Future students’ stories about higher education: an ethnomethodologically inspired analysis of described interests

Abstract

Previous research is unequivocal regarding higher education’s importance for regional or national development, and the local presence of highly educated individuals in a municipality is crucial for its prosperity and development. The study aim is to increase understanding of representational perceptions of future university students in rural areas regarding university studies. Qualitative interviews create and reproduce meaningful representational perceptions, rendering a private dimension in stories about family and friends and an academic dimension in stories about the academic environment and research. Representational perceptions in both dimensions are dramatized as an ethno-methodological balance between verbal conflicting interests and downplaying these interests, producing and reproducing involvement, community, fusion, consensus, and participation in the narrative, rather than a verbal split. This balance reflects social pedagogical recognition relevant to their interest and success in university studies.

Keywords:

• social world
• pedagogical world
• ethno-methodological dynamics
• verbal interaction
• verbal tension
• orientation point in the narrative
• social pedagogy

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Stephen Darwin, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile

SUBJECTS:

• Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
• Higher Education
• Sociology of Education

Introduction

Elmqvist (2014) argues that in Sweden, rural towns and municipalities tend to be so sparsely populated that residents share a widespread concern about sustaining municipal services. One common problem is recruitment imbalance, with certain categories under-represented in recruitment. A discussion is ongoing in academia and politics regarding broadening participation in university education to overcome this problem, an aim that also is part of the Swedish Higher Education Act (Swedish Code of Statutes, 1992). Previous research is unequivocal regarding higher education’s importance for regional or national development (Gråsjö, 2020), and the local presence of highly educated individuals in a municipality is crucial for its prosperity and development. According to Bryntesson & Börjesson (2021), however, several studies have shown that participation in universities, colleges, and higher vocational education programs in Sweden is not expanding quickly enough.

Access to higher education in rural areas has been a recurring theme of debates and government inquiries in Sweden in recent decades. Not all of Sweden has access to higher education, along with the benefits that higher education throughout the country could provide in terms of increased skills supply, equal education, and broadened recruitment (Bryntesson & Börjesson, 2021; Elmqvist, 2014; Gråsjö, 2020; Ranehill, 2002; Swedish Government Official Report, 2017). Gråsjö (2020) argues that although the local presence of higher education has increased in all Swedish municipalities in the past 15 years, large regional differences persist, with the geographical concentration of highly educated people in metropolitan regions further reinforced. According to the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (2019), access is reportedly greatest in metropolitan areas, with rural areas not directly adjacent to metropolitan areas depicted as offering less access to higher education. Individuals living in rural areas are reported to face large geographical distances to colleges and universities, negatively affecting access to higher education. The confederation’s education index (for 2019) depicts living in a rural location as being associated with a geographical distance to higher education, absence of an academic environment, low or no supply of higher education, and distance to research.

From an international and historical perspective, Ranehill (2002) identifies differences in childhood conditions, home environment, disability status, and geographical proximity to studies as the dimensions that are important for recruitment imbalance in higher education. According to Bryntesson & Börjesson (2021), socioeconomic background, gender, and ethnicity are dimensions that influence recruitment imbalance. Regarding region of origin in the Scandinavian context, regional imbalance in recruitment is evident. Bryntesson & Börjesson (2021) explain this imbalance with reference to the social differences among the inhabitants of different counties/regions. Large cities are described as having a greater representation of highly educated inhabitants, with rural areas having an over-representation of people with less education.

Rönnlund (2019) analyzes rural young adults’ identification with place and represented spatial futures, finding no significant relationship between the phenomena of identifying with one’s home town and wishing to remain or to move away. Rönnlund draws attention to other dimensions that determine whether one remains or moves away from home, such as social relations, educational practices, and material conditions. These dimensions seem to influence young people’s perspectives on the future and the question of where to live. The analysis reflects a complexity related to the question of whether a rural young adult will move from the countryside. The study shows that if they choose to remain in rural areas, young people generally have fewer educational options and significantly more limited labor market choices.

Rönnlund (2019) also argues that the common reasoning that in the absence of local work, an individual must move, also applies to university-level education. A lack of local education opportunities means that an individual must move for university studies. Rönnlund notes that interest in university studies is linked to moving away from rural areas. The lack of jobs, university education, and careers in these areas makes it almost impossible for young adults to stay in the countryside. Rönnlund’s work shows that individuals can idealize the countryside in narratives while still planning to leave the countryside. Material aspects, local interest in education, and discursive and practical aspects can interact to produce and reproduce strong moral control mechanisms regarding individual life choices and questions about what constitutes a good life before and after university-level studies.

