‘My biggest fear was whether or not I would make friends’: working-class students’ reflections on their transition to university in Ireland

ABSTRACT

Over the last few decades there has been increased recognition that the concept of ‘access’ encompasses not only entry to higher education (HE) but also participation and successful completion. Despite this, very little research has been carried out in Ireland on non-traditional students’ experience of university. This article explores the experiences of 16 students from lower socio-economic backgrounds at one Irish university, with particular reference to peer relationships and their sense of ‘belonging’. The research identified the challenges which these students faced in the first few months, including feelings of isolation and ‘class–cultural discontinuities’. For one student, from the Traveller community, the transition to university was particularly complex, leading to the ‘compartmentalisation’ of different elements of her life. The research also, however, highlights these students’ positive experiences of university life, which often centred on peer relationships and shared interests and aspirations. Overall, the research points to a diverse range of working-class experiences of university life, and the importance of targeted supports in actively encouraging friendship development in the early stages.

KEYWORDS:

• widening participation
• social class
• peer relationships
• student experience
• belonging
• higher education (HE)
• Traveller community and HE
• Ireland

Acknowledgments

We would like to sincerely thank Olive Byrne and other staff at UCC Plus+ for their help and guidance in the course of the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. According to the Equal Status Act 2000, the term Travellers refers to ‘the community of people who are commonly called Travellers and who are identified (both by themselves and others) as people with a shared history, culture and traditions including, historically, a nomadic way of life on the island of Ireland’. In 2017 the State formally acknowledged Travellers as an ethnic minority group, a move that was welcomed by Traveller advocacy groups.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Irish Research Council and the Department of Education and Skills under the Research for Policy and Society Funding Programme, grant number RFPS/2015/12.

Notes on contributors

Margaret Scanlon

Margaret Scanlon is a post-doctoral researcher in the School of Applied Social Studies and Research Coordinator at the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century (ISS21), University College Cork. Dr Scanlon’s research interests lie in the areas of education and childhood and youth studies.

Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy is a lecturer and director of the Postgraduate Diploma in Youth Work Programme in the School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork. Prior to this, Pat was employed in a diverse range of youth work settings. Alongside mainstream youth work, he has had experience of working with specific groups of young people from marginalised circumstances.

Hilary Jenkinson

Hilary Jenkinson lectures in Social Work in the School of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork. Her primary areas of interest are social work with young people, group work and fatherhood.

Fred Powell

Fred Powell is Professor of Social Policy at University College Cork. He is an international authority on civil society and has a long-standing interest in and commitment to increasing access to HE for under-represented groups.