A Retrospective Study of South Asian Further Education College Students and their Experiences of Secondary School

Abstract

This paper evaluates the results from a survey of further education college students and the processes of their secondary schooling. Postal survey responses from 109 randomly sampled college students (aged 16-19) from three colleges in the city of Birmingham provide the empirical base for the current research. The objectives of the study are to retrospectively analyse the secondary school experiences of South Asian college students currently in further education, probing key educational processes by ethnicity and gender. Respondents revealed their approaches towards education in general, teachers, religion and culture and parents. The broad conclusion suggests that respondents had managed to develop mixed 'educational identities', encompassing elements of the home as well as the school, aimed at permitting the effective transition from further into higher education. Differences were found between Hindu, Sikh and Muslim respondents and between genders.