Desire and possibility in higher education: What do expanded systems have to offer

the masses? Trevor Gale, Deakin University, Australia

trevor.gale@deakin.edu.au

Three challenges for HE • to expand HE provision and low

SES participation in a context of low unmet student demand

• To develop (much earlier) new relationships with prospective students

• to rethink student aspirations and how institutions and governments contribute to their realisation

Special Issue: New Capacities for Student Equity and Widening Participation in Higher Education

Volume 52 Number 2 June 2011

• University of Sydney founded in 1850

• Expansion periods: Menzies (1950s / 1960s); Whitlam (1970s); Dawkins (late 1980s / early 1990s).

• Rudd/Gillard 2009 – proposed new expansion

Australian higher education policy cycles

Targets “integral to achieving the Government’s vision of a stronger and fairer Australia” (Australian Government 2009: 5)

• by 2020, 20% of all undergraduate students in higher education will come from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds;

• by 2025, 40% of all 25-34 year olds will hold a Bachelor’s degree.

• stronger in terms of “a highly educated workforce … to advance the growth of a dynamic knowledge economy”

• fairer by “ensuring that Australians of all backgrounds who have the ability to study at university get the opportunity to do so”

The 20/40 targets

Source: Bradley et al. 2008: 20

The company that Australia wants to keep

Australia Attainment 25 to 34 years By 2025 40% 32% in 2008 Australia Participation low SES students By 2020 20% 15% in 2008

Conditions of entry to higher education

• the availability of places,

• students’ academic achievement,

• the accessibility of higher education to qualified aspirants, and

• students’ aspirations for higher education.

Aspiration

Availability Accessibility

Achievement

Entry to higher education

Source: Anderson et al. 1980

3,677,393

0

400,000

800,000

1,200,000

1,600,000

2,000,000

2,400,000

2,800,000

3,200,000

3,600,000

4,000,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Num

ber

Year

Current and target bachelor degree attainment rate, 25-34 year olds, Australia, 2010-2025

25-34 year olds

40% of 25-34 year olds withdegree

32-34% 25-34 year oldswith degree

Shortfall = 220,643

Shortfall = 220,643

Derived from ABS data 3222.0 – Population Projections, Australia, 2006 to 2101, Using Series B projected population growth

Shortfall = 220,643

Target = 25,000

new annual enrolments

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Perc

enta

ge o

f elig

ible

ap

plic

ants

Year

Estimated unmet demand, Australia, 2001-2008

Source: DEEWR 2011: 77

150,000170,000190,000210,000230,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Num

ber o

f stu

dent

s

Year

Commencing domestic undergraduate students, Australia, 2000-2007

Bachelordegree

All under-graduate

Source: Derived from DEEWR, Students, Selected Higher Education Statistics, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011

Unmet student demand and institutional supply

-18.0%-16.0%-14.0%-12.0%-10.0%

-8.0%-6.0%-4.0%-2.0%0.0%2.0%4.0%6.0%8.0%

10.0%12.0%14.0%16.0%18.0%

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Unmet student demand

Insufficient student demand

Conditions apply! Rate of increase of supply (20,000 places per year for 4 years from 2010-2013); the retention rate of Year 12 students (currently 75%); the rate of application to university by school students (currently 40%); the completion rate of university students (currently 72%); the rate of immigration of people with bachelor degrees; etc.

Sources: derived from ABS 2008a, 2008b; DEEWR 2009: 33, 68, 75; Wheelahan 2009: 265

Projected student demand for HE

25,000 (plus) extra commencing students needed every year, from 2010 to 2021

24,498 7,835 2,274

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

180,000

2008 2009 2010 2011

Increaseonpreviousyear

Elligbleacceptingoffer

Source: DEEWR 2011: 77

191, 602

206,630

180,000185,000190,000195,000200,000205,000210,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008Num

ber o

f stu

dent

s

Number of Year 12 students, Australia, 2000-2008

Source: Derived from ABS Cat. 4221.0 – Schools, Australia, 2008, Table 43a

74.4%

75.6%

72.0%

74.0%

76.0%

78.0%

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Rete

ntio

n ra

te

Secondary school apparent retention rate, Year 10-Year 12, Australia, 2000-2008

Source: Derived from ABS Cat. 4221.0 – Schools, Australia, 2008, Table 64a

Final year of school: increasing numbers but decreasing proportion

Student retention to final year of school and eligibility to obtain a university entry score

