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Social and Behavioral Sciences

Selected Works

Professor Sarah O' Shea

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Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Education

"I Generally Say I Am A Mum First . . . But I'M Studying At Uni": The Narratives Of First-In-Family, Female Caregivers Transitioning Into An Australian University, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea Oct 2016

"I Generally Say I Am A Mum First . . . But I'M Studying At Uni": The Narratives Of First-In-Family, Female Caregivers Transitioning Into An Australian University, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea

Professor Sarah O' Shea

The university student experience is both evolving and diverse. Increasing numbers of older students are accessing universities worldwide, and also access for student equity groups is a key policy driver in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, and others. However, among this change and flux, how individuals manage their transition into this environment with reference to new and existing identities is worthy of further exploration. This article draws on 2 separate but complementary Australian research projects that explored the experiences of students who had all commenced university after a significant gap in learning. The participants that feature …


'University Wasn't Spoken About At Home, It Was Just Assumed That We Would Start Working…': First-In-Family Students, Family Capital And Higher Education Participation, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea Oct 2016

'University Wasn't Spoken About At Home, It Was Just Assumed That We Would Start Working…': First-In-Family Students, Family Capital And Higher Education Participation, Sarah Elizabeth O'Shea

Professor Sarah O' Shea

The increases in the number of students attending higher education, particularly those who are the first in their immediate family to attend university provided the impetus for the study outlined in this article. Whilst previous research has explored the qualitative experience of being a first in family student, very few studies have explicitly focussed on how attending university interacts and impacts upon the immediate family of the learner. Drawing upon in-depth semi-structured interviews, this article will detail the findings from a small-scale study conducted in an Australian university that explored the interaction of the family home place and students' enactment …