The current study was conducted within the framework of the research project, ‘Future students’ perspectives on higher education’ at Linnaeus University and Campus Västervik in Sweden (Linnaeus University, 2024). The aim was to analyze in detail the narratives of prospective rural-dwelling university students in Sweden about their interest in university studies as a way to address the question, How do future university students in rural areas narrate interest in university studies? Before solutions are possible for some of the societal problems discussed in this study, the problems first must be identified and their discursiveness analytically investigated. In the present study, these problems are explored using an ethno-methodological perspective and theory of representational perceptions, as discussed below.

Theoretical starting point

Classification and systematization related to the actions of members (in this case, rural-dwelling future university students) and the creation and re-creation of representations in their narratives are the basic social and educational activities that characterize all interpersonal interactions in all societies throughout human history (Levi-Strauss, 2021). Human thinking, symbol creation, and storytelling are among the fundamental prerequisites for understanding how people interpret, produce, and reproduce situations, social contexts, and the social world (Blumer, 1986; Burr, 2015; Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967).

Analysis of perceptions presented in interviews with future university students (i.e. members) in the present study is based on the analytical starting point that their reality is socially constructed and often self-evidently established, and that studying the processes that bring about that reality is important. This investigation can be achieved by studying social interaction, especially linguistic interaction in the form of narratives, descriptions, depictions, representations, and verbal dramatizations. According to this view, verbal definitions of social reality are perceived as central to the question of how members of the social context and the social world perceive that reality (Blumer, 1986; Burr, 2015; Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967).

An ethno-methodological perspective involves a strong interest in the everyday and practical perceptions that are created and re-created during spoken interactions. This perspective is not primarily concerned with what a social world is but with how it comes into being and how it is created and re-created in interactions that produce and reproduce perceptions of various phenomena in the social context and the social world. An important starting point for the ethno-methodological perspective is that the representations produced and reproduced in informant narratives in fact create and re-create both the social context and the social world, rather than being mere examples of either. The very significance of shaping and making the context and the world based on the narratives of its members is particularly emphasized in the perspective and the significance of representational perceptions that come into being and are reproduced in narratives (Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967).

In each situation (or series of situations), members seek to understand a given situation (or series of situations) and use this understanding to shape their own narration. In the ethno-methodological perspective, these narratives take on different meanings depending on the social context in which they are represented and on which member (in person) is narrating (Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967).

The basis of this analysis, using the ethno-methodological perspective, is underpinned by the following five analytical questions (Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967): (1) How does a member perceive interactions in the represented situation? (2) How does a member self-present in the represented situation? (3) How are different represented situations merged with other situations to create a social perception chain, social context, and social world? (4) How are the representational perceptions created, maintained, and re-created? 5) How are symbolic expressions, such as language, communication, and narrative, involved in the creation of both the social context and the social world?

The ethno-methodological perspective inspired our focus in the present study on identifying and analyzing in detail the perceptions of reality in the social context and social world that members from rural towns represent in narratives related to their own interest in university studies. These perceptions of reality are the representational perceptions in narratives that are given a certain symbolic meaning. The symbolic meaning does not have to be the same for everyone: Different members of the social context interpret each other’s symbolic expressions and thus try to give them meaning. Different symbolic expressions create and re-create both the social context and the social world, as well as an inclusive community. Different symbolic expressions also can create and re-create conflicts of interest in the representational perceptions in narratives. Symbolic expressions can be interpreted not only as the building blocks for the continuity and development of the situation(s), social contexts, and the social world but also as matter for verbal conflict.

Method

We conducted 23 qualitative interviews with 34 future university students in three rural municipalities in Sweden. The 34 interviewees include 26 upper secondary school students and 8 students in adult education at the upper secondary level. The study was reviewed by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority, and the interviews were conducted in 2020, 2021, and 2022 after opinion/approval from the Authority was granted (Ethical vetting, 2020).

Methodological knowledge characterizing qualitative methods guided implementation of the study in all essential details related to prevailing laws (which govern in legal terms the conduct of research), planning of the study (research project), collection of empirical material, processing, and analysis (Ethical Vetting, 2020; Guest et al., 2012; Riessman, 2008; Silverman, 2006, 2015). The collected and transcribed qualitative interviews are first presented in the form of thematic summaries and quotes and then analyzed using ethno-methodological perspectives and theories of representational perceptions (Blumer, 1986; Burr, 2015; Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967). During processing and review of the transcribed interviews related to the study’s aim and questions, contents were categorized as concerning either private aspects or academic aspects. Categorizing the interviewees’ narratives in this way created the conditions for identifying problems in the ethno-methodological sense and for analyzing in depth the representational perceptions of future university students about their interest in further studies at the university level, thus supporting the aim of the study.

