Higher Education Equity Literature Database

Context: Relatively new context of WP in English/ UK higher education; "The access movement needs to be supported by research, evaluation and dissemination, and not just founded on good intentions and individual creativity.otherwise there will be good (and bad) re-inventions of the wheel" (p.95). Argues that evaluation = undefined and multiple understandings exist - Thomas explicitly resists the 'positivist hegemony' of quantitative measurement approaches
Aim: To "outline the importance and process of evaluation research in the widening participation agenda" (abstract); to argue for 'formative' evaluation approaches that focus on processes rather than measurement of inputs and outputs.
Methodology: Participatory Action Research (PAR): "A participatory action research (PAR) approach that goes beyond simply understanding and reporting what is happening, but evaluation research that has an impact on practice and changes people's lives" (p.99). PAR = takes place in 'the real world', starting from lived issues and involving all stakeholders. "The aim of the research is for practical outcomes to be achieved, so there is an intimate link between research and action" (p.100). PAR = developmental process, thus facilitating lens on processes rather than input and output. PAR recognizes local context/ 'unique features' of each project/ individual characteristics of local cohort. Need to identify internal and external inputs. Range of methods can be used to 'listen to voices'. PAR = holistic approach.
Offers case study of using PAR
Core argument about PAR for evaluating WP: PAR offers local solutions for local problems, promotes learning and engagement, , encourages enthusiasm, ownership and sustainability, promotes active citizenship and stakeholder society, bridges gaps between theoretical/ academic knowledge and experiences of community members and practitioners. Limitations = gaining entry/ trust, people choose not to participate, conflicts of interest, validity as academic method.

Context: Experiences of mature students (female caregivers/ older women) who have had a break from studying in Australian higher education. Focus of this article = interaction between gender, caregiving and learning/transition.
Aims: To "examine how this group of women transitioned into the university environment with specific reference to their student and caregiving identities" (p.243-4)
Theoretical frame: Feminist perspective
Methodology: Draws on two research studies (2007 and 2013), using semi-structured interviews. Narrative inquiry; collective vignettes: "This was a deliberate choice to acknowledge the unique biographies of these women while simultaneously identifying the commonalities of experience" (p.247). Author's own biography and positioning = important to this (see p.247). Analysis = constructivist grounded theory.
Findings: Collective vignettes of female caregivers
Vignette 1 - Returning university: generally informed by personal ambitions and perspectives of others; example of Rose (married, 2 kids) = foregrounds a sense of waiting for 'her time'. For others = striving for economic security, but also concern in data about financial investment/ creating financial disadvantage for children through studying. Many women expressed feelings of guilt and imposter syndrome. Overall, author writes that there "is a sense of fragility in some of these women's stories, the decision to come to university has had deeply felt repercussions" (p.251) - fear of judgement from others, fear of losing support. Some students (e.g. Nicki, recently separated single mum) was keeping her studies a secret. Other participants described having to 'prove themselves fit' to balance study and work/parent. This also created strain in the participants' relationships: "This stratification [of gender roles] limited personal horizons and marked this decision to attend university as not only different to deeply embedded gender norms but also, a possible threat to expected life course" (p.251).
Vignette 2 - managing movement between home and university: each participant described strategies they had developed to manage competing demands on their time/ expectations of them, such as demarcating time and space for different parts of their lives (study, family, work) etc. to maximise time/ enable productivity. "This is a difficult "balancing act" that has high emotional stakes as the women de- scribe their attempts to limit the impact on family" (p.252) and managing boundaries was reported as difficult. Attending university required sacrifice, with many participants perceiving their children as missing out. All of this prompted emotional responses/ burden.
Author argues = "sense of fragility" in the stories, with "deeply felt repercussions" (p.251)
Vignettes depict 'non-normative transitions'
Core argument: Gender roles are significant and can result in feelings of guilt about not doing their best for their children/ families + study + work etc. Author notes Acker's (1992) work on 'gendered institutions' for considering the tacit barriers that mature women/ caregivers face in seeking to enter and participate in higher education (contrasted against imagined 'ideal student' = mobile, middle class, responsibility-free).
"There is a clear need to problematize the gendered nature of both care and learning to avoid assumptions that failure to successfully transition to higher education is attributable to personal reasons rather than linked to structures beyond the control of the individual" (p.254).
Universities need to expand their conceptions of/ assumptions about who our students are and what they bring with them.
Universities should do more to find out about the experiences of their caregiving students.

