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Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education
British Educational Research Journal
... The environmental factors of a school also have a significant impact on the physical comfort, overall wellness, and productivity of teachers . The education and overall development of students is significantly affected by the learning environment at school (Harrison, & Waller, 2018). It includes not only the physical structure of the school but also the educational, social, and emotional components that influence students and teachers and the experiences they gain in the school. ...
... On the other hand, demotivated students are frequently dissatisfied or disengaged, which can result in disruptive conduct. Motivation plays a very significant role in developing educational aspirations in underprivileged primary students (Harrison, & Waller, 2018). ...
... When students establish a positive relationship with their professors, they are more likely to actively participate in the learning process, seek advice when necessary, and achieve better levels of academic success. Similarly, Harrison and Waller, (2018) also support the findings, that teachers who understand their students' particular skills, limitations, and interests may give personalized support and encouragement, assisting them in pursuing various educational and professional pathways that align with their objectives (Sami, Khalil & Rafiq, 2024). ...
This qualitative research study investigates the impact of teachers' motivation on the educational and career aspirations of students in Non-formal schools in Punjab, Pakistan. Drawing upon constructivist principles, the study explores the perceptions and experiences of 14 Non-formal teachers and 12 Non-formal students from four districts in Punjab. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, which was analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings reveal that the lack of financial resources and educational facilities in non-formal schools poses significant challenges to both teachers and students. Most non-formal students come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, exacerbating the need for support and motivation in their educational journey. The study elucidates how teachers' motivation influences students' educational aspirations, fostering perseverance and dedication to their studies. Moreover, it examines the role of teachers in shaping students' career aspirations through mentorship, sharing personal experiences, and setting high standards. The analysis underscores the importance of a supportive learning environment in non-formal schools, where Exploring the Role of Teachers in Motivating Underprivileged Students for Their Educational and Career Aspiration 1184 teachers play a pivotal role in fostering student autonomy, providing constructive feedback, and promoting positive teacher-student interactions. Recommendations are provided for policymakers and educators to enhance the quality of education and support mechanisms in non-formal schools, thereby fostering the holistic development of underprivileged students in Pakistan.
... It appears that studies which are more specific only seem to have an influence on specific outcomes and fail to increase both hard and soft outcomes. Widening participation programmes have been criticised in the past for increasing students' aspirations but not giving the young people the skills necessary to realise these aspirations and goals (Harrison & Waller, 2018;Markus & Nurius, 1986). Multidimensional programmes take a holistic approach to widening participation, thus catering for the many factors influencing young peoples' decision making about and enrolment in college. ...
... In terms of accessing higher education, both outcomes often go hand in hand and educational aspirations have been shown to be important in predicting the final post-school destinations of young people (Johnston et al., 2014). Harrison and Waller (2018) have also highlighted the need for WP programmes to move away from raising aspirations and focus on raising students' expectations, which is more focused on students' 'possible selves' than the aspirational 'like to be' (Harrison & Waller, 2018;Markus & Nurius, 1986). It would be useful to analyse the longitudinal impact of these interventions and to differentiate between student aspirations and expectations to see whether either measure translate into higher college enrolments over time. ...
... In terms of accessing higher education, both outcomes often go hand in hand and educational aspirations have been shown to be important in predicting the final post-school destinations of young people (Johnston et al., 2014). Harrison and Waller (2018) have also highlighted the need for WP programmes to move away from raising aspirations and focus on raising students' expectations, which is more focused on students' 'possible selves' than the aspirational 'like to be' (Harrison & Waller, 2018;Markus & Nurius, 1986). It would be useful to analyse the longitudinal impact of these interventions and to differentiate between student aspirations and expectations to see whether either measure translate into higher college enrolments over time. ...
A major challenge for universities across the globe is to address the lack of diversity within higher education. Widening participation (WP) programmes can vary between in‐reach and outreach programmes. Some initiatives focus on either pre‐entry stage (primary or secondary schools) or post‐entry stage (helping students adapt to university life). This systematic literature review provides an analysis of the effectiveness of widening participation outreach programmes, a topic that is relatively unexplored, particularly at school level education. By examining empirical studies of widening participation interventions, the paper allows for the investigation of the educational outcomes measured in these programmes. A total of 19 studies were included, which analysed quantitative or mixed‐method data. The findings indicate a growth in the evidence base for widening participation programmes for second‐level students over the last decade. Interventions identified in the literature were categorised by their approach, which included guidance‐based interventions, multidimensional interventions or pedagogical interventions. The findings confirm some positive effects for widening participation outreach programmes on a range of outcomes including students' college readiness, educational aspirations and college enrolment. The review argues for consistency in the way in which educational outcomes are measured, as well as the need for cross‐collaboration and sharing of data between schools and universities, to enable more effective measurement of widening participation programmes in future research.
Context and implication
Rationale for this study
This study gives an up‐to‐date synthesis of outreach interventions in secondary schools which aim to widen participation at higher education. A review of its kind has not been conducted in the last decade.
Why the new findings matter
Findings highlight the most effective new interventions, as well as, the challenges in defining success, research design and collecting accurate data across secondary and tertiary educational institutions.
Implications for educational researchers and policy makers
This systematic review provides an overview for widening participation WP practitioners of what types of outreach interventions are out there, offering templates and ideas for introducing these kinds of initiatives in other universities and partnership schools. The paper highlights to policy makers, the need to create policies that enable cross‐collaboration and sharing of data between schools and universities. Implications for researchers include discussion around how success is being defined, what outcomes are being measured, the need for longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes as well as the collection of baseline data of participants.
... An alternative approach was set out by Harrison and Waller (2018), who distinguished between a young person's concept of their 'possible self' (i.e. their aspirational future) and their perception of their 'probable self' (their likely educational and career journey based upon their own and their family experience). ...
... This may lead to the design of outreach interventions which attempt to change the young person, rather than addressing the barriers which target young people face in accessing HE and may ultimately undermine the effectiveness of the interventions. CDM should consider the use of more positive and empowering approaches, for example, the concept of 'possible selves' (Harrison and Waller, 2018), to inform the design and delivery of outreach. ...
This document presents the findings of a systematic review of the literature of effective widening access interventions of direct relevance to the access targets set out in the University of Lincoln’s (UoL) Access and Participation Plan (APP) 2020-2025. This was undertaken by the Access and Participation Plan Evaluation Project (APPEP) team based in the Lincoln Higher Education Research Institute (LHERI) to help support colleagues in Communications, Development and Marketing (CDM) in the development of outreach activities to support their access targets.
... Higher levels of attainment encourage aspiration, rather than vice versa (Cummings et al. 2012;Gorard 2012). Focus on expectations rather than aspirations might be more meaningful, as they conceptually include an element of the individual's estimation of whether a particular life outcome is likely (Harrison and Waller 2018). Importantly, expectations among disadvantaged young people tend to be considerably lower, compared to their own aspirations and the expectations of their relatively advantaged peers (Boxer et al. 2011;Khattab 2015), meaning there is a class gap in realising aspirations (Croll and Attwood 2013;St. ...
... It was established that among the study respondents, aspirations (how likely they said they were to go to university) did not differ greatly from what the young people actually did (whether they actually applied for or went to university). In this study, aspirations were an accurate predictor of behaviour and action, which is a contribution to the body of literature on aspirations and expectations (Harrison 2018;Harrison and Waller 2018). ...
Progression to higher education in England varies markedly by region, with lower rates of participation outside of London. While some previous studies have explored challenges in accessing higher education in rural and coastal areas, there is a lack of research which considers both individual-level and geographic effects in relation to regional variations in HE progression. In this study, using multivariate regression analysis, we examine whether regional differences in transition to higher education can be explained by the rural/coastal nature of the geographic area in which young people grow up, by area-level deprivation, or by the characteristics of young people living within these regions. The analysis uses the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, a representative cohort study. These data have been linked to information on the proximity to the coast. Consistent with other work, we find that individual differences and area-level deprivation predict HE aspirations and progression. The newly introduced coastal/rural indicator also predicts HE aspirations and progression, but this is mitigated by the inclusion of individual differences and area-level deprivation. However, we find that unexplained regional differences persist. In particular, the South West of England emerges as a regional cold spot for HE. Consequently, policy makers should consider the role that regional dynamics may have in influencing the choices and constraints faced by young people. The approach may also be applicable to understanding inequalities in progression to HE in other countries.
... This effect was found to be stronger in low GDP countries (Gamazo & Martínez-Abad, 2020). In other countries, differences in occupational aspirations between social groups were found to be lower than expected suggesting shifting the focus of policies and practices from the conventional 'aspiration-raising' approach to a more transformational approach that promotes academic attainment and high expectations from the early years of students' lives (Gore et al., 2015;Harrison & Waller, 2018). One could argue that students' SES may influence their occupational expectations, which can subsequently impact their academic achievement. ...
... Particular attention should be given to students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to help them improve their academic standards and consider career paths outside of their family and social circles. A systematic effort is required to connect these aspirations with the educational process by providing ongoing support and promoting successive learning achievements (Gore et al., 2015;Harrison & Waller, 2018). During this process, differentiated teaching is likely to provide activities that are meaningful and goals that are equally attainable by all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background (Kyriakides et al., 2020). ...
Background: Research has shown that students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to have lower academic performance compared to children from better-off families. However, the way that socioeconomic status (SES) influences student learning outcomes has not yet been fully examined. Thus, this study explores the indirect effects of students’ SES on reading achievement through academic motivation. Specifically, the mediating role of the following three motivation elements is investigated: mastery-approach orientation of achievement goals, enjoyment of reading, and expected occupational status.
Methods: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized mediation model in each European country (n = 38) that took part in the PISA 2018 cycle. Specifically, data was obtained from 237,366 15-year-old students. Common measures for SES, academic motivation, and reading achievement were employed to examine whether the selected academic motivation elements have similar effects in each country. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to validate the factorial structure of mediators and test their measurement invariance across the samples.
Results: Within-country SEM analysis revealed that expected occupational status partially mediates the relationship between SES and reading achievement in all countries. Enjoyment of reading fitted well as a mediator in almost all countries (n = 37), whereas mastery-approach orientation of achievement goals only appeared as a mediator in 11 countries. The direct effect of SES on academic achievement was significantly reduced in all models.
Conclusions: This study provides evidence that enjoyment of reading and expected occupational status can be treated as mediators in the relationship between SES and reading achievement in European countries. Implications for research and theory for promoting equity in education are drawn. It is argued that schools and teachers should encourage students to participate in activities that foster their intrinsic motivation towards reading and raise their educational and occupational expectations, especially for those coming from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
... Indeed, narratives of widening HE participation from underrepresented groups is often encapsulated in political discourse by drives to 'raise aspiration' within said communities (Grant, 2017, p. 1;Morley, 2011). Yet within higher-income contexts, levels of aspiration in underrepresented communities are not distinctly lower than comparatively privileged peers (Harrison & Waller, 2018;Stevenson & Willott, 2007). Reduced HE participation is assumed to indicate declining aspiration, rather than engagement, along lines of inequality and intergenerational poverty. ...