Although only a small portion of these interviews is presented here, the interview summaries and quotations allow for analysis of an empirically informed part of the social context and social world of rural areas in which future university students (members) figure, act, and narrate. The analysis is carried out as a continuous back and forth between the empirical material of the study and interpretation, including deletion and re-selection because of negative cases, with the aim of gradually sharpening the analysis using empirical examples (see Katz, 2001, regarding the concept of ‘analytical induction’). In this way, the theoretical interests of the study—i.e. ethno-methodological perspective and theory of representational perceptions—are not only applied but also nuanced and challenged.

Analysis

Narratives of future university students in rural towns regarding their interest in university studies produce and reproduce a series of meaningful representational perceptions that relate to two ethno-methodological dimensions: the private dimension and the academic dimension.

The private dimension

Narratives about the private dimension take different forms in the current empirical material. Members discuss family and friends when reporting the importance of the private dimensions related to interest in university studies. Family and friends are emphasized as significant members of the social context, represented as playing a key role as sources of inspiration for further university study after completing upper secondary education. In the following quoted material, ‘a relative’ and ‘parents’ are dramatized in representational perceptions as role models related to both commencing studies at the university level and obtaining practical information about studies:

Interviewer: Does it make a difference if you have a sort of academic family, I mean family or close friends who have been to university?

Interviewee: Yes, I think so. For example, while I don’t have any experience of university, they want us to have a better education, get a good job, and have a good income afterwards. And if other family members have gone to university, it can help to get suggestions. I have a family member who lives in Belstad [a large city] now, and she usually says, ‘Well, if you’re going to move, you have to think about taking some furniture from home’, or something like, and to ‘take a break now and then’ if you’re ‘stressed’, and ‘don’t keeping pushing yourself [reading/studying] all the time’, and so ‘try to take it easy.’

The representational perceptions are dramatized in the rendition as experiential knowledge from family members with academic experiences that are reported to contribute to the creation and re-creation of interest in university studies. In the following empirical example from another interview, the narrator draws attention to family members’ experiences of university studies. In an analytical sense, the narrative is a representational perception of a form of support that not all future university students have available to them in their social context:

Interviewer: I wonder, did your parents go to university? Is that where you learned about it?

Interviewee: Yes, both my parents did. My sister is in Ifstad [a large city] now, studying to be a civil engineer, like my dad. My mom is a nurse, a district nurse, so she has higher education. So it’s probably good in itself that both my mom and I are in the health-care sector. I can ask her questions about things like that, so I think it helped a lot in my studies, too. She is involved in health care. Human care, animal care, they’re quite similar. So now that I am pursuing a degree, she can help me a lot with where I should study and how. I consider that something really positive that has helped and will help a lot. They have gone to university, they know what it’s like and they have experience.

In the representational perception above, the member links interest in university studies with the social world of study, which is represented as embracing the social context in which the member acts and narrates (‘My sister is/…/studying to be a civil engineer, like my dad’; ‘My mom is a nurse, a district nurse, so she has higher education’). In the narrative of family members’ experiences of studying at the university level, the representational perception is reinforced in the production and reproduction of the social world of study. Furthermore, the narrative emphasizes the significance of the practical help that the member reports having received and will receive in the future (‘I consider that something really positive that has helped and will help a lot’). In the next empirical sequence, another future university student talks about a social world of study that does not originate in Sweden, but abroad:

Interviewer: Has anyone in your family, parents or close friends, gone to university or college?

Interviewee: Well, my parents went to university in my home country. And it was close to where they lived. So, it wasn’t like here in Sweden. I am a bit further away. So, it was a bit different. I also think they didn’t have the same experience, because it’s a different culture. And sometimes, I can’t, like, share their experiences. Because they don’t know what it’s like in Sweden. It’s different in the country where I am from.

Interviewer: Okay. Do you think that makes a difference? Are they supportive of your studies, or do they think it’s not so significant?

Interviewee: Absolutely, they support me. They say the most important thing is to study. Sometimes I, I mean, I often say I don’t want to study any more, it’s too tough. And they say to me, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll make it. Study is the most important thing. You need to do this.’ They really support me.