Context: Increased diversity in student body, increased workload for academic teachers, decreased time and space; gendered dimensions of academic work. Author draws on work that argues that women are disadvantaged "by the contradictory demands of two "greedy" institutions, the family and academia" (p.33). Feminist literature on 'emotional labour' and care reviewed. Focus on student writing and feedback because "Work with student writing connects with a holistic but ambivalent understanding of care for a number of reasons - it is incremental, cyclical and slow, it often takes place in hidden spaces e.g. at home and in personal tutorials, often involves listening, empathy, attention to identities and meanings, and to the 'whole person' e the intellectual, emotional and even physical. It is also an exceptionally demanding and time-consuming aspect of the role of academics with teaching responsibilities (particularly in setting, supporting and assessing students' written work, Tuck, 2012) and frequently straddles, in both time and space, the increasingly blurred boundary between academics' working and home lives." (p.33).
Aim: To respond to two RQs:
"How do academic teachers' discourses and practices contribute to and reflect the gendering of academic work around student writing in the disciplines?
What are the consequences of such gendering?" (p.35)
Theoretical frame: Academic Literacies;
Methodology: Author makes the argument that it's difficult to study gender 'head on' because "subtle gendering processes which are often practiced with only "liminal awareness" (Martin, 2006, p.258)" (p.34). Paper draws from author's PhD research on academics work with student writing; author notes that the study did not explicitly set out to examine gender, but it "emerged as significant in the form of feminising discourses of writing work which became evident as the project unfolded, surfacing in the form of familial analogies and nurturing imagery in the words of participants" (p.34).
Findings: Themes: work around writing on work/life boundary; work around writing on work/personal boundary; gendering work = emotional labour
Student writing/ work-life boundaries: lived experiences of working with student writing = done "at marginal times and in marginal places" (p.35) - temporal and spatial blurring of boundaries.
Student writing/ work-personal boundaries: student writing often happens in addition to formally ascribed duties, and "becomes squeezed into the "above and beyond", not fully acknowledged at institutional level, but necessary to meet students' perceived needs" (p.36), particularly for sessional tutors. Author describes this as 'shadow work'. Author also offers example of students approaching a female tutor because they don't want to approach the (male) course leader, asking for a task translation. The accessibility and availability of tutors = connected to notion of care, as articulated by participant 'Angela': "I think they [students] appreciate at some level that I'm more available to them than some of their other tutors are, possibly because of my age and because I've offered, and possibly 'cause I'm just a little less intimidating" (p.36).
Gendered view of work with student writing as emotional labour: creates dilemmas and tensions between professional identities, especially for 'research-active' academics. Author cites examples of people finding it difficult to get people to mark dissertations; participant Pam said "I'm nobody's Mum in this University, so when the students are begging me for things I just think I really need to direct you on to somebody else who might have more time and patience and actually get paid for it" (on p.37). Pam goes on to argue that students need 'somebody' to help with writing, as do other participants. Also, the metaphor of 'handholding' is evoked, along with the idea that responding to students' questions about assignments = care; conversely, the idea that there is a 'constant stream of needy students' perpetuates a view of students as children. This comes at a cost: physical exhaustion: "The effort of integrating intellectual and emotional labour in academic work is exhausting, not least because it is undervalued at institutional level and thus poorly resourced in institutional terms. A feminised construction of such labour, which disaggregates the emotional from the intellectual, enables lower (monetary) value to be accorded to writing work, which in part explains the persistence of such models in the managerialist university" (p.38)
Core argument: "Data analysis in this paper points to the potentially gendered nature of writing-related work for academic teachers because it is time-consuming, potentially emotionally demanding and can involve a lot of conversation and interpersonal engagement, things which have often been associated with female labour and with 'nurture'" (p.39).

Context: Set within the context which suggests that 'the culture of poverty (Harrington, 1962) paradigm that suggests poor people share an entrenched set of values, and that these values are the cause of undesirable educational and other outcomes' (p. 356), is still prevalent race and class discourses, and where dominant discourses on African Americans include 'notions of tragedy, failure, and violence' (p. 356) (Kirkland, 2013; Noguera, 2009; Winn, 2012). The author therefore highlights the crucial need for 'research situated within the experience and understandings of African American boys and young men to counter these gendered cultural myths (Payne & Brown, 2010) (p. 356).
Aim: To describe a narrative analysis case study, which 'examines the ways a 20-year-old African American man challenges the negative educational identity with which he is forced to contend as he navigates a large and complex urban public school system' (p. 355). The questions guiding the analysis: a) "How does Jamahl understand the ways he is positioned in educational disparity discourse?' b)"How does Jamahl (re)negotiate and resist these positionings?"
Theoretical frame: a) Counter-storytelling as a form of double consciousness - 'the practice of voicing experiences not widely heard in ways that can challenge privilege, inequities, and inequalities (Solorzano & Yosso, 2001, 2010) (p. 357) ; b) Identity formation through positioning - Positioning theory: 'not all people have equal access to the rights and duties to enact particular kinds of meaningful actions in specific contexts, and that all people are positioned in or through speech acts and other discourse' (Harre & van Langenhove, 1999; Harre, Moghaddam, Cairnie, Rothbart, & Sabat, 2009) (p. 357).
Methodology: Narrative analysis - to explore and document 'negotiated identities' (Riessman, 1993, 2008); Participant: Jamahl, a 20-year-old African American boy trying to gain his High School Equivalency (HSE) credential the The Opportunity Center (one of 12 young men participating in awa wider study which investigated the cultural tools employed by men of colour to negotiate discourses of educational disparity in their educational context); Data collection methods: Focus groups (11) & follow-up individual interviews (2) over five months of data collection; Rapport with participants developed through an afterschool Men's Group dedicated to Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR); Data analysis - Three methodological steps to explore Jamahl's agency in (re)positioning himself: 'analysis of content (Riessman, 2008), analysis of narrative structure (Gee, 1991, 2011; Riessman, 1993, 2008), and a significance analysis of a specific evaluative device (Daiute, 2014)' (p. 359).
Findings: The use of the word "actually" was a 'significance-building' tool in Jamahl's narrative (p. 360) - an 'important means for him to resist undesirable framings and seek out new positions' (p. 360); 1) Seeking new positions through "actual" experience - Beginning of the narrative: Jamahl explains how he stopped going to his initial school; Jamahl's narrative of how he eventually came to the High School Equivalency Center, entitled "Jamahl's Story of Looking for New Schools," evidences his use of "actually," and shows how it functions in his identity negotiations; The first two stanzas illustrate Jamahl's agency through his active searching for a way to return to formal education - initial stanza emphasizes the actions that Jamahl was taking; words "looking" or "look" were mentioned eight times in this short stanza to show his audience his seriousness about the search for a new educational program. He told his audience that he was not only looking online but also scanning the periodical from the city Housing Authority, which manages the housing project where Jamahl and his family lived. In stanzas 3-6, Jamahl explained why that school, Coolidge, did not work out for him. In this second school, Jamahl "knew everyone there", where he and his friends were still positioned in a deficit frame. He was seeking a space where he will not be framed in these ways. In the next stanza, Jamahl asserted that he did not want his audience to draw the conclusion that he was uninterested in education because of his lack of interest in Coolidge. He was "feeling it, but ... wasn't feeling it at the same time." In the final two stanzas (7-8), Jamahl resisted the notion that he was a passive person, someone uninterested in formal education. He was aware that his decision to leave two educational programs may have framed him in this way in some people's eyes, so he worked at the close of the narrative to further ward off this positioning. "Actually" served as this significance-building tool in these narratives. Jamahl used "actually" three times as he warded o the perception that he did not care about education and that he was working instead of spending time "in the street doing nothing." (p. 362); 2) Actually becoming somebody - Jamahl's (re)positionings allowed him to build an identity to counter the negative ways he had been framed, and through this identity Jamahl sought to engage a better, and more self-directed way of being-in-the-world; Jamahl's narrative titled "Actually becoming somebody" by the author - about his first-grade teacher, and a moment etched in his memory when she told him that he "wasn't gonna be nothin' in life." While a painful story for Jamahl, he returned to his elementary school years later, as a teenager, to both visit and challenge that teacher and her prophecy about him (p. 362). Jamahl switched from dislike for the teacher to "I showed her otherwise, like, when she said to me that I ... wasn't gonna become nothin' in life" (p. 363). He explained he is "putting myself out there, seeking help, just trying to do better for my life, and not become that nobody like she said I would become." Analysis of content, structural analysis, and a significance analysis focusing on the significance- building tool "actually" all demonstrate Jamahl's agentive (re)positionings. Jamahl's narrative highlights his agency: he stated that he "felt like [he] had type ownership of himself," and that the teacher was "actually seeing [him] not in a position that she thought [he] would be in, but in a position [he] see[s] himself in" (p. 363).
Discussion: 1)The dialogical process of culturally responsive pedagogies - 'Engaging the conceptual frame double-consciousness and the tradition of counter-storytelling, Jamahl's narratives can be read as situated actions indexical to his identity negotiations, specifically a means of (re)positioning himself in relation to educational disparity discourse'. Jamahl is both being pushed into acceptance of a particular framing of who he is and resisting this positioning. During the member checking process of this study, Jamahl asserted that this ongoing negotiation exists both within and beyond school. It is only through an understanding of the undesirable discourses he is resisting and an awareness of the cultural tools he employs in his resistance that a pedagogy might aim to be responsive to Jamahl's desires and needs' (p. 364). 2)Grounding culturally-responsive pedagogies - Jamahl's successful (re)positioning of himself as someone who sought formal education, as someone other than a person who isn't "gonna become nothin' in life" says much about education and agency. Deficiency discourses framing African American young men like Jamahl are evident throughout educational research and reform as well as the wider society, engendering continual (re)positioning efforts on the part of minoritized people as they seek to mitigate the impact of these positionings (Allen, 2017; Harper & Davis, 2012). The findings also show that 'there remain broader forces at work that can limit marginalized students' (re)positional identities in classroom spaces, even when educators attempt to position themselves as allies' (p. 364) (Ives, 2012). In exploring Jamahl's narratives, and analyzing his work to (re)position himself as a learner and active seeker of education rather than the "nothing" he was positioned as, the authors argue that 'renegotiated identities should not be viewed as a panacea' (p. 364); The narrative analysis also suggests that 'agency can be reproductive as well as transformational' (Bourdieu, 2011; Willis, 1977); Authors therefore suggest that agency 'must be understood as the negotiation of social structures and practices, not their absence or overcoming' (Fairclough, 2003).
Core argument: This narrative analysis case study serves as a reminder that "students' positions ... need not be equated with their dispositions" (Luttrell & Parker, 2001, p. 245).