... Indeed, whilst HE aspiration enrollment predicts grade attainment in secondary school, correlation does not prove causality, or indeed causal direction. Contrarily, attainment may in turn generate higher reported levels of aspiration where continued educational engagement appears increasingly possible (Harrison & Waller, 2018). ...
This research explores determinants of higher education (HE) expectation in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. Survey data includes 2,039 randomly selected responses from school-attending adolescents, from June 2017. HE expectations were indicated by 77% of girls and 68.7% of boys, privately schooled adolescents more frequently (78.5%) than publicly schooled peers (67.6%). Akaike Information Criterion was utilised, modelling HE expectation. Logistic regression indicated that female gender (OR=1.569), private schooling (OR=1.747), perceived comparative school performance (OR=1.776), increased studying time (OR=1.436), greater parent valuation of studies (OR=1.526), and parental warmth (OR=1.092) predicted HE expectation. Student-teacher conflict (OR=.546) and school disenfranchisement (OR=.755) negatively predicted HE expectations. Comparison with previous research in socioeconomically distinct higher income settings suggests consistently predictive and contextually influenced determinants of university expectation.
... Rather than aspirations, research suggests that expectations may be a more useful concept for understanding progression to HE (Anders, 2017;Boxer et al., 2011;Harrison & Waller, 2018). Gutman and Akerman draw the distinction between aspirations, which 'involve desired ambitions and goals', and expectations, which 'connote a more realistic assessment of how much an individual believes he or she will actually achieve based on their own abilities and society's opportunity structures ' (2008, p. 5). ...
... For disadvantaged young people, the gap between their aspirations and expectations is a complex web of influences including family and community, and their understanding of structural constraints such as those provided by the education system and labour market (Harrison & Waller, 2018;Hodkinson & Sparkes, 1993, 1997. This is an effect Morgan terms 'rational fantasies,' positioning young people as rational but optimistic thinkers, whose decisions vary with the marginal cost and benefits of continuing education (1998). ...
This thesis examines the relationships between schools and universities regarding progression to higher education. It asks: what are the characteristics of school-university relationships in this sphere and how do they vary? It examines schools with different rates of progression to higher education, as defined by the Department for Education’s destinations data (Department for Education, 2019c) to frame a qualitative study. This thesis examines the relationships between schools and universities regarding progression to higher education. It asks: what are the characteristics of school-university relationships in this sphere and how do they vary? It examines schools with different rates of progression to higher education, as defined by the Department for Education’s destinations data (Department for Education, 2019c) to frame a qualitative study. This thesis makes several contributions to the academic literature. Empirically, the involvement of schools in progression to higher education is under-researched, with university-focused studies dominating the literature. Theoretically, the thesis draws upon partnership theory in order to understand the relationship between schools and universities, using policy sociology as an analytical lens. In doing so, it examines theory in a new space. Finally, this thesis focuses on an under-researched geographical area, the North East of England, in order to consider how university progression occurs in a particular physical area outside of London. This thesis may be of value to practitioners and policymakers, as well as contribute to the debate surrounding the access and participation agenda, and inequality discourses such as ‘levelling up’ and ‘closing the attainment gap’.
... Studies showed that parental educational aspirations could play a promoting role in children's academic progress (De Civita et al., 2004;Lekfuangfu & Odermatt, 2022). Increasing parents' aspirations is often viewed as a powerful strategy to achieve policy goals of improving educational outcomes (e.g., Harrison & Waller, 2018;St Clair et al., 2013). However, the impact of high level of parents' educational aspirations on children's academic achievement remains a topic of debate (Fan & Chen, 2001;Jeynes, 2011;Marsh et al., 2023;Murayama et al., 2016). ...
There were mixed results about the relationship between parental educational aspirations and students' academic achievement. Parental educational aspirations, expectations and aspiration-expectation gap have internal association. To gain deeper insights about them, the present study aimed to explore the effects of parental educational aspirations, expectations and their gap on students' academic achievement, controlling potential confounding factors. A total of 3448 students (52.78% boys, M age = 12.53 years) from 79 schools were selected using the whole class sampling method. Hierarchical linear models were employed for data analysis. The results showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between parental educational aspirations and academic achievement. Students' academic achievement had a positive linear relationship with parental educational expectations, and a negative linear relationship with the aspiration-expectation gap. These findings indicate that parental educational aspirations are positively associated with academic achievement, but this relationship turns negative when parents aspire for their children to achieve beyond a bachelor degree. The current study provides new understandings regarding the relations among parental educational aspirations, expectations and aspiration-expectation gap, and their effects on children's academic achievement.
... It is worth noting that the term widening participation is employed in this article as it is a recognised term by policy makers, practitioners, and researchers. However, the widening participation agenda as set out in the Dearing report (National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, 1997) has been criticised by several authors including Leathwood and O'Connell (2003), Archer (2007), Burke (2012) and Harrison and Waller (2018) for labelling students from disadvantaged backgrounds as having a deficit in terms of aspiration to attend higher education. This connotation has persisted in more recent UK Parliamentary publications, including a recent article that stated young children from lower socioeconomic background need to be taught career education to raise their aspiration (UK Parliament, 2023). ...
STEM outreach is a key component in nurturing an affinity for subjects such as engineering in compulsory education. Impact evaluation, a way to measure the success of STEM outreach programmes, has been a well debated topic within the outreach landscape. Whilst the standard of evidence in evaluation has been criticised previously, there has been improvements in the past decade on how to do evaluation. The discussion on evaluation is hereby extended to explore the role of evaluators and evaluation use, which would benefit the sector in further raising the profile of evaluation. Various models that describe the STEM outreach landscape are examined, focusing on stakeholders and the lack of acknowledgment of evaluators. An updated model is then proposed which includes evaluators as a key stakeholder in outreach delivery. The role of evaluators beyond ‘conducting evaluation’ is explored in reference to work in the wider evaluation literature, particularly those focus on social settings targeted by non-profit organisations. To aid evaluators in navigating their multiplicity of roles, a shift from how to do evaluation to why are we doing evaluation is required in STEM outreach. Alkin and King’s (2017) framework on determining evaluation use is proposed as a solution for this shift.
... It symbolizes the aspiration for personal or collective progress and often drives decisions, actions, and pursuits to attain a goal or desired state (Haller, 1968). An individual's education aspirations encompass the goals, objectives, and desired outcomes that they aim to attain through their educational journey and academic pursuits (Harrison & Waller, 2018). Students' educational aspirations are influenced by various elements, including personal, familial, social, economic, career, and state policy aspects (Boxer et al., 2011). ...
This study examines the undocumented narratives around the persistent desire for education among transgender individuals in Bangladesh, highlighting the challenges they have encountered in their academic pursuits. Through an analysis of the stories provided by eight adult transgender participants, this research identifies noteworthy factors that have led to the disparity observed in the educational aspirations of transgender individuals. In conjunction with in-depth interviews and interpretive phenomenological analysis, a narrative inquiry approach was utilized to acquire a comprehensive comprehension of the participants' viewpoints regarding educational aspirations. The results of the study indicate several significant factors that contribute to the diminished educational aspirations of transgender students. The results of the study indicate several significant factors that contribute to the diminished educational aspirations of transgender students, such as falsified sex identity, social stigmas, bullying, abuse and harassment, teachers' ignorance and unhelpful behavior, economic hardship and poverty, and unfavorable learning environments. The findings have highlighted the need for more open and accepting environments for transgender children and young adults, particularly in family and educational settings. Teacher’s World: Journal of Education and Res arch, 50(1): 7-20
... However, the rhetoric of 'low aspirations' to explain inequality in educational attainment and progression rates means it has become a contested term (see e.g. Harrison and Waller, 2018). Within this research, 'aspiration' has been used as shorthand for a combination of attitudes that relate to students' self-perception and self-efficacy. ...
There is a systemic shortage in the number of graduates entering the STEM workforce. To address the current graduate shortage (HM Govt, 2017), the widening gap between industry demand, the available skilled workforce (ASE, 2020), and the underrepresentation of key groups within STEM industries and academia requires overhauling the STEM education `pipeline´. However, there is a lack of consensus on how to increase the diversity of students pursuing STEM post-16 and how to tackle the dual challenges of engagement and science capital for the most underrepresented groups. This paper discusses the development of a research-engaged sustained STEM outreach programme working with students from rural and coastal schools in South-East England. Whilst there are numerous STEM programmes that aim to provide academic support, build science capital or improve diversity in post-16 STEM studies, this paper describes how two areas of innovative practice came together in a university-led pre-entry STEM widening participation programme: Inspiring Minds. The first relates to its foundation in a research-engaged pedagogy (the epistemic insight curriculum) that underpinned the programme content and design, and the second to the embedded approach to rigorous evaluation and impact monitoring tracking shifts in both aspirational and attainment measures of participating students.
... As mentioned previously, leadership spectrum for the context of this study comprises attributes and agendas. Sharma and Jain (2013) and Olusola (2020) have linked attributes to traits or characteristics of a person, whilst agenda, according to Harrison and Waller (2018), is an idea that correlates with a positive future in pursuit. Thus, the clauses described in the transitivity analysis would then undergo the process of interpretation and explanation. ...
Background and Purpose: Language is a form of discourse utilised in various situations, including leadership. Across borders, inaugural speech represents a common form of discourse delivered by leaders as an introductory address to their audiences. The theme of leadership is central to inaugural speeches and it is influenced by or/and influencing social aspects. This study aims to analyse leadership spectrum, namely attributes and agendas, as construed in discourse from the linguistic and social aspects. Methodology: This study compares inaugural speeches by the Ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the Twenty-Fifth French Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne through the application of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by Fairclough (2010). Findings: In total, the leaders utilised 21 clauses which can be interpreted for their attributes and agendas. The discourses by both leaders reveal five attributes and six agendas. Some of the attributes are shared between the leaders, with differences exist in other attributes and agendas. Further explanation links those attributes and agendas to social aspects in Malaysia and France. Contributions: This study contributes to a new domain in Malaysia-France comparative research and the study of inaugural speeches. In which case, it examines opaque leadershipspectrum in discourses by Malaysian and French leaders through the lens of critical discourse analysis (CDA). Keywords: Critical discourse analysis, inaugural speech, leadership spectrum, Malaysia, France. Cite as: Dinie Asyraf, S., Mohammad Fadzeli, J., & Suziana, M. S. (2024). Leadership spectrum construed in inaugural speeches by Malaysian and French prime ministers. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 9(2), 241-266. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol9iss2pp241-266
... Over the past fifty years there has been an intentional widening of access in higher education, this expansion focused primarily on physical and epistemological access with limited attention on access through the symbolic lens [1,2]. The symbolic lens of higher education constitutes its culture, traditions and implicit communal codes which shape an institution as a community. ...
