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1.
Raising the proportion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds progressing to higher education has been a key policy objective for successive governments in the UK since the late 1990s. Often this has been conceptualised as a problem with their ‘aspirations’, with the solution being seen 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 school attainment accounts for nearly all the differences in participation rates between social groups. This article draws on data from a national project exploring efforts to widen participation across two generations of practitioner‐managers in England, focusing on their conceptualisations of the field and their constructions of ‘successful’ activities. It uses the lens of ‘possible selves’ (Markus & Nurius, 1986 ) to argue that too much policy emphasis has been placed on the aspirations of young people, rather than either their academic attainment or their expectations, which are shaped by the normative expectations of the adults surrounding them. In addition, the more expansive concepts of widening participation that were present a decade ago have become less common, with a shift towards activities with a clear role in institutional recruitment rather than social transformation. The article concludes with alternative suggestions for policy and practice.  相似文献   

2.
The United Kingdom’s Coalition government has introduced an education policy that is focused on increasing the opportunities to promote and advance social mobility for all children within state education. Raising young people’s aspirations through school-based initiatives is a prominent theme within recent policy texts, which are focused on improving educational outcomes and thus advancing social mobility. This article draws on qualitative data from paired interviews with 32 students in two academies to first investigate if our participants’ aspirations indicate a desire for intragenerational social mobility and second, to explore our participants’ perceptions of the influences of their family background on their aspirations for the future. Analysis of our data highlights the mismatch between our participants’ aspirations for the future and the government’s constructions of what they should aspire to, as articulated in policy texts. By investigating aspirations, as part of a wider project to understand social mobility qualitatively, our data shows the important role of family in shaping our participants’ varied and diverse aspirations that are frequently at variance with government policy.  相似文献   

3.
In this study, young people, described by teachers as being disaffected, were encouraged to become involved in a public forum to discuss issues regarding participation, learning and training at their school as well as their aspirations about the future. The young people discussed their learning and social experiences, and reflected on existing models of participation and student voices as they operated in their school. Through focus group discussions and interviews, the young people expressed concerns about participation in school matters and critiqued the curriculum as irrelevant to their aspirations and employment needs. The young people favoured a form of participation that involves and sustains informal ways of having a voice and creates possibilities for being genuinely listened to. The findings suggested that to enable young people’s participation in learning and other aspects of school life, the curriculum, learning and pastoral support and the school‐to‐training transition require re‐thinking. Finally, the results reinforced the view that inclusion and participation are not unproblematic, requiring a nuanced approach.  相似文献   

4.
This paper examines the educational ambitions of adults from a disadvantaged area in Australia who returned to study at a further education institution as a means to access higher education. The study examines the significance and influence of romance, gender and social class on their formal learning, and the delaying influence of these factors in realising lifelong learning aspirations. It draws on written testimonies of students’ early expectations and beliefs about learning, education and life choices, their current beliefs and future tertiary and career expectations to argue that romantic conceptions of early motherhood/marriage have a negative impact on women from low socio‐economic backgrounds. The focus is on self‐reporting of the impact of early parenthood and/or the consequences of premature dissolution of a romantic relationship on educational aspirations or opportunity. We define the basic concept of romance as concerning love and ‘living happily ever after’, incorporating love and people’s social aspirations, hopes and dreams, offering the promise of a better life. We find, one, that the discourse of romance had a very powerful early gendered influence on the female students’ educational aspirations, and on their ‘enlightenment’ after romance ‘went wrong’ which contributed to their educational disadvantage; and two, that exclusion from education is a motivating factor in returning to learning as an adult and strongly influences parental aspirations for those with children.  相似文献   

5.
ABSTRACT

Drawing on 48 in-depth interviews with Black immigrant and second-generation boys at Bridgewood secondary school in New York City, this article points out how the high educational aspirations expressed by Black African and Caribbean boys are strategically deployed as features of an ethnic project to counter anti-immigrant sentiments and anti-Black racism in US society. The findings indicate that in a context of rising xenophobia along with the historical and continual stereotypes of Black people in the US, participants’ aspirations for elite higher education function as strategies to enhance their individual and ethnic reputations. High educational aspirations were also used to justify emigration to and worth within the US. At its core, this article illustrates how participants mobilized aspirations to represent themselves as moral migrants and ‘worthy’ ethnic minorities. Moral claims and ethnicity-based campaigns associated with aspirations are problematized because they reinforce the hierarchical racial order that informs US society.  相似文献   