In the three representational perceptions above, the engaged narrators seem to strive to convey a desired impression regarding interest in university study. Interest in university studies is explicitly and implicitly reflected as depending on the member’s social context, social world of study (a form of the family’s social background), and the capacity, capability, and preconditions of the social context and social world of study to provide support to the member. Coming from an academic family is represented as providing support to members that can, in some cases, create and re-create interest in university study. In this way, narratives produce and reproduce a social and pedagogical world of study in which the member of the representational perception claims to self-present as a future university student who is a product of the ethno-methodological dynamics of the context and the world. In the representational perceptions above, the dramatization of a series of dependent relationships (social context, social world of study, and their ability to provide support) seems to be incorporated into the ethno-methodological dynamics that by extension also produce and reproduce a chain of perception in the social context. To meet the expectations related to interest in university studies, which seem to exist for these members, the representational perceptions create and re-create the morally correct way to narrate that interest. Narratives that risk contradicting the prevailing morally correct order are seemingly avoided and go untold in the representation.

The social world of study that is represented as embracing the social context where the member acts and narrates does not seem to be the sole important perception for dramatizing interest in university studies. Future university students note that parents without academic training may value it highly, which in itself helps to provide important support related to university studies. During a group interview, the question of whether the interviewees’ parents had previously studied at university was discussed:

Interviewee 1: My mom, she studied to be a dental technician [inaudible]. And Dad works as a caretaker, so they didn’t in that way [study at university]. But what interested me is that they always talked about the importance of education.

Interviewer: So it was also at home that they talked about the importance of education?

Interviewee 1: Yes.

Interviewer: Even if they didn’t have it, it’s important?

Interviewee 1: Yes, exactly.

Interviewer: Do you think it matters, in terms of conditions or resources, whether someone’s parents or close friends attended university? Does it matter?

Interviewee 1: Not the fact that they attended, but whether one is interested. Because if education is not important where you come from, then you have the mindset that it’s not important. So if your friends and those around you don’t value education, you will think that way. Right from the start, you will lack this basic idea that upper secondary school is important for further study. You’re just going to screw it up right from the start.

The representational perception above, in response to the interviewer’s question, ‘Do you think it matters, in terms of conditions or resources, whether someone’s parents or close friends attended university?’, produces and reproduces verbal conflicting interests in the ethno-methodological dynamic that asserts itself during narration (‘Not the fact that they attended, but whether one is interested’). A verbal downplaying of the conflicting interests also is created and re-created, however, when the narrative of competing interests in the present context is overlaid with a narrative regarding details about someone else’s family: ‘If education is not important where you come from … .’

This ethno-methodological balancing act in relation to the private dimension in the representational perceptions regarding interest in university studies can be interpreted as a verbal means of producing and reproducing involvement, community, fusion, consensus, and participation in the members’ narrative instead of a verbal split. The ethno-methodological balance seems to be created and re-created during the verbal interaction of conflicting perceptions—an interaction between the representational perceptions of verbal conflicting interests and verbal downplaying of conflicting interests, i.e. between the representational perception of verbal conflict and effort to achieve calm and harmony in narratives regarding family’s importance vis-à-vis interest in further studies at the university level.

Ethno-methodological dynamics similar to the above (‘So if your friends and those around you don’t value education, you will think that way’) are found in narratives in which friends are important members of the social context whom narrators portray in significant roles as sources of inspiration and as obstacles to university studies after completing upper secondary school. A group interview includes discussion of friends with university experience:

Interviewee 1: So, I think like, if they can move away to study, then so can I. But then maybe you compare yourself, like they are pursuing higher education so maybe I should, too. Basically. But … I don’t know.

Interviewee 2: Yeah, I agree. Many of my friends here may not go to university. So it’s a bit like, should I wait too? Then I talk with people I know who went to university, and I feel more motivated, because you’re getting an education and maybe you’ll get a great job. That makes it easier.

The representational perception above of friends as both sources of inspiration and obstacles to further study at university is peppered with verbal tensions that relate both to reproduced motivation to study further (‘I feel more motivated’) and to the dramatization of a mass interest (or lack of interest) in further study at university (‘Many of my friends here may not go to university’). In another group interview, the perception of pressure or lack of pressure to continue studying after upper secondary education is represented:

Interviewer: Do you feel like there is pressure to go on to university?

Interviewee 1: Not in my case. But I’m sure there are huge … I mean, probably for other people.

Interviewer: Well, you can only speak for yourselves.

Interviewee 1: Yes, but it’s not like that for me.

Interviewee 2: In our circle of friends, it feels like very few people are going to university.

Interviewee 1: Yeah, and if everyone did go to university, then you would probably feel like, uh, I should probably do that, too.

Interviewee 2: Then there would be pressure, I think. I mean, to do something you didn’t really want to do.

Interviewee 1: And if everyone moves away, so you’re like the only one left. But none of my friends are going to university.