Background
The discussion of access in medical education has its focus largely on physical and epistemological access, leaving a qualitative gap regarding sociocultural factors which enable access in this context. This study introduces and defines symbolic access, a concept with a specific lens on sociocultural inclusion, and the influence it has on student learning within the South African medical education landscape.
Methods
A phenomenographic design was used to explore students’ conceptions of symbolic access and its impact on learning. One-on-one exploratory interviews were conducted with fifteen final year medical students at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Interviews were analysed using Sjöström and Dahlgren‘s seven-step phenomenography model.
Results
Four categories of description were induced, which described students’ understanding of symbolic access, these were rejection, disregard, invalidation, and actualization. Four dimensions of variation were discovered expressing the diversity of events which informed the collectives’ understanding of the phenomenon. These dimensions were; interactions with educators, peer relationships, educational environment, and race. Categories of description and dimensions of variation formed the Outcome Space, a visual representation of the student experience of symbolic access. The outcome space had a double narrative related to symbolic access; exclusion (major) and actualization (minor). Medical student’s chief experience within the medical community was exclusion, however clinical immersion, meaningful participation, peer-relationships, and clinical skills lessons facilitated community enculturation, and impacted learning.
Conclusion
Despite deeply exclusionary experiences throughout their programme, medical students articulated a paradox of both awareness and no awareness of symbolic access. The awareness of symbolic access was predominantly influenced by clinical experiences and clinical immersion during the pre-clinical and clinical years of study. Further, descriptions of valuable learning experiences were connected to clinical events and the involvement with patient care. This study suggests that the actualization of symbolic access and description of meaningful learning experiences are linked. Medical educationalists should design undergraduate curricula with early clinical immersion at the fore and explore symbolic concepts pertaining to access, as they are linked to transformative learning experiences for the medical student.
... Higher education (HE) offers high transformative potential for students, not only because its main mission is to provide students with technical and professional knowledge and skills, essential for the development of society, but also by stimulating students' comprehensive development, helping them to become autonomous and critical citizens (Fragoso et al., 2013;Harman, 2017). In recent decades, student numbers have increased in HE institutions and students are gradually becoming more heterogeneous in terms of social, academic, and individual trajectories (Harrison & Waller, 2018). The growing democratization of access to HE poses new challenges for institutions in promoting student retention and course completion. ...
Dropout from higher education is a worldwide phenomenon with negative consequences for students, families, institutions, and society. As student numbers increase, students become more heterogeneous in terms of academic competencies, motivation, and trajectories, creating new challenges for promoting student persistence. Higher education can pose difficulties for students, increasing their vulnerability and risk of underachievement or dropout. This study involved 2843 first-year students of a Portuguese public university. The aim was to identify the variables that predict the decision to persist or drop out, using the regression tree method. The results show a good model that classifies students into four groups and reveals that the decision to drop out is different for traditional and non-traditional students, suggesting higher vulnerability of older students. Some reflections are offered about institutional practices.
... Research demonstrating the relationship between educational aspirations and identity formation, subjective well-being, and ris� for social exclusion (Bynner, 2000;Kintrea et al., 2011) suggests that the importance of educational aspirations extends beyond the field of education. All of this may lead to the understanding that the educational policy should strongly focus on the raising of aspirations (Harrison & Waller, 2018). However, as Bowers-Brown et al. (2019) suggest, these policy efforts often ignore that the development of aspirations is influenced by the structural and material context of the individual pupil. ...
This paper describes the results from a fully integrated longitudinal mixed model study examining the nature of, changes in, and interaction between the upper secondary and higher education aspirations of Croatian pupils. The research was carried out over two academic years in which pupils approached the transition from single-structure elementary (primary and lower secondary) education to differentiated upper secondary education. The qualitative part of the study centred on an in-depth exploration of the educational aspirations of 30 pupils from five schools using a series of 118 semi-structured interviews. The quantitative part consisted of repeated questionnaire administration (N=823) while pupils progressed to the final year of elementary education. Generalised Estimating Equations for Repeated Measures Outcome and Latent Curve Growth Modelling procedures indicate significant changes in upper secondary aspirations and stable higher education aspirations over time. Qualitative analyses indicate five patterns of upper secondary education aspirations and three patterns of higher education aspirations. Analysis of the interaction between aspirations at different educational levels suggests that upper secondary aspiration mediates a pupil’s aspiration for higher education. These results suggest that special effort is necessary in order to inform pupils about their educational options at both the upper secondary and higher education levels.
... The persistence of long-standing awarding gaps at university, especially for WP and minoritised students, demonstrates the importance of improving equality, diversity, and inclusion at all stages of the student lifecycle, including the transition into higher education (Harrison and Waller, 2018;Matheson, 2018). Research from the University of Southampton observes that higher proportions of students with an EPQ achieve first class and 2:1 degree awards compared to the proportion of students that don't have an EPQ. ...
The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is a Level 3 qualification which allows students to develop an independent research project on a topic outside of their A-Level studies, culminating in either a dissertation or artefact final product (both research-based, with a written component) (AQA, 2023). The University of Southampton Learn with US Transition Programme provides free interactive workshops and guidance to sixth-form students in state schools undertaking the EPQ, particularly targeting schools that meet our widening participation (WP) criteria (The Learn with US Transition Programme, 2023). The persistence of long-standing awarding gaps at university, especially for WP and minoritised students, demonstrates the importance of improving equality, diversity, and inclusion at all stages of the student lifecycle, including the transition into higher education (Harrison and Waller, 2018; Matheson, 2018). Research from the University of Southampton observes that higher proportions of students with an EPQ achieve first class and 2:1 degree awards compared to the proportion of students that don’t have an EPQ. In addition, an exploratory analysis of our most recent research (as yet unpublished) indicates that the EPQ may also contribute to reduced awarding gaps for students from underrepresented backgrounds in HE. Our approach to developing interventions targeted to address specific milestones of the EPQ project can be used to inform practice for other Learning Developer practitioners, including: Embedding interactive activities into workshops to maintain interest and build confidence. Emphasising the transferability of research skills in a range of contexts. Encouraging students to direct their own learning through developing dialogue and asking questions, instead of providing a ‘right’ answer. Linking up to post-entry academic skills support to enable a smooth transition to university (Stoten, 2014; Cripps et al., 2018; Gill, 2018; Stephenson and Isaacs, 2019). Feedback from students and teachers consistently demonstrates that this approach develops key research skills, and student confidence in viewing themselves as potential members of a university community (Cripps et al., 2018).
... The term "aspiration" has been used with different connotations throughout history [29]. The theory of student aspirations, developed by Quaglia and Cobb [30], encompasses inspiration and ambition. ...
This study explores the significance of students’ aspirations as motivation and expectations in adopting e-learning, considering the influence of cultural values. The research utilizes a theoretical framework that integrates the Technological Acceptance Model, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, and the DeLone and McLean Information System Success Model, along with Schwartz’s human values. Employing a quantitative approach, the study investigates the relationship between social factors and e-learning adoption through a survey of 509 students at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia using a structured questionnaire and Structural Equation Model for hypothesis testing. Results reveal that students with a proclivity for change and self-enhancement have higher motivation and expectations towards e-learning, while those with conservative perspectives show lower motivation and expectations. Additionally, students prioritizing self-enhancement and openness to change are more likely to actively engage in e-learning adoption. This research contributes to sustainability by highlighting how fundamental human values influence e-learning adoption. It also emphasizes the role of sustainable education and transformative learning processes in shaping attitudes towards e-learning. These insights inform the development of effective e-learning programs, benefiting the field of e-learning research and providing valuable guidance to researchers, policymakers, and decision-makers in creating more inclusive and sustainable educational practices.
... • 'The socio-economic gradient in children's reading skills and the role of genetics' (Jerrim et al., 2015); • 'The evolution of school league tables in England 1992-2016: "Contextual value-added", "expected progress" and "progress 8"' (Leckie & Goldstein, 2017); • 'Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education' (Harrison & Waller, 2018); • 'What exactly do RCT findings tell us in education research?' (Koutsouris & Norwich, 2018); • 'Subject English as citizenship education' (Belas & Hopkins, 2019); • 'Feeling voice: The emotional politics of "student voice" for teachers' (Black & Mayes, 2020); • 'Black male teachers, white education spaces: Troubling school practices of othering and surveillance' (Callender, 2020); • 'Reconsidering assent for randomised control trials in education: Ethical and procedural concerns' (McPherson et al., 2020); • 'Education, health and care plans and tribunals in England: A statistical tale from 2019' (Marsh & Howatson, 2020); • 'Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions, job satisfaction and workplace mobility' (Sims, 2020); • 'Whose "voice" is it anyway? The paradoxes of the participatory narrative' (Papadopoulou & Sidorenko, 2022). ...
... From the meaning of the word, it can be defined lexically that education is guidance or help given to children by adults on purpose so that children grow up. Education can be limited in its narrow and broad sense (Harrison & Waller, 2018). In a narrow sense, education is a conscious and planned effort to help students become mature (Chen, 2017). ...
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of using an inquiry-based contextual approach (CTL) on student learning outcomes in Integrated Science learning (Biology) in class VII students of MTs NW Tebaban in the 2022 academic year. This type of research is a quasi-experimental. The population in this study were students of class VII MTs NW Tebaban. By using the random sampling technique, two classes were obtained as the sample class, the experimental group was class VIIB and the control group was class VIIA. Data collection techniques use learning achievement tests, and student observation sheets. Based on the results of research and discussion that the average value of the experimental class was 79.24 while the control class was 69.5. So it can be concluded that the learning outcomes of the experimental class group are higher than the learning outcomes of the control class group. Meanwhile, based on the results of the normality and homogeneity tests of the two groups, the data were normally distributed and homogeneous, and had relatively the same initial conditions, so a two-party t-test was used to test the hypothesis. From the calculation results, obtained tcount = 4.06 while the value of ttable = 1.68. therefore tcount>ttable, so Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted. So that it can be concluded that there is an influence of Inquiry-Based Contextual Approach (CTL) on Learning Outcomes of Grade VII MTS NW Students in Integrated Science Subjects
... Often this has been conceptualized as a problem with their aspirations, with the solution being see as the provision of 'aspiration-raising' activities to promote higher education to those thought to have the potential to progress. Recent large-scale studies cast strong doubt on this hypothesis by demonstrating that aspirations are not generally low, that different social groups have similar levels of aspiration and that education attainments accounts for nearly all the differences in participation rates between social groups (Harrison and Waller, 2018). In the United States, where white supremacy has historically marginalized Black students and continues to disenfranchise other students of color, we argue that the design and implementation of career and technical education need to be situated in critical and transformative research paradigms. ...