Trend Data: University Entry Score eligible and ineligible students, 2000-2009

Year Cohort Entry score eligible

% Entry score ineligible

%

2000 38211 27839 73 10372 27

2002 38820 27749 71 11071 29

2004 38451 27235 71 11216 29

2006 39579 26233 66 13346 34

2009 43191 25305 59 17886 41

Increasing final year students … decreasing eligibility for university entry

Source: NCVER 2009: 8

Age group 2004 %

2005 %

2006 %

2007 %

2008 %

15-19 26.5 27.3 30.2 29.9 30.2

20-24 19.0 19.0 18.8 18.3 18.2

25-44 10.2 10.2 9.9 9.7 9.7

45-64 6.1 6.3 5.9 5.9 5.9

65 and older 1.0 1.1 1.0 1.0 1.0

15-64 11.3 11.4 11.4 11.3 11.3

VET students by age group, Australia, 2004-2008

1,721,400 1,696,400

1,500,0001,550,0001,600,0001,650,0001,700,0001,750,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Num

ber o

f stu

dent

s

Number of students in VET, Australia, 2000-2008

Source: NCVER 2009: 8

Increasing numbers in further education

Australian 15 to 19 year olds have higher than average rates of non-participation in education and employment

2006 Proportion of persons not in education and unemployed

Country 15-19 years %

Australia 3.7

Canada 2.9

Denmark 1.9

Finland 1.7

Netherlands 1.1

New Zealand 3.7

Sweden 2.0

Switzerland 2.8

United Kingdom 5.3

United States 2.1

OECD average 3.0

EU 19 average 2.9

Source: Australian Social Inclusion Board 2009: 55

Designing university outreach programs • Increased program activity by

universities to encourage and enable school students to continue on to university study

• Significant government funding: $14 million in 2010 rising to $42 million in 2013

• Targeting under-represented groups and focusing on students earlier in their schooling

See: www.equity101.info

• Year 10 students • building student

aspirations • low SES

backgrounds, Indigenous, rural and remote

• one-off events, on-campus visits, school visits by university staff

Early interventions:

Effective programs have at least ...

• 4 (from 10) design characteristics • 3 (from 4) implementation strategies • 2 (from 3) equity perspectives

Gale et al. (2010) http://www.equity101.info/content/Interventions-early-school-means-improve-higher-education-outcomes-disadvantaged-students

4 strategies & 10 characteristics Assembling resources Engaging learners Working together Building confidence

People-rich Recognition of difference Collaboration Communication and information

Financial support and/or incentives

Enhanced academic curriculum Cohort-based Familiarisation/site

experiences

Early, long-term, sustained Research driven

Assembling resources involves committing human resources, financial resources and time resources.

Engaging learners involves learning and teaching of various orders: learning about programs; student learning; and learning from others.

Working together involves cooperation and partnership during program design and implementation and through engaging student cohorts rather than simply targeting individuals.

Building confidence involves strengthening students awareness of and increasing their familiarity with university.

strength of program composition

• Strength of program composition is assessed in terms of a balance between the total number of program characteristics (depth) and the number of program strategies from which they are drawn (breadth).

composition & equity orientation

Equity or Social Inclusion Orientation

Unsettling deficit views Researching ‘local knowledge’ and negotiating local interventions

Building capacity in communities, schools and universities

A program’s strength of composition provides one criterion used in the Design and Evaluation Matrix.

The second criterion is a program’s equity orientation. The overall likely effectiveness of a program depends on its strength of composition and the degree to which it is supported by an equity orientation toward policy and practice.

The research identified 3 equity perspectives comprised by this orientation.

W = weak M = moderate S = strong VS = very strong

U = unlikely L = likely QL = quite likely VL = very likely

Gale et al. 2010

Towards a theory of student aspiration

• Doxic aspirations: informed by populist and ideological conceptions of the good life; the out-workings of beliefs and assumptions of the dominant that circulate as natural and commonsense

• Habituated aspirations: derived from students’ biological and historical conditions; informed by and re-assert individuals’ social-structural positions in society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox2TF2aU6BU Four ‘n’ Twenty Pies commercial

“Maybe some of them don’t want to [go to university] . . . Maybe that’s the issue, maybe what’s happening is that because we are such middle class people, and the way that we measure success is materialistic, you know, you’ve got a nice big house, you drive a fancy car, you’ve got a massive mortgage, ‘Well you’re doing really well there!’ Maybe it’s just that. Maybe it’s that they’re choosing that that’s not how they want to be measured, and that’s not as important to them as it is to us. Maybe we are just saying ‘This is what’s important because that’s how we live’, but it’s not how they feel they need to live.”