Context: US higher education; mismatch between lecturers' and students' expectations, and differences between 'traditional' and FinF students in terms of expectations and what counts as success. Framed against issues relating to attrition/ retention of students, and Tinto's work on success in particular
Aim: To examine differing perceptions of student success between lecturers and students, and to examine the differences between traditional and FinF students. Three questions presented on p.431:
"First, how do faculty members understand and express their own expectations?
Second, to what extent do students in general understand and accept the faculty's expectations?
Finally, how do first generation and more traditional students either overlap or differ in their ability to recognize and respond to faculty expectations?"
Theoretical frame: Roles as resources/ role mastery (based on symbolic interactionist theory); Bourdieu - cultural capital (translating into 'role expertise'); Tinto - social integration
Methodology: Qualitative study with faculty and students at Portland State University (PSU) where 18% of students = FinF. Data collected via focus groups with lecturers (n=15 from faculties of Business/ Liberal Arts and Sciences) + focus groups with students (n=63: traditional or FinF, with more 'non-traditional' students included than traditional students)
Findings: Authors categorised three themes for both groups: workload and priorities, the explicitness of expectations and assignments, and issues related to communication and problem solving.
Faculty members: able to articulate the challenges they faced because of how they perceived students failed to understand/ follow the lecturers' expectations.
Workload and priorities: lecturers had clear ideas of the time they expected students to dedicate to their studies (1hr class = 3hrs of study), and that students should prioritise their studies over other commitments
Explicitness of expectations and assignments: although lecturers recognised that their assumptions were not clear to students, they also described students' struggles with understanding what is expected with assessment as 'not following directions' (see p.433). Lecturers expressed frustration that students did not pay attention to specific requirements/ expectations as outlined in course syllabus.
Expectations related to communication and problem solving: agreement that communication between faculty and students = important, but questions over whose responsibility it is. Lecturers blamed students for not being more open about challenges they face (e,g. students not attending office hours)
Students
General expectations (for both groups): students based investment of time on the amount of time they had available, rather than following lecturers' guidelines. Both sets desired more explanation and explicit direction from lecturers. Students tended to discuss communication issues in terms of relationship building, with a shared perception that the onus for starting communication should lie with the student.
Expectations related to communication and problem solving: both sets of students expressed a desire for lecturers to be more explicit, even though lecturers viewed their instructions as detailed and clear. Learning how to write in ways that were expected/ valued was particularly concerning, especially in General English classes where such practices were supposed to be taught.
FinF students
FinF students "reported markedly more problems related to time management and placing priority on the time they devoted to their classes" (p.436), resulting in descriptions of overcommitment and time management challenges. These were magnified by the increased commitments that FinF students had/ the limited resources (e.g. peers and family members) who could help them navigate their studies. FinF students wanted more information/ detail than traditional students about assessments. Authors also noted differences in the way the two types of students used the course syllabus: "first- generation students tended to rely almost exclusively on information they acquired from hearing, observing, and interpreting the actions of professors-especially their initial explanations of the course syllabus" (p.437). FinF students also more likely to complain/ express concern about the technical elements of written work/ academic writing.
FinF students also likely to make a decision on whether to approach a lecturer based on their lecture style (two aspects: 1) use of disciplinary jargon; 2) unwillingness to rephrase instruction if students ask a question).
Impact seen in students' grades/ performance, largely because of issues with attendance, understanding disciplinary conventions, misunderstanding what was expected.
Core argument: Student success involves mastery of what it means to be a 'college [university] student': "Mastering the college student role enables young people to understand their instructors' expectations and to apply their existing skills to meet those expectations successfully" (p.425-6).

