First-in-family (FIF) males, often from low-socio-economic backgrounds, remain severely underrepresented in Australian higher education. Experiences with social life can be a significant determiner to their success at university as well as their prospects for future employment. This paper explores the experiences of two FIF males as they…

This article reports on baseline data gathered as part of an intervention project which aims to enhance academic performance, encourage retention and broaden the educational and career aspirations of senior cycle students in schools which serve socio-economically disadvantaged communities. The experiences and perceptions of 405 students attending…

This paper reports on a study in which we interviewed eleven student teachers who were mothers. We wanted to understand the challenges the women faced in combining Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and motherhood, and about the factors that sustained them through the course. Participants faced practical and emotional challenges, including financial…

Graduate enrollment patterns of students of color suggest that a gap in graduate enrollment persists between Black and Latinx students and White students despite an overall increase in enrollment. Graduate enrollment depends, in part, on student aspirations for graduate study, which is influenced by undergraduate student success and sense of…

An extensive body of research exists on the background characteristics that predict learner achievement. However, in South Africa, little attention has been paid to the level of educational aspirations and the factors that shape the level of aspirations. Using a bio-ecological systems theory of development, we explored the role of gender,…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the stories of two young refugee women, Sue Mar and Amora, and how their adolescent identities, experiences, and beliefs, partially shaped by their English teacher, helped pave their paths to higher education. Design/methodology/approach: This study is guided by the lens of critical literacy as "a way of…

Scholarship underscores the experiences of Appalachian students who must confront a social reality that consistently expects less from them because of their circumstances and the narratives surrounding their social context (Collins, 2020; Piene et al., 2020). Traditionally, the Appalachian people have been viewed by educators from a deficit…

This paper explores eight Kazakhstani postgraduate students' reflections of their international educational experiences in the UK after their immediate re-entry into Kazakhstan. Special focus was on their language identity development after their one-year stay in the UK. It was informed by Benson et al.'s ([2013]. "Second Language Identity in…

The "optimism hypothesis" claims that immigrant students do better in the Norwegian education system than their socioeconomic status would suggest, due to the strong educational aspirations that immigrant parents might have for their children. Grounded in an educational equity paradigm, this study aims to test this hypothesis by…

This article examines the post-school pathways of Russian-speaking students in Ireland after completing secondary education; the importance of personal and institutional factors in shaping their transition process, and the role of parents and schools in achieving the post-school goals. The article draws on the qualitative exploratory study of 14…

High academic expectation--how far a student expects to get in school--is usually predictive of positive outcomes for a student. Yet less is known about mechanisms behind collective expectation: the proportion of students in a school who expect to pursue further studies. Using urban schools' data from the Education Longitudinal Study 2002, this…

Today, young adults from lower-income backgrounds are pursuing educational trajectories that would have been distant dreams for their parents. In many Global South countries, this expansion has followed a neoliberal logic in which private universities purport to provide students skills and increased earning capacity, and employers the necessary…

Previous research has demonstrated that individual religious beliefs and practices are associated with educational outcomes. However, less is known about the manner in which the overall religious cultural influence of a religion can affect an individual's educational aspirations. Using multilevel analyses on two waves of the National Study of…

About 60 percent of polled U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 plan to attend a four-year college, with another 12 percent indicating they plan to attend a two-year college, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Others plan to work full time, join the military or attend a technical/vocational school, but 13 percent said they weren't sure what…

This cross-cultural study examines national variations in the association of youths' attitudinal characteristics and socio-psychological resources at school with their mathematics achievements between South Korea and the US. Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015 data, it finds comparative results between two…