Sellar, S. (2009). Visceral Pedagogies and Other Ways of Knowing: Exploring Ethical Responsibility in Relationships at the Periphery of Institutional Schooling, PhD Thesis, Adelaide, Australia: University of South Australia.

That’s not how they want to be measured

2006/2007 survey of over 2000 Y9-12 students in the western suburbs of Melbourne

“... interest in tertiary education among students in the western region of Melbourne is strong overall. Approximately 70% of respondents aspire to attend university and about 85% aspire to some form of tertiary education (university and TAFE). Only 8.2% opt explicitly for an apprenticeship. Given the low socio-economic status and culturally diverse nature of the western region, this is an important finding in itself.” (Bowden & Doughney 2010: 118)

Bowden, M.P., & Doughney, J. (2010). Socio-economic status, cultural diversity and the aspirations of secondary students in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Higher Education, 59(1), 115-129.

Research study 1

What would you like to do when you leave school? lawyer vet marine biologist child psychologist interior designer/architect doctor/social worker/dentist Egyptologist engineer/geologist teacher (little kids/

PE/English/Japanese) forensic scientist zookeeper/park ranger/animal carer ‘further studies’ (not sure what) army nurse/midwife/paramedic computer/game designer

hairdresser/beautician professional sportsperson electrician/plumber/labourer mechanic/truck driver/wrecker police/army/SWAT/fireman secretary chef author/illustrator/graphic designer business/shop owner radio/news reporter/ cameraman cabinetmaker racing driver shop assistant farmer musician/dancer/performer

Prosser, B., McCallum, F., Milroy, P., Comber, B. & Nixon, H. (2008) ‘I am smart and I am not joking’: Aiming high in the middle years of schooling. Australian Educational Researcher, 35 (2), 15-36.

Research study 2

What do you need to do to make this happen?

• get a good education • get good marks • get good grades • study and work hard • stay at school • study hard in school and after school • study, study, study and help from the

teachers • try my best in school and try my hardest • focus on school • pass Year 12 • get my SACE • complete my SACE • concentrate on my work • concentrate with no distractions • don’t give up • work hard • study hard for tests

Prosser, B., McCallum, F., Milroy, P., Comber, B. & Nixon, H. (2008) ‘I am smart and I am not joking’: Aiming high in the middle years of schooling. Australian Educational Researcher, 35 (2), 15-36.

A tale of two students navigating between desire and possibility

When I found out that I didn’t get into medicine I was really upset. Being a doctor is all I ever wanted to do. Dad is an architect and mum is a judge but both of my grandparents were doctors. So Mum rang up the Dean to find out what we could do. I found out I could do a Bachelor’s degree in Bioscience at Melbourne Uni and then do a test [GAMSAT] that would give me graduate entrance, particularly if I was willing to go to country. The government is trying to get more people to be country doctors. So I went to Melbourne and did Honours and now I’m studying medicine at Monash Gippsland, which is awesome.

When it came time to accept the offer of university places I had to make a decision between courses at UniSA and Flinders University. There was a combination of reasons why I chose a teaching degree at Mawson Lakes campus and not a Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Flinders. First, getting to Flinders from north of the city would require two hours travelling time each day. I needed to reduce this so that I could increase my work hours. Second, I had heard that there were not as many jobs available on the completion of the Nutrition course. And finally, I felt more comfortable going to Mawson Lakes because it was an area that I was familiar with.

experience near experience distant

different capacities to aspire

‘smaller number of aspirational nodes’ (Appadurai 2004: 69)

‘thinner, weaker sense of pathways from concrete wants to intermediate contexts to general norms and back again’ (Appadurai 2004: 69)

The disadvantaged have a…

Aspirations expressed in terms of…

The advantaged:

• “concrete, individual wishes and wants … [but more often along with] justifications, narratives, metaphors … [that connect these wishes and wants with] wider social scenes and contexts.”