Knowledge management (KM) closely relates to team creativity and is a critical strategy for businesses to maintain competitiveness. The synergy between KM and team creativity benefits and empower andragogical leadership by increasing team engagement, which results in organizational success. Prior studies examined the KM models, processes, systems, and components that influence team creativity. However, the integration of KM into facilitating team creativity is yet to be fully understood. Therefore, this study provides a rationale for the relationships between KM and team creativity. Based on this interplay, the authors create a novel framework that serves as a practice guideline that aggregates KM models and team creativity components. The framework aims to assist andragogical leadership in effectively and purposefully managing teams while considering the major challenges of practice. The study goes beyond the boundaries to theoretically connect KM and team creativity, which benefits both academic research and the application of KM in business.
... A pesar de su importancia en otros campos como el análisis de ideas políticas (Schmidt, 2008(Schmidt, , 2017, económicas (Lowry, 1987;Roncaglia, 2005) o educacionales (Heneveld, 1998;Lawton y Gordon, 2002), este tipo de análisis no se ha generalizado en la educación superior. En efecto, si se revisa la literatura especializada sobre el tema, es posible identificar estudios dedicados a la comprensión del concepto de universidad en las políticas públicas (Vingaard Johansen, Knudsen, Engelbrecht Kristoffersen, Stellfeld Rasmussen et al., 2017;Brandmayr, 2019;Horrod, 2020), en organizaciones internacionales -como el Banco Mundial o la Unesco- (Bonal, 2011;Buckner, 2016) y en estudiantes, académicos y administradores universitarios (Jackson y Dempster, 2009;Stich y Reeves, 2014;Valdez y Steel, 2014;Harrison y Waller, 2018;Fert, 2020;Seidenschnur, Veiga, Jungblut y Magalhães, 2020), mas no hay un número similar de investigaciones sobre el impacto de procesos históricos de largo alcance en los debates acerca de esta institución (véase Singh, 2011;Smolentseva, 2017). ...
Resumen:
El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar los cambios en el concepto de la universidad en un sistema de educación superior de alto privatismo como el chileno, examinando los debates intelectuales y políticos sobre el rol de estas instituciones desde el periodo de independencia en el siglo XIX hasta el presente. Los resultados muestran que desde una aceptación de su carácter elitista se pasa a la valoración positiva de la expansión de la matrícula por su impacto en la formación de capital humano. El impacto del capitalismo académico ha resultado, así, en el abandono de la comprensión tradicional de la universidad, su reemplazo por la idea de capital humano y el tránsito de un sistema guiado por un modelo único a uno en que compiten diversas descripciones.
... First, regarding educational aspirations and expectations, the aspiration to obtain a university degree or a higher VET level is shared by most working-class students, against the common (mis)perception that workingclass students share low aspirations ( Harrison and Waller, 2018 ). However, the degree of stability and certainty of this aspiration and its distance from expectations depends on the fraction. ...
This chapter explores how working-class students make sense of their upper secondary educational transitions. By means of in-depth qualitative interviews with students in Barcelona and Madrid, it identifies different working-class fractions, or sub-groups, with different amounts of economic, social and cultural capital to support their choices and transitions. It explores the classed nature of young people’s educational trajectories and demonstrates the effects of the multiple forms of school (dis)engagement on working-class students’ upper secondary choices. The chapter also inquires into the classed nature of educational aspirations by examining the internal heterogeneity among working-class students in how they imagine and enact their future prospects. Overall, the chapter contributes to understand the complexity and diversity within the working class and to identify the multiple, contradictory and non-linear ways in which it affects young people’s rationalities in their choice of upper secondary education.
... However, many young people reported a "positioning of educational failure" directed at them once in secondary school (Mannay et al., 2017: 692), suggesting aspirations of teachers and other professionals may be lower than those of care-experienced young people themselves. This suggests that a lack of aspiration is not a primary barrier to educational success for careexperienced young people, yet more structural barriers such as access to knowledge and finances are still pervasive (Geiger and Beltran, 2017;Harrison and Waller, 2018). ...
... Interestingly, few students are motivated to go to university primarily because of social pressure or norms [7]. There is also generally a high level of aspiration for study, with different social groups having similar levels of aspiration, however school attainment accounts for nearly all the differences in participation rates between social groups [8]. ...
Within this study, we aim to better understand the inspirations and aspirations of first year Biosciences and Chemistry undergraduates, how these change over the first year of study and their impact on motivation and engagement. Participants were asked to write a short reflective piece at the start of Welcome Week in their first year of undergraduate study. Thematic analysis identified four themes surrounding inspirations and aspirations. The most common theme was students naming a specific career as their aspiration (58%), followed by being inspired by work experience, aspiring to undertake further study and finally personal experience of a specific illness. Our findings showed that students’ career aspirations differed depending on ethnicity, with ambitions for medicine and laboratory work showing a marked increase in some ethnically marginalised groups. Focus groups undertaken at the end of the first year of study highlight increased motivation and engagement when students feel their course content aligns with their career aims. Conversely, students are disengaged by course material they feel is irrelevant to their chosen career. Here, we will discuss the impact of these findings on creating an inclusive curriculum and the career readiness of the student body. Conclusions apply to career development modules and how the applied nature of a course can lead to engagement and higher motivation for students as well as curriculum design.
... Our previous body of research on aspirations highlights that if students receive advice too late, their choices for the future will be limited (Jaremus et al., 2020), with prospective first-in-family students often ruling out the idea of higher education from an early age (Patfield et al., 2021). Working with younger children whose expectations are still forming can provide scope for the development of a broader range of aspirations, with teachers playing a key role (Harrison & Waller, 2018). We argue, with an increasing group of scholars, that all teachers can play a role in supporting aspirations ( Van den Broeck et al., 2020;Groves et al., 2021). ...
Access to higher education remains elusive for many young people despite substantial investment in outreach interventions, most of which target students in underrepresented equity groups. This paper explores an alternative approach to widening participation in Australia that focuses on teacher professional development to support student aspirations. We examine school teachers’ responses to a course designed to develop their conceptual understanding of aspirations and provide a framework for developing aspirations-related initiatives with their students and colleagues. The course pilot was evaluated drawing on surveys ( N = 49) and interviews ( N = 21). Teachers reported that they gained the following: (1) access to robust evidence of factors affecting aspirations; (2) relevant theoretical perspectives to conceptualise aspirations in new ways; and (3) insights on practical strategies with which they might nurture student pathways to higher education. To support widening participation in higher education, we argue that the scope of current outreach initiatives offered by universities must broaden to capitalise on the untapped potential of teachers.
... Factors which are associated with lower progression primarily focus on attainment at school [1], but also include being the first in the family to potentially attend higher education (an aspect associated with relatively less available knowledge of the higher education system) [25], and the economic circumstances of the household [26]. In addition to this, changing labour market conditions [27] and perceptions of their individual potential experiences in higher education [28] also contribute to changing intentions in relation to higher education applications [29]. ...
Despite increasing efforts to improve their access, students facing socio-economic disadvantages are still underrepresented in UK higher education. In this paper, we study whether behavioural nudging with information provision through text messages, embedded within a larger programme of widening participation activities, can be effective at increasing higher education application rates. We conducted two randomised control trials in which final year students in schools and further education colleges in areas with low higher education participation rates in the East of England region received a series of text messages that prompted thinking and/or action regarding the process of applying to higher education. We find null and statistically insignificant effects on application outcomes, suggesting that behavioural nudging in a setting where it is implemented as part of a more intensive widening participation programme is not effective at increasing higher education application rates. These results add to recent evidence regarding the potential impact of nudging in education by studying such interventions within a busy intervention space.
In the UK, there is a drive to increase the number of underrepresented `widening participation´ (WP) students attending university. While the focus has initially been on the recruitment and admission of these students, attention has shifted towards understanding the lived experiences of students once they arrive at university, to help form an understanding of the possible difficulties that they may face. This qualitative study aimed to understand the university experiences of undergraduate students on non-vocational programmes (Biosciences and Psychology) from a widening participation background. Students were either the first in their family to attend university and/or received a bursary for low-income families. Four focus groups were conducted with two to five students from different year groups of the degree programmes. These were analysed using thematic analysis, revealing ten themes that indicated different individual experiences, both positive and negative. A lack of support was indicated both within and outside of the university (e.g. family) throughout a student’s period of study, which could be compounded by a reluctance to ask for help. We discuss general implications for supporting these students within higher education (HE). Furthermore, in discussion with other teaching staff, practical guidelines for tutors/teachers were developed to demonstrate how some of these issues could be addressed.
As young people near the end of compulsory schooling they are faced with decisions about what future education, training and employment they will pursue. This paper argues that imagined future education, training and career prospects can have largely under-recognised socio-spatial dimensions. This claim disrupts received notions around careers decision-making as distinctly rational, based on academic strengths, skills, or talents. This spatial argument follows from a theoretically-informed analysis of interviews conducted with 15 young people living in England. Sampling was opportunitistic and the design flexible to enable me to explore the use of different methods which could foreground reflections on space and place. Interviews employed visual methods (including photo voice) to prompt young people to talk about their conceptualisations of places and spaces as well as future education, training and career considerations. Focusing in particular on three participants’ reflections, I suggest that through a process of emplacement young people are constructing thirdspaces, a concept proposed by Soja. This process both supports aspiration formation and disrupts imposed structures or labels that might otherwise be deterministic of particular post-16 pathways and subjectivities. For three participants, I consider the ways their conceptions of spaces are implicit responses to cultural expectations, limitations and structures. These three participants are presented as developing what Yosso has called spatially-informed navigational and resistant capitals. Claims are made in the context of an analysis framed by an interpretation of agency in terms of the identity and implied subjectivities. The process by which a young person emplaces themselves in a possible future and the construction of imagined thirdspaces could be untapped cultural resources informing young people’s post-16 decisions and planning which could lead them to build future pathways they themselves value.
This paper explores the tensions, disjunctures and politics that evaluators experience when tasked with evaluating widening participation programmes in English Higher Education Institutions (HEI). While much research has been conducted concerning the importance of evaluation in widening participation, comparatively little has been written about how the socio-organisational position that evaluators are situated in may impact the quality and `rigour´ of the evaluation exercises themselves. Consequently, this paper is intended to act as the starting point for discussions within the field of widening participation that critically reflect on the optimal circumstances in which we can evaluate widening participation initiatives. Drawing from the analysis of semi-structured interviews with 21 practitioners at four HEIs, four pressures are identified that act upon evaluators, namely: reputational concerns; personal involvement; accountability for donors, alumni and other interested parties; and position within an organisation. These pressures are outlined and explored in relation to how they shape the evaluation process. The implications of this research concern institutional change at both the HEI and the regulatory body level, movement towards methodological pluralism and an easing of the pressures that confront widening participation practitioners when tasked with evaluation.
