Chasing the Right School: Parents as Agents for Student Aspirations

• In Event: Investigating Trajectories of Student Aspiration in Low-Socioeconomic-Status Schools in Western Sydney

Abstract

The aspirational trajectories of students can be initiated, sustained and shaped by the day-to-day decisions made by the parents who guide their growth. Based on the central tenet that parents are uniquely positioned to influence student aspirations and career development (Middleton & Loughhead, 1993; Mulvey, 2011; Palmer & Cochrane, 1988), our study sought to analyse the relationship between parental expectations and student aspirations.

The objective of this paper is to discuss the role of parental influence upon the perceived future trajectories of students, including their aspirations and ability to articulate a vision for personal development. The research examined a particular group of parents in an area classified as low socio-economic status who were distinctive in pursuing educational opportunities for their children, including ‘chasing the right school’. We hypothesised that educational mobility was an important precursor foreshadowing a pattern of commitment to student attainment and long-term investment in their children’s human capital. Our research follows on from Bankston and Zhou (2002) who suggested that the imaginations of transnational migrants laid the foundation for creating new possibilities and a sense of empowerment transgenerationally.

The focus of the paper is on data collected from a year 8 cohort (n=18) in a comprehensive low SES high school in the STAR project. Innovative and creative artifacts were produced by the students and edited into a 20-minute video. The students’ voices explore their career aspirations, highlighting enabling factors and barriers to attaining these career goals. The video of students discussing aspirations was then screened to a pilot group, our first semi-structured focus group, of parents from the same school. The parental focus group was encouraged to reflect on the research questions, especially the relationship between parents’ willingness to invest time and resources in their children’s educational opportunities in light of the children’s own aspirations. The research is especially important in highlighting how parent-child dynamics creates pockets of resilience even in low SES communities, where existing barriers to achievement are actively confronted by both generations in the search for social advancement and educational opportunities. In particular, we sought to explore from the perspective of high-expectations parents, the advantages of creating ‘streaming’ or accelerated tracks within low SES schools.

The findings revealed that the parents had invested significant social and cultural capital into their children’s potential careers, and were instrumental in “chasing the right school”. The pilot discussions suggested that parental aspirations are projected onto their children; many wanted their children to be earning a decent wage in the future. The significance of the research is to highlight the inextricably social nature of agency — children and their parents together build aspirations that translate into immediate, short-term investment in educational opportunities, and potential long-term improvement in social mobility. These relationships and shared aspiration may affect both generations’ willingness to sacrifice and endure hardship to pursue success in their children’s future.

Author

• Tonia Gray, University of Western Sydney