Context: Describes the significance of cultural safety for Indigenous students in the context of the Preparation for Tertiary Success (PTS) program at Bachelor Institute/ CDU. Cultural safety = defined by Bin Sallik (2003) as "the provision of an emotionally and physically safe environment in which there was shared respect and no denial of identity" (p.21) = related to, but different from, cultural competence. Colonial past makes cultural safety an ongoing concern because of institutionalised racism and hegemonic practices that serve to exclude Indigenous people.
Aim: "The purpose of this research was to discover what made a difference to the academic success of students in this preparation stage of their study" (p.115).
Theoretical frame: Cultural safety/ post-colonial theory
Methodology: Reflective narratives from PST students, which are routinely conducted with students on a one-to-one basis and are published with permission on a blog
Findings: Students identified the importance of having culturally safe spaces of learning and a both-ways pedagogy that acknowledges and valorises their Indigenous experiences and knowledges. This helped to develop confidence and take risks. PST also helped them to navigate the cultural interface.
Core argument: "cultural safety is also about enabling a learning space that values the knowledge that students brings with them, maintains a 'Both Ways' approach to learning, utilizes and draws on multiple knowledge systems, highlights the work and voices of Indigenous academics and provides students with a cultural interface experience to help them re-imagine and strengthen their own knowledge positions" (p.120-121).

Context: RBS in HE in Australia - Western Australia (Curtin University and Murdoch University)
Aim: To develop innovative teaching and learning programs that are specifically designed to meet the needs of students from a refugee background within university contexts by: documenting perspectives and needs of students from refugee backgrounds at Curtin and Murdoch; develop programs to be implemented that meet their needs; develop this as a flexible and modular program capable of being embedded into differing HE contexts; facilitate improved outcomes for RBS in terms of attrition, retention, and academic success.
Conclusions: Preparation programs in HE are inadequate and students feel unequipped; RSB students require extra (and constant) support and encouragement, particularly in the first year; move beyond the local context of student engagement, students aren't familiar with the local context; financial support is necessary for these students; students are unaware of available services; students need encouragement to participate in tutorials.
Core argument: Encouragement is identified as a basis of academic success for these students. Emphasises that RBS require specific supports to achieve success in HE. Pre- and post-migration experiences can culminate in stressors to commencing and completing their studies. Programs 'that privilege the voices and needs of students from refugee backgrounds, will support and retain current students, and encourage other refugees to commence tertiary education.' (p.4)

Context: Based from assumption that TAFE students need more support for their transitions to undergraduate study, particularly for students who transition directly into Year 2 and miss orientation/ transition activities. Paper reports on inquiry to see how ALL staff can facilitate TAFE-transitioning students more effectively. Identifies challenges facing TAFE students, such as: incongruities between cultures of learning and assessment practices, literacies
Aim: To bring the TAFE-uni student voice in (an identified gap in the literature)
Theoretical frame:
Methodology: Discusses problem of identifying students who came through TAFE pathway (p.A122). Identified 1350 (approx.) students; conducted Survey Monkey q'naire (n = 76/ range of disciplines): demographic, support encountered and helpfulness, comparison of expectations v. reality, list specific challenges re: transition from TAFE. Follow up 7 x focus groups (n = 26; low response rate from q'naire; issued personal invites)
Findings:
Most commonly cited form of transition support = orientation (32), print materials (32), 'skills' modules (18), student support (16). All of these had low rates of perceived helpfulness (11, 6, 2, 2 respectively). ALLU workshops cited by 6 and all 6 considered them helpful. 25 students reported having no support. With regards to expectations/ realities, 13 expected greater independence, 10 harder work, 7 heavier workload (esp. reading and writing). Focus groups identified range of tech/procedural challenges: time management, organisations skills, administrative arrangements, online components of learning, reading, group work, research and referencing (p.A124). Also report issues for mature students and students who articulated with credit (not visible as having transitioned from TAFE).
Suggestions for improvements (A127):
- Universities should contact students while still at TAFE and give information about university and transition
- Students should have mock uni days
- During orientation, TAFE students should be identified and offered specific induction activities/ disciplinary-specific introductions and sessions on digital learning
- For students entering in Year 2: revise 'skills' and unpack assumptions about what students can do already
- Liaise with local TAFEs
- Develop clear and reliable way of identifying students from TAFE (all backgrounds and with period of time between study)
La Trobe = written 'survival guide' for TAFE students

Context: Secondary school teachers' beliefs with regard to university preparation in the Netherlands; attrition from university (statistic for the Netherlands = 25% either drop out or switch program during/ after first year), which justifies the strong focus in the scholarly literature. However, authors argue that the period prior to starting university is under-explored. In the Netherlands, there is a form of secondary education (literally university preparation education), which is the focus of this study. Authors argue that examining the perceptions of school teachers is insightful because (1) they are university educated themselves; (2) they know their students reasonably well. Authors also argue there is inadequate attention on how teachers prepare students for their transitions into higher education, and the connection between beliefs and practices with regard to preparing students for university study.
Aim: To explore teachers' beliefs so as to "investigate whether and to what extent they pay attention to making their students ready for university" (p.10). To respond to these RQs:
1) "What are teachers' beliefs about aspects of university readiness?...
2) How do teachers contribute to their students' university readiness?...
3) What are teachers' beliefs about their role in the process of preparing students for university?
4) Do teachers experience barriers that hinder them from attending to university preparation, and if so, what are these barriers, and how might they be overcome?" (all p.11)
Methodology: Semi-structured interviews with school teachers who taught grade 11 and/or 12 of school in the university preparation stream; most = humanities teachers. Authors undertook 'framework analysis' (see p.12)
Findings:
Teachers' beliefs about preparation: study skills (most prominent) - including independent study and metacognition; independence more broadly (living alone/ study); perseverance; curiosity.
Teachers' preparatory practices: just less than half said they were not aware of consciously contributing to students' readiness; one quarter described activities designed to prepare students. Most common activity (mentioned by 2/3 of teachers) = answering direct questions about university courses associated with their subjects; half of the teachers reported asking students about post-school plans for study, meaning that half left it to students to ask for assistance; half of teachers sought to develop students' research skills/ thinking skills; 44% of teachers promoted study skills; 44% gave general information about studying at university; 42% described trying to help students developed independence; 15% mentioned paying attention to students' language development.
Teachers' belief about their role in university preparation: 66% viewed university preparation as their responsibility; 26% viewed exam preparation as university preparation; 26% did not view that they have a role in supporting students to prepare for university.
"Thus, it appears that university preparation is not high on the agenda in secondary schools or consciously in the minds of teachers" (p.16).
Challenges: preparing for exams as a significant barrier (40%); lack of time (38%); lack of familiarity with what universities expect (36%).
Wishes: more coordination between schools and universities; more attention to university preparation [presumably in the curriculum]
Core argument: Strong connection between role perception/ beliefs and practices, suggesting that if more teachers view university preparation as part of their role then they would do more purposeful preparation activities [but obviously recognising the structural impediments to this, and the responsibility of universities to engage in more coordination and information sharing]