Despite significant amounts spent on widening access to higher education (HE), there is sparse evidence of what works. Evaluation of multi-intervention programmes is challenging because it is difficult to elucidate which elements of programmes are important (and why). Here we present results from focus groups and surveys at different timepoints on a multi-intervention programme based at a UK university. At the start of the programme, attitudes towards studying at - and belonging in - HE were already positive. Confidence in how to apply to and fund HE was relatively low at the start of the programme and increased significantly during it. In contrast, the perception of being able to afford to participate in HE was relatively low throughout. Focus group data also suggested that information on application and funding was helpful and additionally highlighted concerns over affordability and the social side of HE. Information, advice and guidance (IAG) elements of multi-intervention programmes therefore appear to confer significant benefit to students in understanding how to apply to and fund HE. Whilst aspiration raising seems not to be a critical aspect of widening access, focus on attainment and away from aspiration raising should not be done at the expense of excluding IAG.
The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is a Level 3, post-16 UK qualification that students usually take alongside A Levels, prior to entering university or the labour market. It plays an important role in improving access to, and success at university. The University of Southampton's Learn with US Transition Programme has developed support particularly for students undertaking the EPQ, who are underrepresented at university. This programme responds to the Office for Students′ (OfS) requirement to develop and submit an Access and Participation Plan (APP). The EPQ challenges the lack of aspiration and deficit discourses that are especially damaging to students from underrepresented backgrounds. Students who complete the EPQ are shown to perform better in terms of Key Stage 5 attainment and at degree level due to developing key academic and research skills prior to enrolment. The Learn with US team is exploring links between EPQ attainment and other institutional goals, such as addressing degree awarding gaps for under-represented students. The University of Southampton takes a whole-institution, lifecycle approach to removing barriers for underrepresented students, and the Learn with US Transition Programme is a key element of our provision that is proven to have positive outcomes for students transitioning into university, especially for those students who are already impacted by structural disadvantage.
This paper describes the outcomes for adolescents taking part in a 12-week group behavioural mentoring programme and possible causal mechanisms involved, using Law's (1981) Community Interaction Theory as a theoretical framework. The two-stage qualitative research with four groups of students aged 13-14 showed that there were changes to their understanding of self, their self-confidence, their ability to control emotions and behaviour and, importantly, changes in their career aspirations. Interacting with their mentors (adults from outside their previous communities) appeared to have a significant impact on them. The data suggests this was via the creation of a new community which moderated existing beliefs about who they were, and what opportunities were open to them. The mentors provided feedback, support and information, and were perceived as a credible and trusted role model. The study offers an application of Law's theory to the younger students it was developed for and provides evidence suggestive of the importance of interactions with wider communities in career development and widening participation, although future research should consider long-term follow-up of mentees.
Bildungsentscheidungen stellen eine Investition in die Zukunft dar. An die Entscheidung für eine Universität sind verschiedene Vorstellungen und Ziele geknüpft. Somit gibt die Bildungsentscheidung Aufschluss darüber, wie die Gegenwart und Möglichkeiten der Zukunft individuell evaluiert werden. Im Zentrum dieses Artikels steht die Entscheidung für ein Studium an der Deutsch Jordanischen Universität, welches ein Auslandsjahr in Deutschland umfasst. Welche Ziele und Vorstellungen werden ein Studium geknüpft? Welche Rolle spielt die Studierendenmobilität im Entscheidungsprozess? Und nicht zuletzt, inwiefern handelt es sich um eine kollektive Entscheidung, die von der Familie beeinflusst wird? Anhand der Lebensverläufe von neun Studierenden werden ihre Bildungsentscheidung und die daran geknüpften Zukunftsvorstellungen beleuchtet. Jordanien als ein Land, welches in einer konfliktreichen Region liegt und eine junge Bevölkerung hat, stellt dabei einen spannenden Kontext dar. Es wird deutlich, dass die Bildungsentscheidungen mehrdimensional sind und von einer Wechselwirkung zwischen Bildungs- und Migrationsaspirationen begleitet werden.
Young men, especially from working-class backgrounds, often lack the space, capacity, or opportunity to reflect upon masculinities and their role in shaping future trajectories. By devising mechanisms to engage young men differently in creative activities, participants in our project were supported to think beyond assumed futures and explore new possibilities. Mobilizing the theory of possible selves, this article draws on data across three creative university outreach workshops in England with 18 participants who were given the opportunity to explore masculinities using creative writing, photography, and dance/movement. Combining artifact analysis and semi-structured interviews, the article argues that these workshops created safe spaces for young men to articulate their concerns and fears about harm and risk in everyday life while facilitating an exploration of alternative possible selves.
This chapter is about introducing critical race design (CRD), a research methodology that centers race and equity at the center of educational opportunities by design. First, the authors define design-based implementation research (DBIR) as an equity-oriented education research methodology where teaching and learning is informed by robust, iterative, evidence-based research conducted by multiple stakeholders. Next, they provide a brief overview of critical race theory in education (CRT) as a theoretical and methodological approach that aims to unpack and disrupt the structural inequities experienced by disenfranchised racial groups. The authors then describe how both education methodologies inform CRD, and their emerging anti-racist critical design methodology.
In recent years, the sociology of culture has turned its gaze to future aspirations. This gaze is in line with contemporary future-oriented culture, which encourages young people to aspire to fulfill their dreams. A leading carrier of future orientation is the aspirational discourse, which has become prominent in the educational field and among youth. Sociological inquiry is conflicted regarding the outcomes of this discourse. While it is criticized for increasing inequality, it has also been shown that aspirations are means for higher achievements. In this paper, we shift from a focus on outcomes to a focus on interpretation and ask: How do social actors make sense of aspiring selves despite social limitations and inequality? Based on a qualitative study that tracks the aspirational discourse among school educators and recent high school graduates in Israel, we introduce the concept of “glitches” as articulated detours that rise in response to a mismatch between the discourse and lived experience. We identify three main glitches: deviating from the message “the sky is the limit” by lowering the aspirational sky, pausing future orientation by taking time out and limiting individual accountability by yielding to force majeure. We discuss how each glitch serves a different role in the construction of individuals’ life narratives and argue that the intermittent use of glitches enables individuals to sustain the mythical aspirational discourse, even in moments of mismatch and doubt.
Background: The discussion of access in medical education has its focus largely on physical and epistemological access, leaving a qualitative gap regarding sociocultural factors which enable access in this context. This study introduces and defines symbolic access, a concept with a specific lens on sociocultural enculturation, and the influence it has on student learning within the South African medical education landscape.
Methods: A phenomenographic design was used to explore students’ conceptions of symbolic access and its impact on learning. One-on-one exploratory interviews were conducted with fifteen final year medical students at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Interviews were analysed using Sjöström and Dahlgren‘s seven-step phenomenography model.
Results: Four categories of description were induced, which described students’ understanding of symbolic access, these were rejection, disregard, invalidation and actualization. Five dimensions of variation were discovered, these dimensions expressed the different ways the categories were experienced. These dimensions were; interactions with educators, peer relationships, educational environment, race and hierarchy. Categories of description and dimensions of variation formed the Outcome Space, a visual representation of the student experience of symbolic access. The outcome space had a double narrative related to symbolic access; exclusion (major) and actualization (minor). Medical student’s chief experience within the medical community was exclusion, however experiences of peer-relationships, clinical skills lessons and participation within the clinical setting facilitated community inclusion, enculturation, and impacted learning.
Conclusion: Despite deeply exclusionary experiences throughout their programme, medical students articulated attaining symbolic access into the community, which is predominantly influenced by clinical experiences during the pre-clinical and clinical years of study. Furthermore descriptions of valuable learning experiences were connected to clinical events and the involvement with patient care. This study suggests that the actualization of symbolic access and description of meaningful learning experiences are linked. Medical educationalists should design undergraduate curricula with early clinical immersion at the fore and explore symbolic concepts pertaining to access, as they are linked to transformative learning experiences for the medical student.
Conventional wisdom suggests that parents’ educational expectations (how far they expect their children to go) and aspirations (how far they want their children to go) positively impact academic outcomes and benefits from attending high-ability schools. However, here we juxtapose the following: largely positive effects of educational expectations (of parents, teachers, and students); small, mixed effects of parent aspirations; largely adverse effects of parental aspiration-expectation gaps; and negative effects of school-average achievement on expectations, aspirations, and subsequent outcomes. We used a large, nationally representative longitudinal sample (16,197 Year-10 students from 751 US high schools).
Controlling background (achievement, SES, gender, age, ethnicity, academic track, and a composite risk factor), Year 10 educational expectations of teachers and parents had consistently positive effects on the following: student expectations in Years 10 and 12, Year 10 academic self-concept, final high-school grade-point-averages, and long-term outcomes at age 26 (educational attainment, educational and occupational expectations). Effects of parent aspirations on these outcomes were predominantly small and mixed in direction. However, the aspiration-expectation gap negatively predicted all these outcomes. Contrary to our proposed Goldilocks Effect (not too much, not too little, but just right), non-linear effects of expectations and aspirations were small and largely non-significant.
Parent, teacher, student expectations, and parent aspirations were all negatively predicted by school-average achievement (a big-fish-little-pond effect). However, these adverse effects of school-average achievement were larger for parents and particularly teachers than students. Furthermore, these expectations and aspirations partly mediated the adverse impacts of school-average achievement on subsequent grade-point-average and age-26 outcomes.
The ‘Articulate’ programme is a high‐intensity five‐day widening participation programme designed to help students develop their communication skills and confidence through a range of activities led by an Articulacy tutor and culminates in students taking an examination for the English Speaking Board (ESB) Level 1 Award in speech on the final day. Additionally, students also develop their understanding of and aspirations towards higher education (HE) through sustained interaction with student ambassadors, who support all sessions throughout the week. Based on the conceptual framework of the theory of change, the intervention primarily addresses the barrier of soft skills, including increasing students' self‐belief, while also addressing some of the barriers of socio‐economic factors to HE participation namely knowledge, understanding and likelihood of applying to HE in future, through increased exposure to HE role models. In this paper we report our findings from the evaluation where we are studying the effectiveness of the programme. Through survey questionnaires data was collected from over 698 students in year 9 and year 10, studying at 42 schools across Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset who took part in the ‘Articulate’ programme, which was run in collaboration with Next Steps South West (NSSW). Results show the majority of participating students went on to perform well in the ESB exam; furthermore, participants were more likely to have positive attitudes towards HE and considered applying to HE in future. The findings will be of particular interest to practitioners and activity providers.
