Differences in Higher Education Access, Participation and Outcomes by Socioeconomic Background: A Life Course Perspective (original) (raw)
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This paper is based on research into the destinations and aspirations of school leavers in Australia. It investigates the relationship between the transition to university for different groups of students and their own and their parents' and teachers' expectations. It draws on Bourdieu, Boudon, Nussbaum and others to investigate the way young people construct their aspirations. It examines the limits of young people's agency, which is bound by their understanding of the hidden and informal rules that govern access to different spaces within the curriculum as well as access to post-school destinations. Navigating these transitions is becoming more important and more complex with the increasing emphasis on higher level qualifications in an education market.
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This article uses data from the UK 1970 Birth Cohort (N = 10,000) to address the research questions: (a) Who in this cohort made the transition to higher education (HE), and (b) how are the benefits and risks of such participation distributed? We assess the way that the benefits and risks of participation differ according to family background and child development, finding risks to mental health for individuals who attend HE against the odds. We also explore the errors in prediction of standard statistical models in order to introduce a discussion of selection bias linked to a broader policy question of the appreciation of the complexity and idiosyncrasy of individuals' educational pathways. We explore this question in relation to three particular cases that confound the prediction of the statistical analysis in order to clarify the assumptions and limitations of a standard analysis in approaching the problems of developing policy that recognizes individual heterogeneity and diversity.
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This article discusses the educational, social and economic backgrounds of Access to Higher Education (AHE) students and how these factors influence students' choice of courses and colleges in which to pursue their desire to enter higher education (HE) despite the risks involved and the initial lack of confidence of many of them in their capabilities as learners. The discussion is based on three main sources: studies about mature students' views of their experiences as learners, national aggregate data about AHE students in England and Wales and the findings from a study of approximately 700 AHE students about their experiences on AHE courses that was carried out in a region of England in seven further education (FE) colleges. The study used a social constructivist perspective and linked case study design to collect and compare trustworthy qualitative and quantitative data. What emerges is that mature students need supportive learning environments that are easily accessible and build their confidence and competence as independent but collaborative learners who can achieve their aspirations as well as meet their needs as adults as spouses, breadwinners and childcarers. This has implications for how further and higher education institutions attract, teach and sustain mature students.
Irish Educational Studies, 2019
The number of young people progressing to higher education (HE) in Ireland has grown significantly over the last three decades but inequality of access and participation remain a major policy challenge. This article sets out to explore the factors which impact on levels of participation in HE by young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, based on interviews and focus groups with 70 secondary school students and 25 parents in three case-study locations. In line with previous research, we found that financial considerations continue to have an important influence on decisions about whether to go on to higher education. The findings in relation to young people's aspirations and orientations to HE present a more complex picture. While the majority of students aspired to go on to HE, this was countered by a lack of confidence in relation to certain aspects of college life, both social and academic.
2012
Current Federal Government policy in higher education espouses a renewed emphasis on equity. As such, it encourages university-initiated projects aimed at improving the access of students from groups identified as disadvantaged. While significant gains have been made in the participation of some targeted groups, marked inequities in transition to higher education persist, with young people from higher socioeconomic backgrounds participating in higher education at approximately twice the rate of those from low SES backgrounds. While the causes of these inequities are multiple and complex, one culprit that is increasingly named is that of the attitudes of young people and their families towards higher education. Research has found appreciable social stratification in the opinions of secondary school students about the relevance and attainability of a university education. The literature suggests that university-school linkages based on early intervention and long-term relationships have the potential to alter young people's perceptions of university. This paper describes one such intervention scheme, Australian Catholic University's ACULink program. Using a predominantly qualitative approach, it evaluates the extent to which this project affects young people's perceptions of and aspirations for university.
Participation in Higher Education: Equity and Access?
Economic Record, 2005
The conventional wisdom in Australia is that policy aimed at reducing imbalances in the representation of different socioeconomic classes in the tertiary sector should be aimed at encouraging completion of high school. The analyses in this paper suggest, however, that most of the differences in the socioeconomic mix of tertiary students are due to different propensities of high school graduates to pursue tertiary studies. The relatively low rate of university participation among rural students, however, needs to be addressed by encouraging the completion of high school.
Over the last few decades, youth aspirations and post-school transitions have become the focus of much research, particularly in economically-developed countries such as Australia. In October 2010, Australia’s National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education organised and held a conference with the theme ‘Aspiration, Mobility, Voice’. The event was followed by a special issue of Critical Studies in Education (CSIE), which included articles and discussion notes by the contributors and keynote speakers of the conference. The main aim of the CSIE special issue was to enhance thinking on efforts to widen participation in higher education (HE) and improve student equity (Gale 2011). Its authors discussed new ideas and opinions about student equity in HE (Sellar and Gale 2011), with an emphasis on disadvantaged students (Parry 2011). A number of contributors highlighted how, despite good intentions, the modern conceptualisation of ‘aspiration’ risks establishing disadvantaged young peo ...
The attainability of university degrees and their labour market benefits for young Australians
I used data from the 1995 cohort of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth to investigate the factors associated with the attainment of Australian university degrees and estimate their domestic labour market benefits. I considered vertical and horizontal stratification in education and examined monetary and non-monetary benefits. The probabilities of attaining a university degree differed significantly by individual and family background. Individuals’ family backgrounds significantly predicted the prestige of their universities, but not their fields of study. University graduates enjoyed higher income and occupational prestige relative to non-graduates. Among university graduates, income and occupational benefits differed significantly by fields of study but less by the prestige of universities. These findings indicate that vertical stratification in education plays an important role in the intergenerational transmission of social status in Australia. My findings suggest that policies should ensure equal access to higher education for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Strategies to reduce inequality in higher education are discussed.