The representational perceptions of friends create and re-create a series of verbal dramatizations that seem to be significant for the members’ interest in university studies. Renditions related to friends are significant in several ways. First, friends with positive experiences in higher education and who have successfully completed university studies are perceived as sources of inspiration who can contribute to a member’s approach to and commencement of higher education. In contrast, friends without university ambitions are perceived as an obstacle potentially contributing to members’ rejection of higher education. In addition, dramatizations that ‘all’ friends in a friend group do certain things are reported to influence what members themselves plan to do regarding university studies, based on the verbal scenarios of ‘everyone moving away’ to study after upper secondary school and everyone remaining and no one going away to university. Finally, verbal fears about being alone in the locality if everyone ‘moves away’ to study at university are echoed in narratives about friends, and the advice, recommendations, and suggestions about university study from friends are echoed in narratives as playing a role in members’ approach to and commencement of higher education.

*

In the empirical material of the present study, the verbal tensions that relate to the ethno-methodological private dimension of interest in university studies are asserted in the representational perceptions of the importance of the social context, social world, and study-related world of the members. These representational perceptions indicate uncertainty and a dependency of members on their family and friends in rural areas.

The academic dimension

Narratives of the academic dimension also offer an analytical example of representational perceptions portrayed as both charged with tension and ethno-methodologically balanced in terms of the interaction between representational perceptions of verbal conflicting interests and verbal downplaying of conflicting interests. When members talk about the academic dimension related to interest in university studies, they dramatize representations of the academic environment and the importance of research for the academic environment as a whole.

Perceptions of the academic environment are presented by members as the physical learning and study environment, proximity to research, and the academic environment as a whole, with research included. The physical learning and study environment is dramatized as important because it is reported as contributing to members’ feeling safe, which in turn is reported as contributing to the creation and re-creation of peace and quiet and structure for university studies. In this sense, the physical study space also is reported as an important aspect in offering members the opportunity to study both individually and in groups. Proximity to university research is dramatized as an important aspect for an academic environment as a whole, whereas the inverse, i.e. the academic environment as a whole with included research, is dramatized as unimportant in terms of interest in and choice of university education. In the empirical sequence below, a member discusses the physical learning and study environment as a spatial context that can provide resources in the form of libraries and competent teachers, something that in itself produces and reproduces university education as trustworthy and ‘serious’. During the group interview, the academic environment is discussed in relation to on-site teachers, libraries, and ‘lots of students’ in the spatial social and educational context:

Interviewee 2: … but at the same time you want structure. So you can go to school, there’s a library and there are competent teachers and so on. So it … you want it to be serious.

The physical learning and study environment above is dramatized as significant in the representation. The narrating member represents the importance of the rendition of the spatial social and educational context. The verbal conflicting interests are present in the representation, namely in the empirical sequence ‘you want it to be serious’, which implicitly actualizes a representational perception of frivolous education that the member reports wishing to avoid. The continuation of the same interview provides an example of a neutralization of the verbal conflicting interests, delivered in the representation as an expression of verbal downplaying of the conflicting interests (‘As close to home as possible [laughter]’). The interviewer asks the other interviewee where the interviewee would like to pursue university studies:

Interviewee 1: As close to home as possible [laughter].

Interviewer: As close to home as possible?

Interviewee 1: No, I mean, I don’t. Well, there are two sides to it. You’d like to try living in an area like Labstad [a large city], where there’s a school, and you probably have different groups among the students. Fun stuff like that. Parties and stuff. At the same time, it would be nice to study at Campus i Kvarnby [a town with learning centers] or something, because then you have remote learning. So you’re at home instead. Either way, it’s a win-win. There are two sides to it.

The representational perceptions above can be analyzed as products of the members’ interest in university studies and the interest of the social context and the social world, as well as the interaction that exists in dramatizations between verbal conflicting interests and verbal downplays of conflicting interests that feature prominently in the narratives. The narratives in the present study are a battlefield of different ethno-methodological aspects that seem to influence the representational perceptions. In this way, the narratives are shaped by ethno-methodological dynamics as they are created and re-created in both the social context and the social world. The empirical sequence, ‘Either way, it’s a win-win. There are two sides to it’, includes a verbal assumption that interest in university studies is governed by multiple opportunities and choices, i.e. it is two-sided.