Context and implications
Rationale for this study
This paper summarises the mid‐term evaluation of an outreach programme designed for under‐represented groups to build their soft (communication) skills and develop their understanding of higher education (HE)—in terms of applying to university, support available and the possibilities HE can offer.
Why the new findings matter
It is possible to achieve medium‐term goals only after a sequence of short‐term goals are completed and built together to form a long‐term pursuit. Evaluating these goals is particularly useful for those delivering them and for the funder. Long‐term plans are what we are working towards, but the value of moderate to mid‐term goals is that they let us check our progress and evaluate whether we are still heading towards our long‐term pursuit and whether our plan, design or choices need to change to reach desired outcomes.
Implications
We expect the paper will be of particular interest to funders, regulators, practitioners and activity providers delivering similar programmes and will encourage them to evaluate the programmes they run for effectiveness and accountability. Based on the work done by some research team members, the Office for Students has recently published a report encouraging higher education institutions, outreach and activity providers to consider the standards of evidence and programme evaluation. Our work is one example of a mid‐term review for an ongoing programme with long‐term goals. Such reports are relatively rare, and we expect this evidence‐based practice will set a good example for colleagues involved in similar work.
en Debate continues on the effects of the global proliferation of private higher-educational institutions, especially for-profit institutions. We examine two related questions for Peru using mixed methods: Who attends private institutions and what are their perceived advantages/disadvantages? Longitudinal quantitative data suggest higher-educational segmentation starting early in life, whereby young people from wealthier households attended private institutions and those from poorer households attended public ones. Interviews with teachers, students, and staff provide insights on perceived strengths and drawbacks of higher-educational marketization and highlight the importance of family background in higher-educational choices, governmental regulation, and close monitoring of higher-educational quality.
Abstract
es Actualmente continúa el debate sobre los efectos de la proliferación global de instituciones privadas de educación superior, especialmente de instituciones con fines de lucro. Examinamos dos preguntas relacionadas al tema en el contexto peruano utilizando una metodología mixta: ¿Quién asiste a instituciones privadas y cuáles son sus ventajas/desventajas? Los resultados de los datos longitudinales sugieren que aún existe una segmentación de la educación superior que comienza a una edad temprana, en la que los jóvenes de hogares de mayor nivel socioeconómico (NSE) asisten a instituciones privadas, mientras que los de hogares de menor NSE asisten a instituciones públicas. Las entrevistas con los docentes, estudiantes, y trabajadores reflejan las fortalezas y desventajas percibidas sobre las instituciones con fines de lucro y resaltan la importancia de los antecedentes familiares en la toma de decisiones educativas, de la regulación gubernamental y del monitoreo de la calidad de la educación superior.
Successful Educational Actions (SEAs) are school-based initiatives oriented to provide high-quality education for all students. Identified by the INCLUD-ED research project, SEAs have been implemented in schools in different countries and researchers have studied their implementation and the impacts achieved. We undertook a review and synthesis of research findings on the implementation of SEAs with three aims. First, identify different types of impacts on students (3–12 years), second, offer a unified and comprehensive framework, and thirdly, provide suggestions for further research. We identified 63 studies that met our inclusion criteria and were coded descriptively. The findings documented in our reviewed studies accounted for impacts on the individual level, comprising (1) students’ instrumental learning and 2) self-esteem and motivation; on the group level, involving (3) enhancement of interpersonal relationships and (4) cohesion and conflict reduction; and on the community level, comprising (5) family involvement and change towards school and (6) absenteeism reduction. The synthesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of those findings and further research suggestions.
The told life journeys of learners returning to formal education are important to recognise in order to name the learning that occurs in the social contexts of family, community and work and, secondly, to appreciate the compelling connection between this learning and Higher Education (HE). The concept of what is viewed as important lies at the heart of this study which gives voice to the often overlooked mature, part-time student in order to recognise their assets. Despite previous research on older students in HE there is little on their brought assets, gained through past experiences. A biographical approach using semi-structured interviews based on a life-history grid allowed for the voices of the learners to be heard and their stories acknowledged. Findings indicate learning does arise from the everyday and there is a pattern to what is said about the specific intra and interpersonal attitudes and skills accrued. Past experiences are a resource for the adult learner and time spent away from the classroom is not a learning gap. The resulting affective assets are significant to academic study, enhancing and supporting the cognitive. HE needs to see the value of these assets, including motivation, resilience, independence, team work and emotional intelligence, to resurrect the social justice agenda of widening participation and lifelong learning and to seize this academic potential for the benefit of the learners and the academy alike.
This article examines international student mobility (ISM) as a process of “aspiration on the go” for African students in China—a burgeoning yet under-researched international student flow. Drawing on 15 months of fieldwork at a Chinese university, we present ethnographic case studies of African students that unveil their varied aspirations for travelling to study in China and, more importantly, reflect the diversity and dynamics of their aspirations on the go in confrontation with the realities they have encountered during their stay. We demonstrate that students’ aspirations might be preserved, transformed, reconfigured, placed on hold or go well to realisation, each of which impacts their ISM navigation, such as decisions to leave, to stay or to move to another university/country. We argue that adopting a dynamic and processual approach is important for rethinking international student aspirations and mobilities, in that it not only identifies nuances that diversify our understanding of what international education may mean for different individuals—especially for those from less-privileged backgrounds in an ISM flow within the Global South—but also bridges such binaries as imagination and reality, promise and precarity and structural force and agency that are usually treated separately in the literature of ISM.
Education is a key driver of intergenerational mobility, yet previous research has suggested that there are large socio-economic and ethnic gaps in higher education participation, including amongst the most selective institutions. Prior attainment has been found to be an important reason why some young people are more likely to go to university than others, but it is less clear which stage of education has the greatest impact on HE participation. This is vital from a policy perspective, as it provides insight into the best time to intervene to raise participation. This report uses linked individual-level administrative data from schools in England and universities in the UK to document the relationships between socio-economic status, ethnicity and HE participation, and explore what drives these relationships.
The concept of ‘aspiration-raising’ has been ubiquitous in the discussion of differential rates of participation in higher education in England for many years. Potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds are constructed as setting their sights too low and therefore not considering higher education or ignoring elite universities that they could access. However, it is increasingly understood that aspiration-raising is unable to explain patterns of participation and that it risks ‘blaming the victim’ by failing to appreciate the structural constraints forged through their sociocultural context. The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative lens in the form of ‘possible selves’. This is drawn from the discipline of psychology and aims to explain how we all conceive and develop visions of ourselves in future states. These images create a motivational impetus for actions in the present in order to achieve a like-to-be self—or evade a like-to-avoid self. Notably, the theory takes specific account of the individual’s expectations and the importance of having a clear pathway towards a long-term destination. This paper provides an overview of the foundational theory and empirical evidence for a general readership, before presenting a new conceptual model focused on access to higher education. This is then used to explore the principles that might underpin interventions to support participation from disadvantaged groups within highly stratified systems, as well as suggesting a new policy agenda and priorities for future research.
An important axis of inequality in Britain is the private/state school divide. The success of private schools in Britain in delivering high academic achievements and better-paid jobs has been attributed to these schools engendering high self-evaluations, greater aspirations and social networks. Using recently repaired data on secondary school type from the 1970 British Cohort Study, we find that internal locus of control, aspirations and access to networks, but not self-esteem, are raised by private schooling. Locus of control and aspirations (but not networks or self-esteem) each have modest effects on earnings at age 42. Yet only a small part of the private school earnings premium is accounted for by all these factors. Much of the premium is due, rather, to educational attainments. This evidence suggests that strategies to strengthen self-evaluations or aspirations in state schools will contribute little on their own to the objective of greater equality or social mobility.
In England and Australia, higher education institutions (HEIs) are expected to widen participation (WP) in higher education (HE) to enhance social justice and improve individual and national economic returns. Furthermore, HEIs are the major providers of initial and in-service teacher
education. This article surveys international literature to explore ways in which teacher education programmes could and do contribute to preparing teachers to advocate for WP, including drawing on learning from WP research that demonstrates the value of current HE students engaging young
people in schools and colleges to support them in seriously considering progressing to HE. We conclude that teachers and pre-service teachers are well placed to be advocates for WP. In the majority of higher education institutions, however, WP and teacher education functions are not working
collaboratively to embed advocacy for WP into teacher education programmes.
This paper aims to better understand the relationship between young people's aspirations towards education and jobs, and the context in which they are formed, especially to understand better the role of disadvantaged places in shaping young people's aspirations. Policy makers maintain that disadvantaged areas are associated with low aspirations and there is support for this position from academic work on neighbourhood effects and local labour markets, but evidence is slim. Using a two-stage survey of young people in disadvantaged settings in three British cities, the paper provides new data on the nature of young peoples’ aspirations, how they change during the teenage years, and how they relate to the places where they are growing up. The findings are that aspirations are very high and, overall, they do not appear to be depressed in relation to the jobs available in the labour market either by the neighbourhood context or by young people's perceptions of local labour markets. However, there are significant differences between the pattern of aspirations and how they change over time in the three locations. The paper then challenges assumptions in policy and in the literature that disadvantaged places equal low aspirations and suggests that understanding how aspirations are formed requires needs a nuanced approach to the nexus of class, ethnicity and institutional influences within local areas.
Using the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), this study examines how different combinations of aspirations, expectations and school achievement can influence students’ future educational behaviour (applying to university at the age of 17–18). The study shows that students with either high aspirations or high expectations have higher school achievement than those with both low aspirations and low expectations. Furthermore, complete alignment between high aspirations, high expectations and high achievement is the most important predictor of future educational behaviour among students. However, it is also found that low expectations do not negatively impact students’ future behaviour when they have high aspirations accompanied with high school achievement. Additionally, the study finds significant ethnic differences in favour of white students at GCSE level, but that these differences are reversed in relation to applying to university at the age of 17–18.
Educational and occupational aspirations have become an important reference point in policy debates about educational inequality. Low aspirations are presented as a major barrier to closing educational attainment gaps and increasing levels of social mobility. Our paper contributes to this on-going debate by presenting data on the educational aspirations of students from the Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education Project in England. We analyse factors that help predict students holding high aspirations. Our findings reveal generally high aspirations across all students but also differences by income group and other background factors. We evaluate the significance of these findings for the existing literature and public policy discussions about the importance of raising educational aspirations. In particular, we question the way in which low aspirations are framed by policy-makers as a major problem in debates around educational inequality.
