At the end of compulsory schooling, young people face an important transition: they have to decide whether to pursue either further schooling or vocational training. Choices are crucial phenomena in transitions: they are based on what a person considers to be options and follow preferences shaped by their social position and context. Using a…

In this paper -- where we will draw on data from a small scale longitudinal study of young people's post-COVID aspirations and sense of their futures in a de-industrialising city -- we will suggest that Appadurai's (2004) ideas about the 'capacity to aspire' encourages us to shift our focus from the 'aspirations' of individual young people to…

The educational aspirations of immigrants are often high, inspired by the hopes of newly gained opportunities available in the host country. This is also the case for students between 12 and 18 years old who have recently migrated to a new country (NAMS). However, they often perform below their non-immigrant peers and are overrepresented in…

Understanding the freedom that students have to make decisions they value enables them to remove barriers to their valued aspirations and obstacles to their freedom and helps them take actions toward their aspired futures. Using the capability approach, this study examines how economically disadvantaged youth in Ethiopia exercised their agency to…

Purpose: Based on empirical data, this study investigates the intention of BA/BSc students in higher education to either pursue their studies or start working. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyses how students' attitudes towards higher education and studying (quality of undergraduate education and performance in higher education), as…

This paper reports on a study conducted by college students at a private university in Saudi Arabia. The research examines the online learning experiences of their peers during the first wave of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Many assumptions exist about online learning and its impact in higher education, but these are mainly based on the…

Objective: Our objective was to examine the perceptions regarding the teaching and learning of English of students in 16 undergraduate programs at a state public university in Mexico. Method: In our qualitative case study, participating students responded to queries about their experiences learning English at the university, as well as their…

My dissertation explores the higher education transition decisions made by senior high school students from diverse social backgrounds in Chile. I examine how family, school, and the broader institutional and political context interact with and influence these decisions during times of major social changes and educational reform. Through a…

In recent decades, it has become the case that leaving school early may no longer be the conclusion of one's educational experiences, with more alternative educational spaces for disenfranchised learners becoming accessible. This qualitative study examines the experiences of 14 young adults in Ireland who, having left their mainstream school prior…

Academic motivation enables students to face challenges in their studies and is important for student performance. Academic self-concept refers to students' perceptions of their competencies and ability to learn. The goal of the study was to evaluate academic motivation and self-concept of undergraduate optometry students. We used a mixed methods…

The main objective of this paper is to examine the role of students' aspirations and expectations in affecting school achievement among 7th and 8th grade students in Qatar's schools. The study draws on data collected in Qatari schools from a randomly selected sample of 841 students and their parents. The findings indicate that students'…

While university participation rates among Indigenous Australians have been on the rise in recent years, parity targets remain elusive. In this context, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how aspirations for higher education are formed and nurtured. Studies tend to focus on barriers to access, often in ways that position Indigenous…

This article offers a new analysis into young people's perspectives towards Welsh-medium study at post-compulsory level. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with twenty-six 15-16-year olds attending a Welsh-medium secondary school in the South Wales Valleys (an area of Wales with a low proportion of Welsh speakers), this article will…

While studies on refugee-background students in school contexts have been prolific, research of this population in higher education or post-tertiary education is still emergent. The paper attends to this gap by drawing on the narratives of five refugee-background young adults who are undertaking Australian higher education or have completed…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of documentation on the educational experiences, college readiness and aspirations of undocumented Latinx migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Design/methodology/approach: This ethnographic study was conducted in a High School Equivalency Program at a large university in the Midwest. Data…