"My family think me more capable and not just a survivor": Journeys of some early school leavers through a tertiary preparation course

Accessing enabling education for early school leavers (prior to year 10) poses significant challenges when people have both limited exposure to education and may have been out of the educational domain for many years. This... [ view full abstract ]

Accessing enabling education for early school leavers (prior to year 10) poses significant challenges when people have both limited exposure to education and may have been out of the educational domain for many years. This paper examines self-reported experiences of such a cohort of students who enrolled in an enabling program in a regional university. The analysis uses Bourdieu’s (1997) concept of cultural capital to test the proposition that enabling students, despite these impediments, acquired institutionalised cultural capital, specific to the field of higher education, to seek different, and by their own reports, more satisfying lives. The paper traces this small group’s reasons for enrolling in Open Foundation (OF), a mature age tertiary preparation program offered at the University of Newcastle, their experience of undertaking study as mature students and their destinations. 350 former students were surveyed on their educational attainment prior to enrolling in the OF program, of whom 21 had left school prior to Year 10. The paper uses narrative method to examine the qualitative responses of these very early school leavers to the survey questions. These students were enabled to negotiate the university setting and change their lives through the acquisition of a new set of skills, values and knowledge. All reported positive outcomes and many went on to successful professional careers. The research demonstrates the efficacy of this enabling program to achieve a widening participation agenda in Higher Education for this group who might be considered educationally disadvantaged before they started.