This review examines whether the attitudes, aspirations and behaviours of young people and their parents influence educational attainment and participation. The 'poverty gap' in education means that children from poorer families tend to do less well at school and beyond. It is crucial to know whether this situation can be improved by activities to enhance the beliefs and behaviour of the most educationally marginalised families. If attitudes and aspirations do cause higher levels of attainment, then appropriate interventions can be developed. But if they do not, then money and effort is being wasted on approaches that may even have damaging side effects. This all-encompassing review of existing evidence provides summaries on a range of areas, from parental expectations tochildsubstance abuse. The review: • presents a model of causation for social science; • provides information from almost 170,000 pieces ofevidence; • summarises the effects of 13 different kinds of belief andbehaviour; • highlights the implications for policy, practice and future research funding.
This article reports on a longitudinal study of student aspirations at the ages of 13 and 15 in three schools in the United Kingdom, where there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on aspirations in recent policy making. The data, based on individual interviews with 490 students in areas with significant deprivation as well as interviews with parents, teachers and community members, call into question the effectiveness of concentrating educational efforts on raising aspirations. Aspirations, even in these communities struggling with poverty, are very high—the missing element is the knowledge of how to make these aspirations concrete and obtainable. Implications for educators include insights into the highly aspirational nature of marginalised communities, the key role teachers play in helping aspirations come to fruition, and the need to focus on supporting young people to achieve aspirations that already substantially exceed the jobs available in the UK workforce.
This paper considers the role of social capital in the aspirations for higher education of a group of socially disadvantaged girls. Drawing on data from a longitudinal, ethnographic case study of an underperforming secondary school, the paper considers current conceptualisations and the role of family in educational ambitions. The paper concludes by tentatively suggesting that whilst social capital is extremely helpful in explaining differences within groups, trust appears to be a pre-requisite for the investment and generation of social capital, as opposed to the other way around. The paper also suggests that young people are not necessarily dependent on their families for their social capital but are able to generate capital in their own right.
The study examined the relation between possible selves, academic performance, motivation, self-esteem and persistence on task. The assumption was that envisioning a desired end-state produces information processing favouring the desired state and, as a consequence, the action seems more likely and people are able to construct more efficient plans. We hypothesized that academic performance is best for subjects who are able to produce well-elaborated, vivid pictures of future selves. The sample consisted of 289 students, 14 and 15 years old of both sexes. The statistical analysis revealed that those who endorsed specific, elaborated positive selves outperformed the other groups in academic achievement. There was also indication that this group of students showed more persistence on task. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for the motivational role of possible selves in achievement situations.
Governments, local authorities, school leaders, and teachers all over the world want to improve the attainment and participation of their students at school. They also want to minimise any systematic differences in school outcomes between social and economic groups. However, considerable effort and money is being wasted on policies, practices and interventions that have very little hope of success, and that may indeed endanger the progress that is being made otherwise. The poor quality of much education research evidence, and an unwillingness among users of evidence to discriminate appropriately between what we know and do not know, means that opportunities are being missed. At a time of reduced public spending and increased public unrest, at least in the UK, it is important that proposed interventions are both effective and efficient. There are evidence-informed ways forward in handling under-achievement and increasing social justice in education. This book shows which the more likely approaches are, and where further work could yield further benefits.
The book will synthesise and summarise the full body of existent evidence on how to overcome disadvantage at school, with a special focus on the role of poverty in educational attainment and post-compulsory participation. The summary on each approach will be inclusive and critical. The book represents a bold attempt to uncover how to break the stratifying links between the socio-economic background of individuals and their educational futures.
This book is unique in three ways.
• It shows where the solutions to disadvantage and the poverty gradient may lie, and where they do not lie.
• It combines primary (new), secondary (official) and published (review) evidence in a way that has never been attempted before in this area. All of these types of data are synthesised for the first time, to find out how to overcome disadvantage in education. The book adopts a clear model of causation in social science – consisting of association, temporal sequence, intervention and explanatory mechanism. It then uses this model to assemble and audit the evidence of all types relevant to the plausible causes of disadvantage. Very few possible causes have sufficient evidence for a complete causal model.
• It clearly distinguishes between those possible causes of disadvantage that are largely fixed for individuals – such as their sex, health record, or family background – and those that are modifiable – such as the school attended, area of residence, or their motivation. The main focus of the book is on the latter list, since only these can be of use to anyone wishing to improve the educational chances of the most disadvantaged in society.
“Overcoming disadvantage” is a research-based book, relevant for courses at Masters level and above in social policy, social work, sociology, and education. It will also be of considerable interest to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers in these areas. It is based on a number of research projects and analyses conducted by the authors, combined with a new way of looking at how we assess causation in social science. Despite its original approach, the book is written in an accessible and engaging manner, suitable for its readership. Terminology and technical issues are kept to the minimum needed for a reader to understand the research issues and to form their own critical judgements. Full references are given to the technical background for those who wish to learn more.
This article draws on case studies of nine working-class students at Southern, an elite university. 1 It attempts to understand the complexities of identities in flux through Bourdieu’s notions of habitus and field. Bourdieu (1990a) argues that when an individual encounters an unfamiliar field, habitus is transformed. He also writes of how the movement of habitus across new, unfamiliar fields results in ‘a habitus divided against itself ’ (Bourdieu, 1999a). Our data suggest more nuanced understandings in which the challenge of the unfamiliar results in a range of creative adaptations and multi-faceted responses. They display dispositions of self-scrutiny and self-improvement — almost ‘a constant fashioning and re-fashioning of the self ’ but one that still retains key valued aspects of a working-class self. Inevitably, however, there are tensions and ambivalences, and the article explores these, as well as the very evident gains for working-class students of academic success in an elite HE institution.
This paper discusses how the rhetoric of ‘diversity’ is mobilised within New Labour HE policy discourse around widening participation (WP). The paper argues that these constructions of diversity derive an important element of their symbolic power from an association with notions of ‘equality’—and yet the radical/egalitarian potential of WP policy and practice is subverted and compromised by New Labour's pursuit of neoliberalism—to the extent that WP is rendered more a tool for social control than social justice. The paper is organised in two main parts: the first considers New Labour's promotion of ‘institutional diversity’—and how this is tied to ‘choice’. The second part discusses how ‘student diversity’ is being discursively mobilised within the context of ‘equality’ and ‘social inclusion’. It is argued that this common-sense linkage (between ‘equality’ and ‘diversity’) is conceptually untenable within New Labour policy and practice due to a privileging of the economic, the pursuit of institutional diversity, and the use of the market within higher education. It is argued that a diversity of students in HE cannot be taken as an indicator of greater ‘equality’ within the system, and attention is drawn to the ways in which ‘diversity’ may operate as a moral discourse that silences other competing (e.g., critical) accounts of WP.
Aimhigher was discontinued on 31 July 2011. This paper reviews the literature analysing its contribution to widening participation to higher education in the UK. Successes of Aimhigher are considered alongside its challenges; particularly the necessity to situate policy within the diverse
demands of 42 areas covering England. These issues are considered in the context of wider contemporary debates concerning the quality of research into widening participation and instruments used to evaluate policy. Four strands of literature are identified and analysed: Aimhigher's impact
and evaluation, its effectiveness in targeting beneficiaries, the progression and tracking of students and policy.
This paper explores constructions of the 'new' university student in the context of UK government policy to widen participation in higher education. New Labour discourse stresses the benefits of widening participation for both individuals and society, although increasing the levels of participation of students from groups who have not traditionally entered university has been accompanied by a discourse of 'dumbing down' and lowering standards. The paper draws on an ongoing longitudinal study of undergraduate students in a post-1992 inner-city university in the UK to examine students' constructions of their experiences and identities in the context of public discourses of the 'new' higher education student. Many of the participants in this study would be regarded as 'non-traditional' students, i.e. those students who are the focus of widening participation policy initiatives. As Reay et al. (2002) discovered, for many 'non-traditional' students studying in higher education is characterized by 'struggle', something that also emerged as an important theme in this research. The paper examines the ways in which these new student identities both echo the New Labour dream of widening participation and yet continue to reflect and re-construct classed and other identities and inequalities.
This paper, based on ESRC‐funded research work in four case study schools, explores the ‘pressures’ to ‘deliver’ which bear upon English secondary schools in relation to GCSE performance. It further illustrates the ways in which pressure is transformed into tactics which focus on particular students, with the effect of ‘rationing’ education in the schools. Foucault’s analysis from Discipline and Punish is deployed to examine these tactics and to relate them to more general changes in the regime of techniques and ‘play of dominations’ operating in English schools.
In the current discourse on the transition from school to work, career decision‐making has a pivotal but paradoxical position. Sociological literature emphasises the dominance of socially‐structured pathways, whilst policy‐making operates on assumptions of individual freedom to choose. In this paper we draw on the work of Pierre Bourdieu to present a new model of career decision‐making, given the shorthand title of ‘careership’. There are three completely integrated dimensions to the model. These are (i) pragmatically rational decision‐making, located in the habitus of the person making the decision; (ii) the interactions with others in the (youth training) field, related to the unequal resources different ‘players’ possess; and (iii) the location of decisions within the partly unpredictable pattern of turning‐points and routines that make up the life course. This model avoids the twin pitfalls of implicit social determinism or of seeing (young) people as completely free agents.
Parental expectations have long been studied as a factor in increasing adolescent educational aspirations, often linking these expectations to parental level of education and involvement in academic endeavours. This study further explores this relationship in a statewide Midwestern sample of parents and their adolescent children. Regression analysis and independent samples t‐tests were used to predict adolescent aspirations and compare groups. Results suggest that adolescent educational aspirations can to some degree be predicted by parental expectations. Parents reported high expectations for their children despite low levels of personal educational attainment. However, these high expectations were buffered by a reported unfamiliarity with college requirements and an expressed concern about college affordability and limited awareness of financial aid opportunities. Limitations and suggestions for future research and intervention are discussed.
Introduces the concept of possible selves (PSs) to complement current conceptions of self-knowledge. PSs represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, and thus provide a conceptual link beteen cognition and motivation. PSs are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and threats; they give the specific self-relevant form, meaning, organization, and direction to these dynamics. It is suggested that PSs function as incentives for future behavior and to provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self. The nature and function of PSs and their role in addressing several persistent problems (e.g., the stability and malleability of the self, the unity of the self, self-distortion, the relationship between the self-concept and behavior) are discussed. (143 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Performance measurement is not an end in itself. So why should public managers measure performance? Because they may find such measures helpful in achieving eight specific managerial purposes. As part of their overall management strategy, public managers can use performance measures to evaluate, control, budget, motivate, promote, celebrate, learn, and improve. Unfortunately, no single performance measure is appropriate for all eight purposes. Consequently, public managers should not seek the one magic performance measure. Instead, they need to think seriously about the managerial purposes to which performance measurement might contribute and how they might deploy these measures. Only then can they select measures with the characteristics necessary to help achieve each purpose. Without at least a tentative theory about how performance measures can be employed to foster improvement (which is the core purpose behind the other seven), public managers will be unable to decide what should be measured.