Context: Equality agenda: "the aim is that nobody who has the ability to go to university should lack the opportunity to do so, no matter what his or her circumstances are" (p.3). Three main arguments for pursuing equality [note: not equity] agenda: 1) everyone has a right to education and under-representation of any group is "a sign of a systemic denial of such rights" (p.4); 2) notion of 'redress' (think South African context) of historical marginalization or disadvantage; 3) utility - meeting human capital requirements (makes more sense in SA than Aus). Need to distinguish between widening and increasing participation (p.4) - increasing = + no.s; widening = + ratios. Foregrounds importance of language: "Our habitual terminology, which is socially conditioned, will influence the reasons we give for engaging in widening participation, and consequently the actions we take" (p.5) - gives example of 'deprivation' tapping into discourses of victimhood and entitlement, rather than more neutral discourses around talent and potential.
Aim: Paper offers "a few observations about the fears, doubts and anxieties that permeate" the equity/equality debate (p.3).
Findings: Discusses common fears
'Standards will drop' - based on assumed correlation between under-representation of certain groups and not meeting entry requirements (Brink gives examples from SA and UK that counter this fear)
'Our reputation will suffer' - validated by relational positioning according to league tables (example of entry scores forming ranking formula in UK). Follows with example of challenging 'African hegemony' at Stellenbosch University in SA (where Brink was VC for 7 years)
'It's not our problem' - discusses the distribution of blame to school (A-levels) but points to success rates in GCSEs and how universities might not see that far down as part of their problem. Gives example of Newcastle University's commitment to becoming a civic university.
'It's social engineering' - consider underpinning discourses (social engineering as harmful not benevolent; as coercive not free choice). Brink gives example of his tenure at Stellenbosch and cautions against governments penalising universities for not following a prescriptive equality agenda (for fear of losing political and public support); rather universities "have their own path to tread" (p.11) - connection with notion of academic freedom.
'It's not fair'- connects with notion of 'fair access' (in UK relates to privately educated students disproportionately represented in leading universities): "Fair access", then, is the insistence that prospective students should be judged in terms, not just of the arithmetical fact of their school-leaving results, but of the context within which those results were obtained" (p.12). On contrary, notion of 'unfair access' also applies in decontextualized terms (if places are based on merit, it is 'unfair' that a student with lower scores gets in above a student with higher scores).
'It's a waste of time' - based on two fears: 1) time, money and effort do not justify the returns; 2) it is impossible - "that widening participation and maintaining standards are inherently contradictory" ... so that "excellence and equality are mutually exclusive" (p.13-4). Brink dismisses the second fear with the example of Nelson Mandela and examples of ignorant statements relating IQ and 'intelligence' (performance in tests) with certain groups.
Core argument: Brink concludes by saying that "the comparison of different manifestations of underlying fears tells us something about what is fundamental and what is accidental. Circumstances are accidental, and differ from place to place. Fears, on the other hand, seem to be fundamentally the same, no matter where" (p.18).

Context: Wasting or using time/ time as resource or "a medium essential for the attainment of things" (p.2). Time is subjective; evaluation of time impacts on people's behavior, organizational outcomes and emotions. Authors develop hypothesis from Kruglanski et al., (2015) = individuals with a locomotion orientation are more likely to view time as a quantifiable resource (p.2), therefore will see impacts on people with high locomotive orientation of mental accounting of time and disappointment with wasting time),. Time-related behaviours that align with locomotion orientation = speed, speed potential, promptness, time management, multitasking/ polychronic behavior (see p.3). Authors posit that a person's locomotion orientation impacts not only on behavior but also on cognition and emotions.
Hypothesis: "locomotors' perception of time as a valuable resource leads them to be more conscious of opportunity cost of time" (p.6)
Literature review: people treat time as limited resource, especially when it is perceived as being scarce (e.g. deadlines), and it becomes priceless. Perceptions of time also impact on decision making, and results in time-saving techniques (for efficiency), such as multitasking. People are known to 'budget' time in order to balance the books ("appropriateness of time allocations", p.4). The ways people think about time = impacts on emotions - the more people think about time, the more likely they are to be impatient (DeVoe and Pfeffer,
2011), frustrated, or less happy in non-paid leisure time (DeVoe and House, 2012). Locomotion = self-regulation and actions to support movements forwards. It is believed to correlate with conscientiousness. Locomotors are thought to prefer quick rewards, rather than deferred gratification (Mannetti et al., 2009). Dominant idea for locomotors = time is scarce and things need to be done as efficiently as possible
Aim: To "investigate the relationship between locomotion orientation (i.e., proclivity toward movement and change) and the evaluation of time as a resource" (abstract); to add to knowledge by exploring subjective understandings of time according to individual differences, related to personality traits or other chronic dispositions
Theoretical frame:
Methodology: Surveys administered to two groups: 1) Focus: "to investigate whether locomotion orientation
is positively associated with a greater tendency to track and record past time expenditures" (p.6) = 244 UG students in Dept. Psychology/69 workers in Rome = given The Locomotion Regulatory Mode Scale and the Mental Account Scale (Time version). 2) Focus: "address the evaluation of time as a resource by testing the prediction that individuals with high (vs. low) locomotion orientation feel more negative emotions when they are faced with negative consequences of prior time investments" (p.9-10) = 139 students = presented with two scenarios of a transaction where prior investments of time led to negative outcomes.
Findings:
Findings "confirm that locomotion orientation is positively associated with a perception of time as a valuable and limited resource" (p.13) - time matters.
Locomotors tend to keep mental budget of time and attempt to recover 'past investments'.
More likely to be frustrated if =poor outcome from previous time investment.
Locomotors = "budget their time investments attempting to recover lost expenses" (p.13)
Reasons: 1) locomotors view time as invaluable; 2) want to use time as efficiently as possible; 3) locomotors may be less inclined to using accommodation and rationalization strategie
Core argument:
"(1) locomotion orientation is associated with the existence of a mental accounting process for time investments and (2) locomotion orientation is associated with greater disappointment from negative consequences of poor time expenditures" (abstract)

