment and also the ways in which student and caregiving identities interacted. The article presents narrative vignettes derived from the collective voices of participants, each of which explores key facets of this return to learning.

First year students’ perceptions of their difficulties

“…This diversity has two implications for scholars and practitioners. First, there are a diverse range of difficulties facing first-year students, including financial strain (Bexley et al, 2013;King, Luzeckyj, McCann, & Graham, 2015;Nelson, 2014); study workloads (Brinkworth et al, 2013;Rogers, Creed, Searle, & Nicholls, 2015); mental, emotional and physical health issues (Baik, Naylor & Arkoudis, 2015;King et al, 2015); course or family expectations (Wyn, Cuervo, & Landstedt, 2015); navigating unfamiliar university systems and cultures (McKay & Devlin, 2014;King et al, 2015); meeting family commitments (Hillman, 2005;O'Shea, 2015); and issues related to self-directed learning and time management (Hӓfner, Stock, Pinneker, & Strӧle, 2013;Kyndt, Berghmans, Dochy, & Bulckens, 2014). Although many of these difficulties arise outside the curricular space, their impact on students' learning experiences cannot be understated.…”

“…That family and health difficulties were associated with harmful appraisals suggests that students experiencing these difficulties are struggling to address them. The conflict between university and family commitments has been identified as a concern for several equity groups, including indigenous students (Hillman, 2005), first-in-family students (King et al, 2015), and mature-age students with dependent children (O'Shea, 2015). Caring for family has been associated with higher levels of distress among university students .…”

Persisting students’ explanations of and emotional responses to academic failure

“…Both male and female students described juggling multiple roles and responsibilities, referred to elsewhere in the literature as 'contested identities' (O'Shea, 2011), and reported prioritising identities of being a parent, caregiver, and breadwinner by necessity over student identities when narrating experiences of academic failure. This resonates with O'Shea (2015), who focused on first-in-family female caregivers who identified multiple challenges of managing competing roles, requiring a fine balance of caregiver and student identities. Like the women in O'Shea's study, many of our students' stories were 'replete with descriptions of hidden work, both emotional and physical' (O'Shea, 2015, p. 21).…”

“…Retention and attrition in higher education have garnered much attention. The drivers of such a focus can be traced to system expansion and associated increases in students discontinuing their studies (DET, 2017), including widening participation policies through which traditionally under-represented students with different forms of cultural capital are entering universities in larger numbers (O'Shea, 2015;Yosso, 2005). Government collated data from the United Kingdom (HESA, 2018) and Australia (DET, 2017) show that students entering from traditionally under-represented backgrounds have, in general, lower completion rates.…”

My children… think it’s cool that Mum is a uni student: Women with caring responsibilities studying online.

“…From these finding and discussions, recommendations are offered for HE institutions and those who work within them, on ways to better appreciate, acknowledge and support women to succeed in their academic goals. economic potential (O'Shea, 2015;Stone & O'Shea, 2013). However, there is also a recognition that returning to education may address a long-held desire or ambition, even redress a missed opportunity in the past (Stone & O'Shea, 2012).…”