In other members’ representational perceptions, the academic environment is ‘comfortable’, welcoming, inspired, and not ‘snobby.’ The narrator in the quote below renders interest in university education in relation to current employment and expectations of the university academic environment. During the interview, the theme of ‘academic environment’ is discussed. The interviewee explains:

Well, now I think that if I were to start studying, it would be because I wanted to do something new. But I think it’s not until I’m … either if I worked, if I get into that vocational dance training, and then work as a dancer for a while, then maybe I’d want to develop more. And then I think, or if I worked as a nurse for a few years, I might want to develop more, maybe to become a registered nurse or something. Then I think I would seek out an environment that is inspiring or something. That feels comfortable and also welcoming. Not too snobby, maybe. Somewhere comfortable.

The member in the narrative above represents a balancing act between the current accumulation of experience prior to studying at a university, in the form of non-university training and work (‘if I get into that vocational dance training, and then work as a dancer for a while’; ‘if I worked as a nurse for a few years’). Dramatizing the collection of different experiences for university studies is presented as a form of dynamic conflicting interests that take different forms in narratives. The representational perception of experience-gathering before studying at a university is reproduced as a stable basis for the presented choice of an academic environment that is ‘comfortable’, welcoming, and inspired, as well as not being ‘snobby.’

The proximity of members to university research is also dramatized as an important aspect of an academic environment as a whole, which is important for interest in university-level studies. Perceptions of proximity to university research are presented verbally as charged with tension. The dramatized tension relates to the actual interests of a university (or lack thereof) related to the member’s expectations and interest. The empirical sequence below articulates members’ expectations of and interest in participating in research projects, having research be part of teaching at the university, and having the opportunity to gain a detailed understanding of how research projects are carried out. The interviewer asks about ‘the conditions for university studies in relation to the presence of research’:

Interviewee: But I think it’s important, especially when it comes to research, that there are close projects and so on, which you can participate in. Because you learn more practically, and you get to see what it looks like, and you can work in a different way than if you were just reading a book. So I think it’s especially important to be involved from the beginning and see how these projects work. It’s hard to do if you haven’t participated before.

Interviewer: Is that something you would also be interested in, becoming a researcher in that field?

Interviewee: You bet.

Interviewer: So it sounds like being involved in research projects in different ways is a good idea, in order to be able to do research projects later.

Interviewee: Exactly.

Interviewer: Exciting.

The representational perception above about proximity to research at a university includes the implicit aspect of a verbally conveyed expectation related to interest in university studies. The dramatization represents an expectation and an interest in proximity to research (i.e. participation, as part of teaching, how research works) that is rare or nonexistent at the first-cycle level, where the member in question would commence university studies. If that expectation and interest are not met at the university, the result is creation and re-creation of an origin of conflicting interests and disappointment for the member. Another member produces a different nuance in renditions relating to the link between education and ongoing research projects or newly published research at universities. The interviewer asks whether the member’s ‘interest in further study [at university] is influenced by the presence of research’:

Interviewee: Yes, it sure is. It’s important that research stays fresh, so to speak, and [laughs] to really know what you’re studying, so that it’s not just like 10 years ago that this research was done. This stuff changes over time, you come up with new ways of doing research and how to proceed. So absolutely, research is probably a very big part of that … Especially when it’s animals, too, as they can’t share their feelings or talk. Research backs that up, and really figures out why they [animals] feel the way they do and how they behave like that. I think that animal research is very important for education.

Members’ perceptions dramatized in the stories above relate to the following questions implicitly raised in the representations: what the current member personally wants to work with in the future, whether the education that interests the member needs to be linked to ongoing research projects or newly published research at the current university, and what experience from work or previous secondary education the member needs to participate and be involved in research at the current university. In the above representations, this series of significant interests is produced and reproduced and dramatized as conflicting in their verbal nature, with oppositions of occupation and university (containing research and education) related to members’ interest in university studies after leaving secondary school. This material offers a further analytical example of verbal conflicting interests related to higher education and higher education as an option after completing upper secondary school. The verbal conflicting interests are dramatized as connected with the reported affinity for participating in research and research projects during university studies, which can be interpreted as a practical way to permanently keep the member at the university even after completion of studies at the first- and second-cycle levels (e.g. through PhD education).

The verbal conflicting interests in the representational perceptions about proximity to research at universities also can be rendered as motivating and inspiring encounters with researchers reported to be ‘exciting.’ The interviewer wonders what role the presence of research and researchers plays in universities:

Interviewee: Yes, a university needs researchers. Professors and whatnot. But it will be interesting to talk [to] and meet some scientist or professor. That is, someone with lots of experience. You can get advice, I think.

Interviewer: So you also feel like you’d like to go to a university where there are good researchers and professors, so that you can meet them?

Interviewee: Well, I’ve never met a scientist before, so it’s going to be a bit exciting. I think it’s fun, yeah.