Context: Access to information/ decision-making about higher education for students and families from different social classes. Transition = not understood as process/ phenomenon/ discourse; rather = choice to go to university (or not) - informed by Irish school system having a 'transition year' towards end of compulsory schooling
Aim: To explore to what extent students from different schools/ social classes have equal access to information about higher education, and to examine the role that schools play in the process
Theoretical frame: Situates paper against social class/ social reproduction (institutional habitus - Bourdieu)/ rational choice arguments about higher education choice - but notes the difference (I.e. habitus = largely not agentic and explicit, whereas rational choice is). Agency = used "to reflect the conscious decisions made by young people in deciding whether to go to university and which college or course to attend" (p.264). Post-school planning conceptualized as:
1) individual/ familial habitus
2) institutional habitus
3) agency
Methodology: Qualitative (part of broader post-primary longitudinal study): questionnaires and in-depth interviews/ focus groups with final-year students and staff from two different high schools (1: middle class, fee-paying = Fig Lane; 2: working class, state school = Barrack Street)
Findings:
82% of FL students planned to go to university compared with 52% of BS students.
Fig Lane: Many of students from FL = not first-in-family and so could request advice from parents/ siblings (although only a third thought parents were influential on post-school decision-making). Authors note "an extraordinarily high level of expectations and confidence" in FL students about going to university (plan not aspiration). 76% planned to go to university. Students at FL given lots of support from guidance counselor about going to university (but most students = dissatisfied with guidance given) but the orientation/ campus visits organized with elite university = viewed positively by students and staff. Overall, "students' subjective assessments are most probably based on the multiple habituses of family and school over longer periods of time" (p.271).
Barrack Street: BS students = generally first-in-family and deference to parents' influence = considerably higher (75% mothers; 60% fathers) = suggests classed/ gendered difference. Students reported being frustrated by lack of guidance on offer at BS - they felt the onus was on them to collate information about university and students appeared to have a lack of information about courses available and many felt the guidance counselor did not care about them because she is too busy (disputed by interview data from guidance counselor). 59% of BS students wanted more information about different options at uni/ 67% wanted more information about college (compared to 20% at FL). Analysis of the data suggestions expectation gap between students have higher aspirations than teachers/ guidance counselor; "Instead of withdrawing or becoming disengaged from school, students appear to react to these low expectations and are mobilised to do well at school, which is an unusual form of resistance" (p.275). Peer influence = more important for BS students than for FL students
Core argument: Students in middle class/ working class schools appeared to have different sets of habitus/ capitals for negotiating the education field. The institutional habitus of the schools "are made manifest through the academic climate and through guidance provision" and "is reflected in the nature of guidance within the school", impacting on a students' view of/ approach to/ aspiration or plan for further education. However, the data also demonstrate the students' agency in obtaining information/ making decisions which is often ignored in similar research: "Young people make rational decisions about attending higher education, but this rationality is 'bounded' by their individual, familial and institutional habituses and it can in no way be assumed that the information to which students have access is complete or impartial" (p.279). For some students, academic achievement = "a form of resistance to classed expectations" (p.279).

Context: Attrition in Australian enabling programs; insights into attrition in the CQU/ STEPS context.
Aim: To explore attrition in enabling education so as to develop a set of retention-focused recommendations. Two RQs: 1) What factor(s) led students to withdraw from STEPS? (2). What are the commonalities and differences among non-persisting students' stories of their experience in STEPS? (p.50).
Methodology: Semi-structured interviews with ex-STEPS students who had withdrawn (n=23; 13f, 10m). Students asked about reasons for withdrawing and what could have been done to prevent them from leaving. Interviews with Access Coordinators (n=10)
Findings: Themes = personal challenges, institutional challenges, perceived improvements
Personal challenges: health issues (physical and mental) - also noted by Access Coordinators, juggling life (lack of time) - also noted by Access Coordinators, emotional issues (such as anxiety/ low self-confidence.
Institutional challenges: perceived poor support from tutors, technology issues, feelings of isolation/ disconnection (including not being aware of student supports).
Access coordinators also noted: 'misguided motivations' - pushed by parents/ motivated by government benefits/ motivated because the course is free.
Suggested improvements: 1) clarify expectations, 2) distance learning options - "students wanted to 'sit in' on on-campus classes and have access to sustained online support" (p.56), 3) help with planning/ organisation, 4) more teaching contact/ more timely responses to questions.
One recommendation = "during the mandatory pre-entry interview, Access Coordinators and students co-create a personalised teaching-learning contract, one that clearly outlines unit expectations and schedules, acknowledges competing life responsibilities, and elucidates student and staff responsibilities" (p.58)

