Description
The work focuses on students from low decile backgrounds participating in university education. The review of literature in the book provides a brief overview of Bourdieu’s theory of social, cultural and economic capital. The research uses Bourdieu and other existing literature as both a starting point, and a reference point that locates it within the field of sociology and education. Nash’s work in the New Zealand context offers useful connections between his findings, this current work, and also provides at times mediation between the theory of Bourdieu and the findings in the research. The chapters in the book reflect themes that arose during the interviews: policy, schools and career teachers, family and peer groups. Students and staff alike seemed to show a clear understanding of societal expectations of educational outcomes. The implications of the findings in this study broadly include concerns over the way participation is counted, access to financial assistance while studying, and the quality of advice being given by career teachers. Jane developed an interest in the New Zealand egalitarian culture during her time at the University of Canterbury. She hoped that by interviewing university students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and careers advice staff that themes would emerge that could be used to foster greater equality of participation in the future.
