Considering the Cultural Strengths of Older First Generation University Students: An Australian Perspective

2018 ◽  
pp. 143-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah O’Shea
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
First Generation

A social identity perspective on the social-class achievement gap: Academic and social adjustment in the transition to university

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Veldman ◽  
Loes Meeussen ◽  
Colette van Laar
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Achievement Gap ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
University Students ◽  
Social Adjustment ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
The Social ◽  
First Year University

First-generation students show lower academic performance at university compared to continuing-generation students. Previous research established the value in taking a social identity perspective on this social-class achievement gap, and showed that the gap can partly be explained by lower compatibility between social background and university identities that first- compared to continuing-generation students experience. The present paper aimed to increase insight into the processes through which this low identity compatibility leads to lower academic achievement by examining first-year university students’ adjustment to university in two key domains: the academic and the social domain. These were examined as two routes through which the social-class achievement gap may arise, and hence perpetuate this group-based inequality. Adjustment was examined both through students’ actual integration in the academic and social domains, and their internally experienced concerns about these domains at university. A longitudinal study among 674 first-year university students (13.6% first-generation) showed that first-generation students experienced lower identity compatibility in their first semester, which was in turn related to lower social, but not academic, integration. Lower identity compatibility was also related to more concerns about the social and academic domains at university. Low identity compatibility was directly related to lower academic achievement 1 year later, and this relationship was mediated only by lower social integration at university. These findings show that to understand, and hence reduce, the social-class achievement gap, it is important to examine how low identity compatibility can create difficulties in academic and particularly social adjustment at university with consequences for achievement.

scholarly journals Perspectives of learning during the transition from secondary school to university: A comparative study of first generation university students in Chile and New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Antonio Garcia Quiroga
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Working Class ◽  
University Students ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Positive Contribution

<p>While tertiary education has grown rapidly in most countries in recent years, retention rates and educational success of many first generation students is still below that of their counterparts from tertiary-educated family backgrounds. This presents a significant challenge to universities seeking to better understand and support such students. This comparative study explores the perspectives of learning along educational transitions between school and university that were experienced by two groups of first generation university students in Chile and New Zealand. The research draws on the narratives of 24 working class university students enrolled in teacher education programmes and studying to become teachers. Unlike some previous studies of first generation students that take a deficit approach to the educational under-achievement of working class students, this research assumes that the barriers these students face are primarily located within institutional structures and that the distinctive perspectives of first generation university students make a positive contribution to institutional development.  A photo-elicitation methodological approach was undertaken whereby the participants were asked to collect images that represented their school and university experiences. These images were then assembled onto a storyboard. Group and individual interviews were also conducted.  Through a dialogical approach derived from Bakhtin, the thesis examines the cultural, social and emotional tensions and accomplishments they encountered in the course of their educational journeys through school and university. Employing Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, and Quinn’s notion of imagined social capital, this study found that for New Zealand students, imagined social capital was largely located in institutional contexts, while in Chile these were more closely associated with social groups and peers. The findings show that New Zealand has a more flexible and supportive system of school to university transitions than Chile. In both countries, however, students placed considerable value on experiences that allowed them to connect their own social background with what they learned at university.</p>

scholarly journals Perspectives of learning during the transition from secondary school to university: A comparative study of first generation university students in Chile and New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Antonio Garcia Quiroga
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Working Class ◽  
University Students ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Positive Contribution

<p>While tertiary education has grown rapidly in most countries in recent years, retention rates and educational success of many first generation students is still below that of their counterparts from tertiary-educated family backgrounds. This presents a significant challenge to universities seeking to better understand and support such students. This comparative study explores the perspectives of learning along educational transitions between school and university that were experienced by two groups of first generation university students in Chile and New Zealand. The research draws on the narratives of 24 working class university students enrolled in teacher education programmes and studying to become teachers. Unlike some previous studies of first generation students that take a deficit approach to the educational under-achievement of working class students, this research assumes that the barriers these students face are primarily located within institutional structures and that the distinctive perspectives of first generation university students make a positive contribution to institutional development.  A photo-elicitation methodological approach was undertaken whereby the participants were asked to collect images that represented their school and university experiences. These images were then assembled onto a storyboard. Group and individual interviews were also conducted.  Through a dialogical approach derived from Bakhtin, the thesis examines the cultural, social and emotional tensions and accomplishments they encountered in the course of their educational journeys through school and university. Employing Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, and Quinn’s notion of imagined social capital, this study found that for New Zealand students, imagined social capital was largely located in institutional contexts, while in Chile these were more closely associated with social groups and peers. The findings show that New Zealand has a more flexible and supportive system of school to university transitions than Chile. In both countries, however, students placed considerable value on experiences that allowed them to connect their own social background with what they learned at university.</p>

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Social and Academic Uses of Digital Technology by University Students

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Eliana Gallardo Echenique
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
First Generation ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Net Generation ◽  
The Social

In most developed countries university students use digital technologies and the Internet in all facets of their daily life. These students represent the first generation to grow up with this new technology and have been given various names that emphasize its affinity and tendency to use digital technology such as digital natives, Net generation and Millennials. Given the lack of empirical support for the notion of a “digital generation”, this study presents a different perspective of what these learners think about their use of digital technologies for academic and social purposes and how they feel about the “Digital Native Generation” phenomenon. This study examines this issue in depth to gain an understanding of what the growing use of new digital technologies means for teaching and learning in higher education.

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