Aspirations have been shown to be a key influence on young people's engagement with post-school education and training. This research explores how aspirations are affected by where a young person lives. It finds that young people are significantly influenced by their educational and career "inheritance". By encountering educational…

Australia is indicative of a country that is deeply confused and conflicted around a policy discourse of inclusion that is sutured within an existential context heavily committed to the tenets of neoliberalism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of higher education, in which the proportion of young people from backgrounds of…

Immigration is an example of global mobility to developed nations such as Australia. Each year thousands of migrants from different parts of the world move here. Using a sociocultural framework, this article reports on English as a Second Language (ESL) parents' views on the role and importance of English in the learning and lives of their…

This study explores the views of 6,492 New South Wales (NSW) primary and secondary school students' post-school aspirations. It explores when vocational education and training (VET) begins to feature in students' thinking about their futures, the kinds of students who think about VET, and under what conditions. The study informs how teachers,…

This summary brings together the findings from two research projects: "Choosing VET: Investigating the VET Aspirations of School Students" and "In Their Words: Student Choice in Training Markets--Victorian Examples." The research investigated school students' post-school aspirations for vocational education and training (VET),…

Drawing on the findings from in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students studying at Australian universities, this article presents insights into the sociological influences that stem from international students' social networks, at home and abroad, and how they impact on students' aspirations and engagement in international…

This study investigated students' experiences of a career development program that was established to foster interest in and aspirations for higher education within high school students residing in rural and isolated areas of Australia. Nine students who participated in the program were interviewed 18 months later to explore their recollections of…

This paper investigates regional Australian students' aspirations and expectations for their future and, more specifically, the manner in which these are formulated around a view to move outward--that is, away from regional, remote and rural communities--and onward--that is, to make something of their lives. Drawing upon interview data, the paper…

Student motivation during adolescence has become an increasingly important issue for educators and researchers. Using a goal theory perspective, researchers have investigated a range of goals (including achievement goals, social goals and future goals) that influence students' desire to achieve at school. The present study examines the range of…

Aspiration is currently a prominent concept in higher education policy debates. However, reference to this concept is often made in terms of low socio-economic status (SES) students simply lacking aspiration, which schools and universities must work to instill. In contrast to this potentially deficit view, this paper draws on Appadurai's notion of…

This article reports on a research project that investigated the aspirations of primary and secondary school students about access to, and participation in higher education. The research was undertaken at schools in low socio-economic status regional and rural areas of north-eastern New South Wales. The paper discusses the background to the…

In light of the policy and research interests in optimising the educational experiences and outcomes of Indigenous young people, this paper aims to give voice to young Indigenous students' experiences of school and to convey a sense of the varied and complex nature of their educational and life pathways. Using a qualitative, life history research…

This paper documents the voices of Australian rural students as a means of examining students' views of the obstacles confronting them in their endeavours to fulfil the aspirations and expectations for their future imagined lives. The paper draws upon a national research project, and more specifically, data collected in a series of focus group…

Background: There is increasing evidence that schools internationally are not meeting the needs of increasing numbers of young people, especially those at the secondary level, and whose backgrounds have placed them at disadvantage. The evidence is that significant numbers of young people are becoming disconnected from school. While the official…

This study examines the global trend in shifting university costs from national governments to individual students and families, with a specific focus on the existing cost-sharing model in Australian higher education. The research examines the manner in which the availability of income-contingent loans (through the Higher Education Contribution…