6.
This paper focuses on rural and indigenous girls and their mothers in Peru, examining how they position schooling and education in their current life and future aspirations, in order to better understand girls' increasing participation in education. It is argued here that the high educational aspirations girls and their families have are not only related to the desire to overcome poverty and marginalisation but also to oppressive gender relations. The widening of female roles available to young rural women is impacting on their identities and life projects. The paper shows that these processes are not purely individual but intertwined with intergenerational agreements, family projects, and shared understandings of the changes needed to improve the life of young women, revealing important transformations in rural and indigenous families. The paper analyses qualitative data from boys and girls in three settings and focuses in more detail on three in-depth case studies.  相似文献   

7.
This article accounts for a project that rests on a collaboration between the Leadership for Learning group at the Faculty of Education and the county council in King's Lynn and West Norfolk to address a concern regarding the low aspirations in the community. At the heart of the project was the development of a cadre of ‘Learning Catalysts’ who work with schools and with parents to raise aspirations. The project pursued questions such as: What do we really understand about the way aspirations are shaped and play out in the interface of school and community? How can we gain a deeper insight into the cultures of families and how aspirations about occupational and social identities affect children's performance in school? Of central interest too was the way in which people without formal status in their institutions were able to assume leadership roles. The tension between leadership activity in the community setting and leadership within the formal hierarchies of schools was to prove both a source of data and a continuing challenge.  相似文献   

8.
Achieving equitable schooling outcomes for young people living in communities of low socio-economic status is a prominent issue that assumes focus in educational policy, theory and practice both in Australia and internationally. This paper draws upon the narratives of five secondary school students living in the northern urban fringe of Adelaide in South Australia, a region that is characterised by socio-economic challenge (Prosser et al. in Connecting lives and learning: Renewing pedagogy in the middle years, 2010). Specifically, the participants’ understandings and perspectives about community are used to examine their aspirations through the analysis of qualitative data obtained from a focus group, visual methods, a storying activity and semi-structured interviews. Discussion on students’ construction and pursuit of aspirations is framed by Appadurai’s (Culture and public action: 59–84, 2004, p. 67) conceptualisation of aspiration as a cultural capacity influenced by one’s social, cultural and economic contexts. This paper demonstrates that students from low socio-economic backgrounds have aspirations for their future which are influenced by their schooling experiences and the positive trust relationships they develop with teachers in community. As such, connections between place and learning are highlighted as critical factors in achieving more equitable schooling outcomes. The research identifies factors in ‘community’ that shape young people’s aspirations and ways in which young people can be supported in navigating toward their aspirations.  相似文献   

9.
The last century, in particular the latter half, saw radical shifts in the roles and expectations of women in society. This article investigates the views of 14‐ to 16‐year‐olds in the year 2000 on work and family roles, exploring both their general views on gender roles and their own personal aspirations for the future. In general the young people believed that it was equally important for males and females to get good qualifications at school, to have worthwhile careers and that childcare should be a joint responsibility. They also believed that males and females could do any job they wanted to these days. Their views were tempered, however, by the inequalities that they saw around them in the workplace and in their own families. While young people’s attitudes may have changed, they are still choosing fairly gender‐typical subjects at school and aspiring to different types of occupation. The article concludes that while great strides have been made in changing attitudes towards gender equality, there is still a long way to go before equal opportunities are really achieved.  相似文献   

10.
This paper reports key findings from a study of young people’s engagement in ‘atypical’ activities in their families. The project focused on young caring and language brokering as two roles that are not assumed to be ‘normal’ activities for children and young people. The findings presented are from a survey of 1002 young people and from one‐to‐one interviews with a sample selected from the survey sample. The voices of young people in the interview study are used in the paper to illustrate the diverse range of childhood experiences. The paper discusses some of the ways in which pastoral systems in schools can take account of diverse childhoods and family needs more effectively than they have done in the past.  相似文献   

