“Students with parents that didn’t go to college don’t have that person they can call when they have a question. They have no map. That child is lost.” (New, 2014) Not having a ‘map’ or guide when you arrive at university certainly can have significant repercussions for the HE journey, not only in the initial… Read More
Details of the program and also presentations for our upcoming National Forum: Conversations about Retaining and Engaging First-in-Family Learners in HE have just been released; we are also now calling for Lightening Presentations on Best Practice. So, if you are doing something interesting with first-in-family learners and want to share it, follow the link to our… Read More
“My sphere of influence is small but my awareness has been raised and I can respond more appropriately to possible FiF learners” (Participant: OLT Fellowship Workshop) In February 2015 we held the inaugural First-in-Family Forum at University of Wollongong, the Forum attracted 113 participants from over nineteen universities across Australia. At the culmination of the… Read More
‘[The] benefits [of attending university] are not limited to the learners; the narratives…point to a more collective benefit for students and family members, with attendance at university frequently being the realisation of a collective ambition.’ (O’Shea, Stone, Delahunty & May, forthcoming) Recognising the particular challenges for first-in-family students has been a focus of my research… Read More
As part of the Engaging Families to Engage Learners (EFEL) OLT Fellowship, I have been conducting workshops at various universities across Australia. These workshops are designed to both disseminate findings from previous research conducted with first-in-family learners and also, ‘start conversations’ about how this cohort can be best supported as well as how institutions… Read More