The verbal conflicting interests about the ‘excitement’ of research are dramatized as an important orientation point in the narrative about interest in university studies. The verbal conflicting interests associated with the many choices related to higher education and higher education studies are rendered as a form of verbal orientation for the member in the narrative.

The representational perceptions include narratives about the importance and significance of the presence of research in the academic environment as a whole, which is reported to be important for interest in university-level study. Research is portrayed as belonging to the university, dramatized by some members as a self-evident part of the academic environment, while others say, for example, that they did not know that research ‘was a thing’ or that it is not something they considered at all. In the following empirical sequence, the interviewer asks whether the ‘presence of research’ at a university plays any role in interest in studying at one after secondary school:

Interviewee: No, I didn’t even know it was a thing [laughs]. So it doesn’t matter. I don’t care so long as they do their thing, and I do mine, that’s great. That shouldn’t be an obstacle anyway, I think.

Interviewer: No.

Interviewee: They can go right ahead, I say [laughs]. I didn’t know it was a thing to do that.

In the representational perceptions about the academic environment, several members, with verbal dramatization, draw attention to their lack of knowledge regarding the importance of the academic environment as a whole for university studies. Some of them note that they do not know what the academic environment might be like, the sense of an aspect that is unimportant for interest in university studies. There is some emphasis on not knowing what university education and research might entail, or how it differs from, e.g. folk high school or vocational education and training. Some members point out that the academic environment and research at universities are not important and that the main point is that they get some kind of education after upper secondary school. Other members discuss the ongoing struggle for grades, and interest in university studies is represented as being wrapped up in several bureaucratic dimensions, such as secondary school certificates from abroad or extra courses taken in adult upper secondary education after completion of regular secondary education:

Interviewer: Can you tell me if your interest is influenced by the university or the academic environment, or the location of the education? Zivstad University, Butstad University, does it matter?

Interviewee: Actually I haven’t paid any attention because I want make sure about the studies first, and then I can check with them, so I don’t look into it.

Interviewer: So it doesn’t matter too much which university you go to, but more that you get in, and that it’s a good program?

Interviewee: Yes, exactly.

Interviewer: If there were different offerings, with different types of courses and study programs, would you consider studying something else? Is your interest influenced by what is offered? The different programs and courses available?

Interviewee: Actually, I have not considered anything else, because I have certificates from my country, and I have to continue with this to save time, I can’t start over. I don’t need to take the hard road. It suits me because I don’t need so much to go to school, to university. I only have three or four subjects to be able to go.

Interviewer: Right, so you need a few more subjects to get to university.

Interviewee: Yes, exactly.

Interviewer: At upper secondary level, adult upper secondary education?

Interviewee: Yes.

The representational perceptions of the whole academic environment related to members’ dramatizations of interest in higher education study are produced and reproduced in narratives in various ways. Some members represent the importance of the academic environment as a whole related to interest and choice of study programs at a university, whereas others represent this as unimportant. There also are hurried (and pressured) members who report being in a bureaucratic merry-go-round, with the accreditation of a secondary school certificate from abroad determining future studies, in relation to interest in university studies in Sweden.

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The representational perceptions in the empirical material of the present study that relate to the academic dimension in the ethno-methodological sense are actualized during members’ dramatizations in narratives about interest in university studies. These representations produce and reproduce an image of verbal tension in the depictions. There is an ethno-methodological balancing related to the interaction between representational perceptions of verbal conflicting interests and verbal downplaying of conflicting interests, members’ verbally depicted fear related to choice of education and university, and verbally depicted orientation points in narratives that seem to facilitate the positioning of the member in the current social context, social world, and study world. In the empirical material of the study as a whole, there is a battlefield of different ethno-methodological dimensions that seems to influence the members’ representational perceptions. The verbal conflict seems to relate mostly to the representational perceptions about the common aspects of the social context, social world, and study world that members find difficult to relate to, oppose, or manage in relation to their interest in university studies.

Conclusion

The present study aims to contribute to the development of scientific knowledge about the representational perceptions of future university students in rural areas regarding their interest in university studies. As noted, the representational perceptions of these prospective university students relate to two ethno-methodological dimensions: the private dimension and the academic dimension (Blumer, 1986; Burr, 2015; Garfinkel, 2002, 1984, 1956; Johnsson et al., 2021; Schutz, 1967). Perceptions of the private dimension are represented in members’ stories about family and friends, whereas perceptions of the academic dimension are represented in narratives of the academic environment and the importance of research to the academic environment as a whole.

