Post-school transitions of disadvantaged students (published as - Making the most of the mosaic: facilitating post-school transitions to higher education of disadvantaged students, Australian Educational Researcher V.38)

摘要

Research studies of post-school education and training conducted in\udAustralia and internationally have revealed a mosaic of students’ education and\udemployment experiences, with a multiplicity of nonlinear pathways. These tend to be\udmore fragmentary for disadvantaged students, especially those of low socio-economic\udbackground, rural students, and mature aged students seeking a ‘second chance’\udeducation. Challenges faced by students in their transitions to higher education are\udmade more complex because of the intersection of vertical stratification created by\udinstitutional and sectoral status hierarchies and segmentation, especially relating to\ud‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ education and training, and the horizontal stratification of\udregional, rural and remote locations in which students live. If we are to achieve the\udequity goals set by the Bradley Review (Bradley et al., Review of Australian Higher\udEducation Final Report, 2008) we need to acknowledge and work with the complex\udrealities of disadvantaged students’ situations, starting at the school level. Interrelated\udfactors at the individual, community and institutional level which continue to inhibit\udstudent take-up of higher education places are discussed in the context of discursive\udconstructions of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘choice’ in late modernity. Research highlights\udthe need to facilitate students’ post-school transitions by developing student resilience,\udinstitutional responsiveness and policy reflexivity through transformative\udeducation.