Merrill, Barbara and Finnegan, Fergal and O'Neill, Jerry and Revers, Scott
(2020)
‘When it comes to what employers are looking for, I don’t think I’m it for a lot of them’: class and capitals in, and after, higher education.
Studies in Higher Education, 45 (1).
pp. 163-175.
ISSN 0307-5079
Abstract
Much research on adults in higher education has focused on issues of access and participation. As a result little is known about what happens to working-class students after leaving university even though employability is high on the agenda HE research on this topic in relation to such students is sparse. This research focuses on the voices of working-class students and their aspirations in relation to employability. Using two student narratives this paper draws on the findings of two countries, England and Ireland, from a six-country European project on employability of non-traditional students using biographical research methods. Their stories reveal an awareness of class inequalities in the labour market in relation to cultural, economic and social capital and issues of locality, gender and age. The stories also indicate a sense of precarity in their lifecourse in a society which has become highly reflexive and fluid (Alheit, P., and B. Dausien. 2002. “The ‘Double Face’ of Lifelong Learning: Two Analytical Perspectives on a ‘Silent Revolution’.” Studies in the Education of Adults 34 (1): 3–23).
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Non-traditional students;
employability; class
inequalities; biographicity;
higher education; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Adult and Community Education |
| Item ID: |
16066 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1570492 |
| Depositing User: |
Fergal Finnegan
|
| Date Deposited: |
13 Jun 2022 13:27 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Studies in Higher Education |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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