Context: Secondary school teachers' professional identities and emotional experiences; neglect of caring in educational policy/ teacher standards (author refers to NSW 2005 Framework of Professional Teaching Standards). Author's literature review juxtaposes the literature that speaks to the emotional dimensions of teaching (e.g. Hargreaves/ Zembylas) and the technico-rationalist discourses in the professional standards document
Aim: To examine "the reasons behind the marginalisation of discourses of emotionality and discusses the lived experiences of three teachers" (abstract); to "explore how individual teachers use and manage emotions to
care for and about students in their professional work" (p.118). RQ:
"How do teachers care for and about their students? What effect does their caring behavior have on their professional decisions?" (p.120)
Theoretical frame: Caring defined as "emotions, actions and reflections that result from a teacher's desire to motivate, help or inspire their students" (p.117). Findings described in terms of three sociological lenses: performative, professional and philosophical/humanistic
Methodology: Qualitative, interactionist study of teachers' (n=3) caring behaviours when working with students. 2 x in-depth/ phenomenological interviews with each participant (see p.120 for details).
'Findings: Three teachers described 'kindness and care' as a professional choice/ necessary part of their job; as 'Laura' articulated, "You choose to care, because you see the value of what you do because you care" (p.121).
Policy conditions make caring difficult; in 'Christina's private school context, she described an expectation to care to show 'value for money'. 'Michael' and 'Laura' describe the boundaries around how far they will/can care, which "are reminders of the fact that teachers' emotions are constrained and guided by role requirements" (p.121).
Caring as performative: for Laura = teaching as 'an acting job', which has emotional consequences in terms of impact and energy spent. Christina viewed caring as a core part of her role, expressed in terms of 'love'. Continuum between professional behaviour and authentic emotions. "Teachers need to navigate the path between being emotionally engaged with students as an individual and undertaking emotion labour to meet the demands which their professional role places upon them" (p.122).
Caring as professional: author questions whether it is necessary to create a teacher persona to distance from personal identity/ies. Professional dimension of caring = about maintaining space and boundaries ('healthy distance') from students while creating a nurturing environment. "Caring is important to teachers precisely because of the fact that it is not represented in standards and cannot be quantified by any objective means" (p.123).
Caring as philosophical/ humanistic: Michael and Christina described their caring/ teaching approach explicitly in terms of a humanistic philosophy (empowering/ liberating through literacy and modeling empathy).
Core argument: Caring for/ about students = motivator for remaining in teaching but also exhausting. Emotional/social dimensions of teaching require more examination and provide a counter discourse to techno-rationalist views of teaching. Implications for pre-service teacher education.

Context: Examines the 'critical intersection' between TAFE/VET diplomas and HE through advanced standing/ credit arrangements. Argues against the idea that this is a 'seamless' pathway because although VET students transition into Year 2 studies, they are actually in first year of university. Students experience an "academic skills gap" (abstract), often due to skipping Year 1 and missing 'threshold concepts' or foundations of the degree [why are these not taught in TAFE course?]. Author appears to take 'transition as induction' view (see Gale & Parker, 2011, 2014) in viewing FYE as key 'time' when key 'academic skills' are taught (which appears to include orientation to university and academic culture). Author points to assumptions made by lecturers and tutors that students have done first year UG. Draws on FYE literature. Makes case that Go8 universities only enrol 3% VET articulant students, despite enrolling 38% of national UG population (see Watson, Hegel & Chesters, 2014), compared with 28% within RMIT/WSU/CSU
Theoretical frame: Bourdieu: field, capital and habitus. Field = education sector; capital = currency to enter Year 2; habitus = 'mastery of particular academic skills'
Methodology: Mixed methods approach within qualitative methodology: interviews with 12 students ("VET articulants", p.A-20)about strategies for addressing 'skills gap'. Questionnaire administered to n=23 students. Students from Business Management or Nursing degrees in Year 2 who transitioned in from TAFE
Findings: Questionnaire data suggests minority of students had 'skills gap' with writing essays (26% = no) but majority could not identify/read academic texts, locate an academic text or reference correctly (83%, 91% and 87% respectively) [but would be interesting to see what % of Yr1 articulants would say they could].
Qualitative data suggests that few students realised that there would be a shift in epistemology (from competence to 'evidence-based knowledge focus', p.A-27) - most realised this after submitting work and receiving feedback - author attributes this to lack of awareness of 'rules of the game'. Drops in/ low grades = led to confidence crises in many students (seemingly mostly related to assessments and not understanding conventions). To resolve transition-related issues, students reported asking students who had taken Year 1 (to read their essays/ ask questions), leaned on friends/ family who had experience of UG studying, read examples of 'good writing'
Core argument: Students' habitus from VET/TAFE = no longer appropriate when they start Yr 2 UG
Limitation: No onus placed on institution to do more to help. Students appeared to be left to sort themselves out (and no critique of this offered by author)

On Monday 20 May 2019, the Gonski Institute for Education held two screenings of Ted Dintersmith’s award-winning documentary Most Likely to Succeed for close to 400 primary and secondary school students at UNSW Kensington campus. The film, which looks at innovative approaches to what school could be, was followed by an interactive session where students were encouraged to design a poster depicting their ideal school, using the themes from the documentary. During this exercise, students were encouraged to consider:

• the purpose of their school.
• the subjects, if any, that would be offered.
• the skills that will be taught and how this will be done.
• the measures of success and student learning. Would their school have grades? or NAPLAN?
• the spaces (rooms and outdoor spaces) that would exist at their ideal school, and the supplies, decorations, technology that would be available.

Many excellent ideas for revolutionary, student-centred schools were identified and discussed. 

The Gonski Institute for Education is passionate about giving student’s a voice. Thank you to all who attended the screenings and made the day such a success, in particular the following schools:

• Malabar Public School
• La Perouse Public School
• Woollahra Public School
• Bonnyrigg Public School
• Randwick Boys’ High School
• St Luke’s Grammar School
• Matraville Sports High School
• Liverpool Boys’ High School
• Burwood Girls’ High School
• Hurlstone Agricultural High School
• Sydney Secondary College – Leichhardt

View our photos on What School Should Be.

