Risky Business: The Identity Work and Emotional Labor of Prospective First-Generation University Aspirants

• In Event: 63.038 - Global Perspectives on Access to Postsecondary Education for Underserved Students

Abstract

Equity has a long history within the Australian higher education sector. However, in contrast to the United States, little attention has been paid to students who are ‘first’ in their families to access university. This study critically engages with the idea of ‘being first’ by exploring how prospective first-generation students (n = 198) enrolled in government schools in New South Wales, Australia, articulate, and imagine, higher education as part of their futures. Through a Bourdieusian lens, we draw on the notion of the ‘familial habitus’ to examine the powerful role of socialisation within the home and familial unit and, in so doing, illustrate the considerable identity work and emotional labour that confront these students by aspiring to university.

Authors

• Sally Patfield, The University of Newcastle

• Jennifer M. Gore, The University of Newcastle

• Leanne Fray, The University of Newcastle