Previous research has shown that prior attainment – particularly at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 – plays a key role in helping to explain why some young people are more likely to go to university than others (and why some perform better than others once they are there). This suggests that what happens earlier in an individual’s life is likely to be a crucial determinant of their subsequent educational choices and progress. What is less clear from the existing evidence, however, is what role schools might play in helping to explain why some groups of young people are more likely to access and achieve at university than others. This report uses linked individual-level administrative data from schools and universities to document the relationships between a variety of secondary school characteristics of interest and higher education (HE) participation rates and university outcomes. Perhaps more importantly, we also explore what drives the relationships that we observe.
Drawing together example studies from international contexts, this edited collection provides a new and cross-disciplinary perspective on the concept of the possible self, exploring its theoretical, methodological and empirical uses with regards to Higher Education. Building on research which examines the ways in which possible selves are constructed through inequalities of class, race and gender, the book interrogates the role of imagined futures in student, professional and academic lives, augmenting the concept of possible selves, with its origins in psychology, with sociological approaches to educational inequalities and exclusionary practices.
Possible Selves and Higher Education considers both the theoretical and methodological frameworks behind the concept of possible selves; the first section includes chapters that consider different theoretical insights, while the second section offers empirical examples, exploring how the possible selves concept has been used in many diverse higher education research contexts. With each chapter considering a different aspect of the structural barriers to or within education, the examples provided range from the experiences of students and teachers in the language learning classroom, to graduates entering employment for the first time, and refugees seeking to rebuild lives through engagement with education.
Offering a broad and diverse examination of how concepts of our future selves can affect and limit educational outcomes, this book furthers the sociological dialogue concerning the relationship between individual agency and structural constraints in higher education research. It is an essential and influential text for both students and academics, as well as anyone responsible for student services such as outreach and widening participation.
This article, drawing upon the Paired Peers project, a longitudinal qualitative study (n = 90), examines how seven UK engineering graduates, four women and three men, construct their career identities during the transitionary period from university to work. It explores how gender and the occupational cultures that reside within the sector, and the wider sociocultural context, affect women’s careers identities, choices and trajectories. The longitudinal design, characteristics of the cohort and the theoretical framework of possible selves contribute to the originality of this empirical research. In this paper, we show how female graduates gradually adapted their occupational aspirations and career identities to fit with socio-cultural expectations and how they struggled to construct viable ‘engineering’ selves in the vital career identity development phase of their first years of employment when most female STEM graduates change careers.
Efforts to widen the participation in higher education for disadvantaged and under-represented groups are common to many countries. In England, higher education institutions are required by government to invest in ‘outreach’ activities designed to encourage such groups. There is increasing policy and research interest around the effectiveness of these activities and how this might be evaluated. This paper reports the results of a project designed to explore concepts of ‘success’ and ‘impact’ with two generations of practitioner-managers working in this field, including extended telephone interviews with ten active in the mid-2000s, and online questionnaires from 57 engaged in the mid-2010s. The paper concludes that the drive to ‘measure the measurable’ may be undermining successful activities, while unhelpful inter-institution competition has replaced the co-operative ethos and wider social justice aims that dominated ten years ago.
This book explores higher education, social class and social mobility from the point of view of those most intimately involved: the undergraduate students. It is based on a project which followed a cohort of young undergraduate students at Bristol's two universities in the UK through from their first year of study for the following three years, when most of them were about to enter the labour market or further study. The students were paired by university, by subject of study and by class background, so that the fortunes of middle-class and working-class students could be compared. Narrative data gathered over three years are located in the context of a hierarchical and stratified higher education system, in order to consider the potential of higher education as a vehicle of social mobility.
Daniel Kahneman received the Nobel Prize in economics sciences in 2002, December 8, Stockholm, Sweden. This article is the edited version of his Nobel Prize lecture. The author comes back to the problems he has studied with the late Amos Tversky and to debates conducting for several decades already. The statement is based on worked out together with Shane Federik the quirkiness of human judgment.
How do we reflect upon ourselves and our concerns in relation to society, and vice versa? Human reflexivity works through ‘internal conversations’ using language, but also emotions, sensations and images. Most people acknowledge this ‘inner-dialogue’ and can report upon it. However, little research has been conducted on ‘internal conversations’ and how they mediate between our ultimate concerns and the social contexts we confront. Margaret Archer argues that reflexivity is progressively replacing routine action in late modernity, shaping how ordinary people make their way through the world. Using interviewees' life and work histories, she shows how ‘internal conversations’ guide the occupations people seek, keep or quit; their stances towards structural constraints and enablements; and their resulting patterns of social mobility. © Margaret S. Archer 2007 and Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Sociologists of education have explored the relationship between students’ postsecondary aspirations and their propensity to get “cooled out” in community colleges. However, researchers have directed little attention to students whose aspirations remain stable over long periods of time or to the different roles that college degree goals play in the lives of disadvantaged students. Using four waves of longitudinal interviews, I examine the reasons why low-income women hold steady to their aspirations for college degrees over a three-and-a-half-year period. I argue that holding steady not only reflects rational expectations about future employment opportunities, but it also generates moral status in the face of marginalization and facilitates the navigation of personal relationships. I use the concept of an “ambition imperative” to demonstrate how aspirations for college attainment are a means of asserting moral status and pursuing virtuous social membership. This article contributes to theories of aspirations and offers an alternative explanation of the institutional effects of community colleges in the lives of students.
In this paper we suggest that a construct known as “possible selves”, which has been developed in psychological literature, holds conceptual merits that are of use to a growing body of literature on youth transitions, and within it, an increasing interest in imagined futures. We highlight several benefits of possible selves that have emerged from our empirical research with young men in two English towns, Luton and Swindon. Research and theorization about youth futures has suggested that young people’s values and their perceived positions in society can be elicited and seen in their projections of themselves in the future. We conclude that possible selves provides a useful addition to this literature by offering a theorization of the link between imagined possibilities in the future and motivation to act in the present. We suggest that this construct opens the scope of empirical and theoretical enquiry into youth transitions and trajectories toward future possibilities.
The recent report of the Milburn Review into Social Mobility highlights the under-representation of young people from lower socio-economic groups in higher education and encourages universities and others to act to remedy this situation as a contribution to greater social mobility. The paper uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England to examine the relationship between social background, attainment and university participation. The results show that differences in school-level attainment associated with social background are by far the most important explanation for social background differences in university attendance. However, there remains a small proportion of the participation gap that is not accounted for by attainment. It is also the case that early intentions for higher education participation are highly predictive of actual participation. The results suggest that although there may be some scope for universities to act to improve participation by people from less advantaged backgrounds, a much more important focus of action is on improving the school-level achievement of these students.
Young people’s aspirations remain an enduring focus of education policy interest and concern. Drawing on data from an ongoing five-year study of young people’s science and career aspirations (age 10–14), this paper asks what do young people aspire to at age 12/13, and what influences these aspirations? It outlines the main aspirations and sources of these aspirations as expressed by young people in England in the last year of primary school (survey of 9000+ Y6 pupils, aged 10/11, interviews with 92 children and 76 parents) and the second year of secondary school (survey of 5600+ Y8 pupils, aged 12/13, interviews with 85 pupils). We demonstrate how aspirations are shaped by structural forces (e.g. social class, gender and ethnicity) and how different spheres of influence (home/family, school, hobbies/leisure activities and TV) appear to shape different types of aspirations. The paper concludes by considering the implications for educational policy and careers education.
This paper reports findings from a study of 49 young first-year UK undergraduates who had undergone one or two weeks of work experience at school between the ages of 14 and 16. Previous studies focusing on the whole school cohort suggested that the nature of work experience placements was strongly predicted by class. In particular, middle class families were seen as being able to secure higher-quality placements than working class families through their higher levels of social capital. This study of young people in the large minority subset subsequently progressing to higher education also found evidence of stereotypical placement choices. However, this was situated in low-quality placements that were irrelevant to the participants’ eventual career path. One notable finding was that a significant proportion of working class students had exercised considerable personal agency to secure high-quality placements. This could challenge structuralist interpretations of young people’s decision-making, although the possibility of a retrospective construction of an explanatory narrative is noted. This paper concludes that more effort is needed to push academically-able working class young people towards placements that will increase motivation and widen horizons and that government needs to be clearer about its policy aims in this area.
This paper considers some of the ways that schools play a role in shaping higher education (HE) decision-making. Through their everyday practices and processes, schools can carry hidden messages about progression to HE, including choice of university. The sorts of routine aspects of school life dealt with here include events and activities, interactions with teachers, as well as resources. The work of Basil Bernstein is particularly useful at elucidating the different kinds of messages about HE choice sent out by schools. By shining a light on the underlying structures of power and control, Bernstein's framework illuminates the mechanisms by which messages are sent out. To illustrate this, two case study schools (both based in the same urban locality in south Wales) are drawn upon here, purposefully selected on the basis of their variances in progression to HE and research-intensive universities. The implications of the role played by schools are discussed in the context of the prevailing inequalities in HE participation, rising tuition fees, and an increasingly uncertain graduate labour market.
International research into educational decision-making has been extensive, focusing on the way in which young people and their families assess the different options open to them. However, to what extent can we assume that different groups of young people have equal access to the information needed to make such an assessment? And what role, if any, do schools play in this process? Using in-depth qualitative interviews from two schools with very different student intakes, this paper examines the key influences that shape young people’s choices. Decisions about whether to go on to higher education are found to reflect three sets of processes: individual habitus; the institutional habitus of the school, as reflected in the amount and type of guidance provided; and young people’s own agency – namely, the conscious process whereby students seek out information on different options and evaluate these alternatives.
A specific careers guidance action plan, used in conjunction with one of the original training credits pilot schemes, is investigated. Analysis revealed tensions between the pragmatically rational way in which young people reported making career decisions and the technically rational system of guidance built into the design of the scheme. These tensions created operational difficulties for careers officers, and raise important issues for further debate about the nature of careers education and guidance
The expansion of higher education in the UK has been accompanied by ongoing class related inequalities in expectations about, and access to, university. In the context of detailed research into middle-class and working-class experiences and difference, there have been calls for more detailed analysis of internal class diversity, and for complicating the class dichotomy. This is particularly important for understanding the experiences of prospective first generation students. Drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded study, this article offers a qualitative longitudinal analysis of young people's expectations about going to university, as these evolve over the teenage years, from 14 to 18. We analyse the experiences and expectations of young women with different parental class and educational backgrounds. We explore the interplay of parental expectations, school, teacher and friendship group influences through the teenagers' biographies. The qualitative longitudinal analysis offers valuable insights into how different influential processes intersect and play out for those with different backgrounds and circumstances, shaping expectations in divergent ways. As such it contributes to a more processual account of the structuring of social inequality in higher education expectations.