11.
The educational experiences and attainment of looked‐after children and young people (LACYP) remains an issue of widespread international concern. Within the UK, children and young people in care achieve poorer educational outcomes compared to individuals not in care. Despite proliferation of research documenting the reasons for educational disadvantage amongst this population, there remains limited empirical consideration of the lived experiences of the educational system, as perceived by LACYP themselves. This paper draws upon qualitative research with 67 care‐experienced children and young people in Wales. The sample was aged 6–27 years, and comprised 27 females and 40 males. Participants had experienced a range of care placements. Findings focus on how educational policies and practices alienate LACYP from dominant discourses of educational achievement through assignment of the ‘supported’ subject position, where children and young people are permitted and even encouraged not to succeed academically due to their complex and disrupted home circumstances. However, such diminished expectations are rejected by LACYP, who want to be pushed and challenged in the realisation of their potential. The paper argues that more differentiated understandings of LACYP's aspirations and capabilities need to be embedded into everyday practices, to ensure that effective educational support systems are developed.  相似文献   

12.
This article examines the impact of gender and ‘race’ on young people's perceptions of the educational and labour market opportunities available to them after they complete their compulsory schooling in England. Its findings are based on a study of the views of girls and boys about the government‐supported ‘Apprenticeships’ programme, which, because it reflects labour market conditions, is highly gendered and also segregated by ethnicity. The research shows that young people receive very little practical information and guidance about the consequences of pursuing particular occupational pathways, and are not engaged in any formal opportunities to debate gender and ethnic stereotyping as related to the labour market. This is particularly worrying for females, who populate apprenticeships in sectors with lower completion rates and levels of pay, and which create less opportunity for progression. In addition, the research reveals that young people from non‐White backgrounds are more reliant on ‘official’ sources of guidance (as opposed to friends and families) for their labour market knowledge. The article argues that, because good‐quality apprenticeships can provide a strong platform for lifelong learning and career progression, young people need much more detailed information about how to compare a work‐based pathway with full‐time education. At the same time, they also need to understand that apprenticeships (and jobs more generally) in some sectors may result in very limited opportunities for career advancement.  相似文献   

13.
The aim of this study was to find out more about the lives of young people in the category ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET). We worked intensively with 26 young people in four smaller groups, spending three days with each group. During our time with them we engaged in a variety of creative and artistic activities designed to help them to construct accounts of their lives for us with the purpose of gaining an understanding of what it was like to be NEET. Three significant issues that emerged from these life stories are discussed in this paper. These are the problematic nature of the discourse of NEET sub‐groups; the challenges of school‐exclusion policies and practices; and the myth of low aspirations.  相似文献   

14.
This study used latent class analysis to examine the trajectories followed by young people’s educational aspirations in England over the age range from 13 to 16 years and their relationship to educational achievement. The results suggested that young people’s aspirations followed six trajectories. Four trajectories showed overall patterns of aspirations which did not vary over time, while in the two remaining trajectories, aspirations either moved upwards or downwards. The trajectories were stratified according to young people’s family background and individual characteristics with those trajectories with high aspirations having higher proportions of young people from better-off family backgrounds and a higher proportion of girls and respondents from ethnic minority backgrounds. Respondents with high aspirations made more progress in achievement and had a higher likelihood of admission to university than those with low aspirations. Differences in aspirations did not completely explain differences in educational achievement by family background, however.  相似文献   

15.
Recent widening participation policies have been subject to a number of criticisms; they focus on aspirations rather than differences in performance; they place less value on the aspirations of the ‘disadvantaged’ comparing them to a middle class norm; they subordinate what was a radical agenda to the demands of the economy and so constrain the available options to young people. Using data from young people who have taken part in Aimhigher initiatives in the South West of England and from teachers who have organised Aimhigher events, this paper will examine to what extent these features of policy are evidenced in the attitudes and aspirations of these pupils. It will argue that the data shows little evidence of pupils positioning themselves as inferior, that young people display instrumental attitudes to education, but that these attitudes relate to policy discourse and practice in complex ways.  相似文献   