The disadvantaged:

• “specific goods and outcomes, often material and proximate … [which often appear as] just bundles of [loosely connected] individual and idiosyncratic wants.”

Appadurai (2004: 68)

“the relatively rich and powerful invariably have a more fully developed capacity to aspire

• … because the better off, by definition, have a more complex experience of the relation between a wide range of ends and means

• because they have a bigger stock of available experiences of the relationship of aspirations and outcomes

• because they are in a better position to explore and harvest diverse experiences of exploration and trial

• because of their many opportunities to link material goods and immediate opportunities to more general and generic possibilities and options” (Appadurai 2004: 68)

You gotta have a back-up plan

It’d be nice to play AFL [football] but you’ve always got to have another… you gotta have a back-up plan … I don’t know … I’d like to be like, work in medicine, or something … interesting. Yeah, go to Uni … AIS, Australian Institute of Sport. [It] would be [nice to be] a coach or something.

(Bok 2010: 174)

Bok, J. (2010). The capacity to aspire to higher education: ‘It’s like making them do a play without a script’. Critical Studies in Education, 51(2), 163-178.

Poverty is partly a matter of operating with extremely weak resources where the terms of recognition are concerned . . . the poor are frequently in a position where they are encouraged to subscribe to norms whose social effect is to further diminish their dignity, exacerbate their inequality, and deepen their lack of access to material goods and services.

(Appadurai 2004: 66)

Three levels of aspiration

Individual Institutional National Economic (ownership, mobility)

Economic (finance, security)

Economic (growth, competition)

Socio-Cultural (learning, agency)

Symbolic (distinction, influence)

Socio-Political (social inclusion, widening participation)

Source: Sellar & Gale 2012

Conclusion

• Previous policy and practice conflated desire and possibility. These are now decoupled in the current policy environment although without recognition of this decoupling by policy and much practice

• Making higher education possible requires more than a supportive policy environment. Required is an approach designed and evaluated by research

• Higher education policy and practice tend towards manipulating aspiration (what is desirable and possible). While continuing to work to increase access we also need to work to change what is accessed.

• Mills, C. & Gale, T. (2010) Schooling in Disadvantaged Communities: Playing the game from the back of the field. Springer. ISBN: 978-90-481-3343-7 (hbk) 9789048133444 (ebk)

• Gale, T., Hattam, R., Comber, B., Tranter, D., Bills, D., Sellar, S. & Parker, S. (2010) Interventions early in school as a means to improve higher education outcomes for disadvantaged (particularly low SES) students. Adelaide: National Centre Student Equity in Higher Education. 208 pp. (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-980798-30-2.

• Sellar, S. & Gale, T. (2011) Mobility, aspiration, voice: A new structure of feeling for student equity in higher education. Special Issue: “New capacities for student equity and widening participation in higher education”. Critical Studies in Education, 52(2), pp. 115-134.

• Sellar, S., Gale, T. & Parker, S. (2011) Appreciating aspirations in Australian higher education. Special Issue: “Globalisation and student equity in higher education”. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41(1), pp. 37-52.

• Gale, T. (2011) Student equity’s starring role in Australian higher education: Not yet centre field. Special Issue: “Confronting perceptions of student equity in higher education”. Australian Educational Researcher, 38(1), pp. 5-23.

• Gale, T. (2011) Expansion and equity in Australian higher education: Three propositions for new relations. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(5), pp. 669-685.

• Gale, T. & Tranter, D. (2011) Social justice in Australian higher education policy: An historical and conceptual account of student participation. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), pp. 29-46.

• Mills, C. & Gale, T. (2011) Re-asserting the place of context in explaining student (under) achievement. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 32(2), pp. 239-256.

• Gale, T. & Parker, S. (2011) Student Transition into Higher Education. Good Practice Report. Canberra: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.

• Gale, T. & Tranter, D. (2012) ‘Social inclusion as a matter of policy: Australian higher education for the masses’ in T. Basit & S. Tomlinson (eds) Social Inclusion and Higher Education. Bristol, UK: Policy Press, pp. 149-169.

• Sellar, S. & Gale, T. (2012) ‘Aspiration and education: Toward new terms of engagement for marginalised students’ in B. McMahon & J. Portelli (eds) Student Engagement in Urban Schools: Beyond Neoliberal Discourses. North Carolina, USA: Information Age Publishers, pp. 91-109.

Recent related publications trevor.gale@deakin.edu.au