‘I don’t understand it’: first in family graduates recognising and mobilising capitals for employment

ABSTRACT

Success in a complex labour market requires astute planning, preparation and foresight, particularly within the context of the massification of higher education, increasing graduate competitiveness, and a discourse of employability which places the onus of employment on the individual. A cohort experiencing noticeably weaker graduate employment outcomes are students who are the first in their family to attend university, a group often representing a diversity of backgrounds and intersecting equity categories. Drawing on interviews and surveys of near completing Australian first in family (FiF) students, recent graduates and alumni, this article explores how employability was experienced and enacted by participants. Through the application of Pierre Bourdieu’s work on capital theory, the article contributes valuable insights into the experience of FiF students’ graduate employment seeking, specifically how their existing capitals, including those that are social, cultural and symbolic in nature, interacted with the job market to achieve (or otherwise) desirable graduate employment. Findings from this study point to a number of urgently needed strategies for the FiF cohort to achieve professional goals.

KEYWORDS:

• Capitals
• employability
• first in family
• graduate employment
• higher education
• social capital

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. Australia has six identified equity groups which include students with a disability; regional, rural and remote students; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; students from low socioeconomic backgrounds; students from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB); and women in non-traditional areas (WINTA).

2. The University of Wollongong Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approved this study (2019/063).

3. Students and alumni were asked to nominate membership of the following categories: low socioeconomic background (LSES), working-class background (WC), non-English speaking background (NESB), refugee or immigrant background (Ref), or with disability (Dis).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under Grant DP170100705 and the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) under a 2019 Equity Fellowship programme.

Notes on contributors

Olivia Groves

Olivia Groves is a post-doctoral researcher at the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. Olivia’s research interests lie in understanding the conditions under which learning takes place in order to maximise the potential for learning and success of all students. Her current research activity examines how student equity can be achieved in the higher education sector and beyond - including research into best-practice career education, particularly for those with disability; supporting student success in higher education in the time of COVID; and understanding and ameliorating inequities in graduate outcomes.

Sarah O’Shea

Sarah O’Shea is the Director of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) which is hosted by Curtin University. Sarah has spent nearly thirty years working to effect change within the higher education (HE) sector through research that focuses on the access and participation of students from identified equity groups. Her institutional and nationally funded research studies advance understanding of how under-represented student cohorts enact success within university, navigate transition into this environment, manage competing identities and negotiate aspirations for self and others. Sarah has published extensively in the field and has been awarded over $AUD3.5 million in grant funding since 2009, she is also an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow (ALTF), a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), and a Churchill Fellow (CF).

Janine Delahunty

Janine Delahunty is a senior lecturer in Academic Development & Recognition at the University of Wollongong and Equity Fellow of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE). She has had a longstanding interest in educational equity-related issues and since completing her PhD in 2014 she has fostered this through involvement in a range of equity-focused projects, involving people from a diversity of backgrounds, including first-in-family students, regional and Indigenous students, online learners and educators, and research degree students. Janine has published across higher education, linguistic and academic development journals and made significant contributions to translating empirical data into practical end-user resources. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).