16.
This article argues for the importance of studying the moral meanings that young people attach to their aspirations and plans for the future. Drawing on semi-structured interview data with 29 young people from a sixth-form college in a disadvantaged area of East London, I show that aspirations are closely connected to the formation of individual and group identities, and the making of inter-group boundaries. I argue that young people develop aspirations as part of a normatively evaluative narrative about who they are and the kind of person they hope to become. Focusing on moral meanings helps us to better understand young peoples’ range of motivations for pursuing particular goals, and may help to explain why aspirations can remain high even in the absence of capitals, resources, or opportunities.  相似文献   

17.
《Support for Learning》2004,19(4):181-186
This article provides an overview of the aspirations and expectations disabled teenagers form for their future education and employment and the factors which are associated with positive aspirations. After reviewing what is already known about the formation of aspirations in general, and among young disabled people in particular, Tania Burchardt presents preliminary analysis from original research using two large‐scale representative surveys: the Youth Cohort Study (YCS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). The results indicate that young disabled people have similar aspirations to their non‐disabled counterparts, although tempered in some cases with a recognition that there are likely to be obstacles in the world of work. There is also some–tentative–evidence that young disabled people feel less well served by advice and support services. SEN coordinators in secondary schools and further education, and Connexions advisors, need to ensure that they encourage positive aspirations, especially among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, while offering practical support in overcoming disabling barriers.  相似文献   

18.
High educational aspirations are considered to be a crucial factor for educational success and social advancement. As is also the case in many western European countries, migrants in Germany have higher aspirations than non-migrants. Although migrants’ average school performance levels are significantly lower, their greater educational aspirations exert a positive influence on the acquisition of higher educational qualifications. This paper investigates whether higher aspirations are also revealed in respect of Germany’s highly prevalent dual vocational education and training (VET) system and how this affects the transition to dual VET for young people from a migration background. Multivariate analyses using the database of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) relate to school-leavers in Years 9 and 10 of general schools who aspired to enter dual VET upon completion of schooling. If we control for the main influencing factors, young people from a migrant background are shown to exhibit higher occupational aspirations with regard to dual VET than their counterparts not from a migration background. However, viewed in overall terms, higher occupational aspirations lead to poorer chances of transition to dual VET. This is much more noticeable amongst migrants than amongst non-migrants.  相似文献   

19.
Young people with learning difficulties who go to residential special schools and colleges are highly vulnerable, often living a long way from home. Transition towards adulthood – from school to college, or college and beyond – requires careful planning and support for both young people and their families. Despite national policy and guidance in this area, this article suggests that young people with learning difficulties in out-of-area placements are being failed in terms of transition education and face huge uncertainty and very limited choices. David Abbott and Pauline Heslop, both Senior Research Fellows at the Norah Fry Research Centre based at the University of Bristol, set out, in partnership with the Home Farm Trust, to examine transitions for young people with learning difficulties who attend out-of-county residential special schools and colleges. Drawing on empirical research with 15 young people, their families, and the professionals that support them, they outline in this article the main barriers to effective transition planning. They suggest that a lot more focus on planning and commitment to good outcomes is required to ensure that this group of young people have similar life chances to their non-disabled peers.  相似文献   

20.
While the significance of the social model of disability for articulating inclusive approaches in education is recognised, the application of capability theory to education is less well developed. This article by Jo Trowsdale of the University of Warwick and Richard Hayhow of Open Theatre considers how a particular theatre‐based practice, here described as ‘mimetics’, can alter and extend the aspirations and achievements of children and young people with learning disabilities, and might be understood as applied capability theory or ‘capability practice’. Mimetics has been crafted from experimental psycho‐physical actor‐training processes by Open Theatre Company working in collaboration with actors with learning disabilities, and adapted to support the learning and development of young people with learning disabilities. This study draws upon an action research project set up by Creative Partnerships with Open Theatre Company and a special school, where children demonstrated increased motivation and capacity for communication and socialisation, improved well‐being, learning and wider achievement. To illustrate the process, we offer a case study of one child with an autistic spectrum disorder.  相似文献   

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