Context: Qualitative research on Refugee Background Students (RBS) in higher education - set against context of access to higher education as a human right (Article 26)
Theoretical frame: Relational equity and misrecognition (Anderson 1999; Fraser, 2001). Also uses Bronfenbronner's ecological heuristic (see p.9)
Methodology: Systematic review (8 studies) - meta ethnography. Search terms = refugee and/or asylum seeker, university or higher education, college or tertiary education from 1995-present. Inclusion/ exclusion criteria on p.4. Initially 800 results - process of elimination
Findings: Overall themes identified: invalidation - higher education as 'relationally inegalitarian' and misrecognising of sfrb. Analysis suggests that RBS attended HE to transform themselves, but "frequently found aspects of themselves invalidated and misrecognised by different individuals within the systems (e.g. peers both from, and not from refugee backgrounds; teachers) as well as by the systems themselves" (p.9) - aspects = intelligence, life story, current struggles. Reviewed articles suggest that largely, educators failed to recognise sfrbs' experience and issues and impact on 'performance' (p.9). Racism and discrimination (p.10) = noted theme in literature, as well as the gendered experiences of disadvantage for females in particular (p.11). Issues of self-disclosure of refugee status noted (p.11), as well as difference from 'mainstream' students (p.12) and the mixed messages that students receive between home/ community and university (p.13). Literature also suggests that education = positive and does lead to identity validation for some students (p.13).
Implications for HE (p.14),
- HE needs to "examine the level of equality and recognition occurring within their establishments and then work towards increasing levels of relational and social equality and recognitive justice where appropriate" (p.14) - on a number of levels
- More training for staff
Better representation and links with community

Context: Academic/theoretical attention to men/male critical studies (Beasley 2012) - the development of a "broad body of work across the social/biological sciences and humanities, focusing on men's and boys' identities and a variety of social problems such as mental health issues, unemployment, educational underachievement and violence, has been paralleled by the development of a policy literature on how gender issues affect men (Kimmel, Hearn, and Connell 2004)" (815). The reframing of theoretical agenda around laddish masculinities in UK higher education and correlative masculinities abroad as contextualised by "consumerist neoliberal rationalities, the neoconservative backlash against feminism and other social justice movements, and the postfeminist belief that women are winning the 'battle of the sexes'" (815). The domination of the figure of the 'lad' in discussions of UK higher education began with research conducted by the UK National Union of Students (NUS 2010, 2013) and showed that "university women are at high risk of sexual harassment and violence that may at least be partly framed by a retro-sexist 'lad culture'" (816). Subsequent wave of grassroots activism and policy conversation (Phipps 2015; Phipps and Young 2015a, 2015b) which paralleled similar international reactions/conversation, "for instance around 'eve teasing' in South Asian countries (Mills 2014; Nahar, van Reeuwijk, and Reis 2013), and 'bro cultures' (Chrisler et al. 2012), 'hookup cultures' (Garcia et al. 2012; Sweeney 2014) and 'rape culture' (Heldman and Brown 2014) in the US. Within much of the discussion, there was a sense of a continuum between 'everyday' forms of sexism and more violent sexual assault (see Kelly 1988), and an understanding of violence against university women as a global phenomenon" (816). See page 816 for a list of sources that focus on the victimisation of women students globally.
Aim: To contribute to an intersectional analysis of 'lad culture' that moves beyond a focus on sexism and men's violence against women to include considerations of social class, particularly realities and feelings of domination amongst lower and middle/elite classes - to examine "the similarities and differences between laddism in classroom and social/interpersonal contexts, and explores how such masculinities relate to other forms and are mediated by class, race, sexuality and other categories of difference. It also considers how some forms of contemporary laddism might be connected to sexual violence" (816), using a "wide lens on contemporary cultural, political and social formations, and excavating the meanings and materialities these frame, create and demonstrate" in order to avoid confusing symptoms (i.e. alcohol, pornography) with causes of laddish behavior (818).
Theoretical frame: Theories of masculinity that work to dismantle concepts of hegemonic masculinity, "poststructuralist approaches which aim to transcend (or at least trouble) binary either/or positions (Lather 1990)", second- wave feminist insights, the conceptualisation of gender as both structure and discourse, materiality and performance (816). Takes into account the contemporary impulse to construct masculinity relative to women and sexuality and thus, the importance of the idea of the gender binary in the formation/performance of masculine identity. Gender and sex as a plurality of traits and expressions that do not map neatly on to the social categories of men and woman. Genders = plural and intersectional. Theory of intersectionality as "codified within black feminist thought from the 1980s onwards (Carby 1982; Collins 1998; Crenshaw 1991) [and] invaluable in its exhortation to move away from one-dimensional notions, towards ideas of a co-constitution of social categories, positions and encounters which produces important differences in subjectivity, experience and practice" (817). "US scholarship on black men and masculinities, which situates gendered behaviours in relation to the social category of race and the sociopolitical practice of racism...[and the argument] that black masculinities have been pathologised and stereotyped as excessive (and often violent) through currents of social and political racism, which serve to limit black men to certain subject positions and invisibilise black masculinities which deviate from these norms (McGuire et al. 2014)" (818). Neoliberalism as a framework for oppression, specifically Walcott's (2009) use of "the notion of the 'mask' to denote the profound ways in which this racist and violent structure and rationality has homogenised diverse black masculinities and constructed black men as in need of 'repair'" (818) and the contrasting articulation of white middle-class and elite masculinities as harmonious with the values of corporate neoliberalism (Connell 2005; McGuire et al. 2014; Mills 2014).
Methodology: Essay
Findings: Laddish masculinities in UK university classrooms can be positioned as an expression of alienation from neoliberal, middle-class (and allegedly feminised) higher education; two different types of classroom laddism at work: alienated forms of disruption (which need to be seen in the context of socio-economic austerity) versus more privileged modes of dominance, mediated by class. Laddism in a social context "appears to be largely (although not exclusively) the preserve of privileged men" (823). Performances of laddish sexism are also underpinned by gender and class issues, as well as racial dominance and homophobia (detailed pp. 823-825).
Core argument: Concepts such as hegemonic masculinity, which has achieved its own hegemony in the field (Hearn 2012) but which can lack complexity and nuance, need critical examination. Similarly, while acknowledging the reality of male and masculine privileges (Hearn 2012), "and that the vast majority of sexual harassment and violence worldwide is perpetrated by men against women or people read as women, one-dimensional and conceptually empty terms such as 'male violence', which both essentialise violence as inherent to bodies assigned as male (Harris 1990) and tell us little about which men commit which types of violence, in which contexts and for which reasons", should be challenged and questioned (816). Furthermore, with the knowledge that 'laddish' masculinities may also have a detrimental impact on men (Anderson and McGuire 2010; Dempster 2009, 2011), people of any gender can experience violence as a practice, though it often expresses and upholds masculine power. Frames of gender and sexuality should be complicated with an intersectional appreciation of how they interpellate and affect different men and groups of men in different ways.