The interest in future students’ higher education in rural areas is a complex issue that affects their opportunities and experiences during their studies (Bryntesson & Börjesson, 2021; Elmqvist, 2014; Gråsjö, 2020; Ranehill, 2002; Rönnlund, 2019). It’s important to consider these issues to create more inclusive and accessible learning environments for all students regardless of their location. To facilitate prospective students in rural communities in reaching their full educational potential, navigating the academic world, and making informed decisions about higher education, it’s important to consider the aspects addressed in the above analysis. Choice of study programs and university, family, and friends’ educational background, as well as the academic environment as a whole, with research included, become important aspects in the future practical work of designing more tailored and supportive measures for future students.

Within the scope of the present study, critical voices of prospective students in rural communities are analyzed as verbal conflicting interests and verbal downplaying of conflicting interests. These aspects shape the everyday lives of prospective students both socially and pedagogically (Basic et al., 2021). Students seem to demand higher education consisting of tailored and supportive measures, such as professional counsellors who can be involved in prospective students’ education and who are inclusive in their practical approach to working with prospective students.

The role of study and career counsellors becomes particularly important and can have a significant impact on the conditions and interest of future students in higher education from a rural perspective. By listening to prospective students in rural communities, taking the time to plan practically by considering students’ conditions in relation to factors such as choice of study programs and university, family and friends’ educational background, as well as the academic environment as a whole, the study and career counsellor can facilitate prospective students living in rural communities and be a supportive measure that facilitates and prevents the conflicts that prospective students have expressed in the study. The counsellor would likely benefit from being credible and trustworthy in planning and implementing tailored and supportive measures, and this can only happen if they are also personal. At the same time, the counsellor should master the authority perspectives in implementing the tailored and supportive measures, to facilitate prospective students in rural communities, and the personal inclusive approach may be challenged when other professional aspects in the counsellor’s practice are highlighted (such as tasks related to the number of prospective students requesting guidance).

Assuming the prevailing norm for prospective students is to start higher education, the practical work of counsellors can be a crucial part of the tailored and supportive measures that can help students reach their full educational potential, learn to navigate the academic world, and make informed decisions about higher education. Additionally, the skill development of prospective students can contribute to cohesion, involvement, integration, participation, and agreement - rather than division and conflict as critical voices above express. In that sense, the practical work of counsellors can contribute to the recognition of prospective students’ competencies and identities - which can be interpreted as a form of recognition both socially and pedagogically (Basic et al., 2021), which is important for prospective students’ success in future educational situations.

The present study contributes to knowledge development regarding ethno-methodological management in several ways. It details the combination of interest in university study among future students in rural towns and the importance of narratives for representational perceptions of family, friends, academic environment, and research for the academic environment as a whole. It also highlights members’ image production and reproduction in verbal depictions and exemplifies alternative approaches to analysis compared with the relatively common structuralist perspective. In addition, this study contributes to the development of knowledge related to the question of how future university students in rural areas narrate interest in university studies.

The present contribution to the development of new knowledge has raised a wide range of questions to explore. Related to the representational perceptions of family and friends or to the academic environment as a whole, interesting questions to investigate include the following: (1) Do future university students in rural areas always need support from family and friends/universities related to interest in university studies? (2) What support from family and friends/universities is sought by future university students in rural areas related to interest in university studies? (3) Does the support of family and friends/universities lead to success in university studies? (4) How do family and friends/universities influence social and educational identities important for interest in university studies? (5) How is recognition of the different social pedagogical identities important for interest in university studies achieved by family and friends/universities? (6) What are the analytical links to the private and public labor markets related to family and friends/universities and to future university students’ interest in university studies?

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Klara Björkum

Klara Björkum is research coordinator at Campus Västervik, has a bachelor’s degree in social work and social pedagogy. Research interest in sociology, rural areas, exclusion and higher education.

Goran Basic

Goran Basic is associate professor of sociology and senior lecturer at the Department of Pedagogy and Learning, Linnaeus University. His research concerns social and pedagogical processes and collaborations among different actors in school, university, youth care, social care, police, and coast guard. He has also written articles on post-war society and carried out an evaluation of several projects in juvenile care, analysed policing practices in the Baltic Sea area, and the experiences of young people who have lived through a war and been placed in HVB homes (residential care homes for children and young people) in Sweden, as well as experiences of institutional staff who work with these young people on a daily basis. In the school context, analyses have focused on vulnerable categories of students, such as newly arrived students and students who use alcohol and drugs. Special analytical focus in Basic's research is on the functions of the context and its impact on the non-professional actor in the relationship (child, youth, pupil, student, service user, parent, traveller, suspect, civilian, refugee, prisoner). Basic is working on a number of collaborations with stakeholders within and outside academia.