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This book examines the university experiences of first-in-family university students, and how these students' decisions to return to education impact upon their family members and significant others. While it is well known that parental educational background has a substantial impact on the educational levels of family and dependents, it is unclear how attending university as a first-in-family student translates into the family and community of the learner. With the continuing requirements for higher education institutions to increase the participation of students from a range of diverse backgrounds and educational biographies, this is a major gap in understanding that needs to be addressed. Exploring how this university participation is understood at an individual, familial and community level, this book provides insights into how best to support different student requirements.

Edited abstract from publisher's website.

The contents are as follows: Part one, 'Surveying the first-in-family student terrain', contains the following chapters: Setting the scene (pages 3-31); The lack of what ...?: first-in-family learners and their university experience (pages 33-53); Disrupting the deficit: beyond notions of lack for first-in-family students (pages 55-71); What am I waiting for? (pages 73-93). Part two, 'Narrating the first-in-family experience', contains: Trailblazing: motivations and relationship impacts for first-in-family enabling students (pages 97-117); The online student experience: new challenges for engagement and support (pages 119-135); 'So how was big school today?': family perceptions of HE participation (pages 137-154); Parents managing university and family life (pages 155-176); Motivated men: first-in-family male students (pages 177-201); Concluding thoughts (pages 203-2015). Show less

Across the UK labour market there is an expansion in the professions and an increased demand for high skilled workers, technicians and managers. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) predicts that by 2022 there will be an additional two million jobs in professional and managerial occupations. Access to the Professions' new research in summer 2014 focused on young people and their parents/guardians' awareness, aspirations, expectations and perceptions of life as a professional. This report brings together the key findings from the research with discussion areas and recommendations for government, employers, professional bodies and educators that will help ensure the opportunities available through labour market shifts can be taken advantage of by young people in the UK. Access to the Professions is made up of 20 professional bodies working together to help: young people, especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, to consider professional careers; careers advisers and teachers provide current advice and guidance on professional careers, as well as teaching in areas relating to professions; and government and the public to understand the contribution professional bodies make to social mobility and the economy and future prospects of the UK.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

The UK has a gender pay gap: within industries, within occupations, and within organisations, women tend to earn less per hour than men. A small proportion of this gap may be the result of unequal pay for the same work within a firm - which is illegal on the grounds of gender and other protected characteristics - but the majority is a consequence of the sort of jobs that women do, their level of seniority, and the impact of having children on their career choice and progression.

Published abstract. Show less

The purposes of the equity indicators project are to: report the status of higher education equity in the United States and identify changes over time in measures of equity; identify policies and practices that promote and hinder progress; and illustrate the need for increased support of policies, programs, and practices that not only improve overall attainment in higher education but also create greater equity in higher education opportunity and outcomes. By pulling together available historical statistics, the report aims to understand how to foster the evolution of a dynamic higher educational system that provides equity of opportunity while respecting the diversity of talents and gifts among students. This report draws from multiple sources of existing data to provide, in one place, indicators that describe trends in equity in postsecondary enrollment, choice, and degree attainment, as well as indicators of college affordability. As in previous Indicators reports, the data in the 2019 Indicators show persisting inequality in higher education opportunity based on family income, race/ethnicity, parent education, and geographic location. While there has been an increase in postsecondary attainment since these words were articulated in the late 1940s, new forms of inequity and stratification are evolving, as education becomes one of the chief ways of differentiating wages and salaries and quality of life indicators.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

In the expanded higher education in China, middle-class students are found to have better access to job information than their underprivileged counterparts; they also gain better jobs in the labour market. Researchers have turned to social capital theory to explain this phenomenon, claiming that middle-class students with wider social network and higher status contacts are more likely to acquire better jobs. Instead of following the social capital approach, this study examines the job search discrepancy between two student groups by investigating the role of parents, that is, parental involvement both prior to and during the graduates' job search, and the influence of parents in the job search. Sixty fourth-year students from middle-class and underprivileged social backgrounds in Wuhan were interviewed from 2011 to 2012. Based on these data, middle-class parents are more extensively involved in the job search of their children by offering social ties, constructing middle-class accredited qualities for their children and supervising the job search behaviour of their children. By contrast, underprivileged parents know little about the campus life and job searching experiences of the children. Thus, these parents participate less actively in the job search of their children.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This is part of the Urban Institute's series of reports from the Bridging the Gap project, which focuses on what we know about the child care needs of parents needing education and training. Lack of child care can be a major barrier for low-income parents seeking education and training to improve their job prospects. Aware of this challenge, many local programs are working to meet these families' needs. [The authors] interviewed 17 local programs in 14 states to better understand how a range of actors, including child care organizations, colleges and universities, and workforce development agencies, support these families. These programs' efforts may spark ideas and offer lessons for other organizations.

Abstract from publisher's website. Show less

The focus of this chapter is on the impact of current employment policies and practices on family and private life, specifically economic restructuring. Aspects such as economic well-being and the sexual division of labour have been affected by unemployment, underemployment and the growth of certain kinds of work carried out by women. There are both positive and negative effects on people's everyday lives. This chapter explores the consequences of labour market conditions for gender and family relations.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/INT 61.315. Show less

Using survey data from 1028 high school seniors and interview data from 54 participants, this study investigates the status quo regarding equity and access to higher education in China. Findings indicate that students from higher socioeconomic family backgrounds, better high schools, and more urban homes are more likely to be admitted into prestigious colleges. [The authors] conclude that the surface fairness of the Gaokao system that allocates students to different college prestige strata masks an underlying design of deep social inequity. [The authors] finally recommend strategies to reform the admissions process in order to achieve greater fairness in university access in China.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Industrial societies like the UK and Germany can be characterised by the division of societal work between the spheres of waged work and the firm on the one hand and those of family work and the private household on the other. This division produces varied problems of co-ordination and synchronisation that are fundamental to the work-life balance of working households. These problems have increased as a result of the growing feminisation of employment, but also as a result of changing patterns of work that require greater flexibility and blur the boundaries between work and family. However, trends in work patterns not only vary across countries and between women and men but also between households within countries. This project report explores work-life balance in Germany and the UK using comparable time use data, and analyses both the volume and composition of time spent on gainful employment and family work. These surveys can show how gainful employment (formal work) and family work (informal work) are divided within the household and how individuals within households cope with their different temporal requirements.

Excerpt from introduction. Show less

Universities attract students from a wide range of backgrounds, yet equity of access and participation for all potential students remains elusive. Access and participation is highly differentiated in the United Kingdom, North America and Australia and poorer educational outcomes for students who are first-in-family (FiF) are recorded globally. The international research on this group indicates that they are collectively less likely to go to university and also, after arrival, may not perform to the same level academically as their second or third generation peers. This project sought to not only explore the experiences of FiF students but also those of their family members and 'significant' others. Parental educational background has significant impact on the educational levels of family and dependents, however, what is unclear is how attending a university as a FiF student impacts upon the family and community of the learner. The data collection was qualitative in nature and involved both in-depth interviewing as well as open-ended survey questions. The major output from this project is a website, www.firstinfamily.com.au targeted at both FiF students and their family members.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less