Student estrangement in higher education: identity formation and the struggle against stigma

Abstract

While investigation on family estrangement is growing within academic circles, research regarding the interconnection between experiences of estrangement and higher education (HE) is still limited. Sociological understandings of these issues are even scarcer, with policy interventions and practical guidance forming early interventions in HE. Set within the context of Scotland, this paper explores the experiences of HE students who are estranged from their family, and interrogates the ways students develop a sense of identity in the context of their academic lives. The paper applies Goffman’s work on stigma and identity management in relation to Bourdieu’s concept of capitals to cast a critical eye on the identity formation of estranged students. In doing so, we challenge normative assumptions of what it means to be a university student in contemporary society and urge institutions and policy makers to rethink the complexity of students’ academic lives in more inclusive ways.     

Ethically important moments in the higher education space of appearance: Renewing educative praxis with Arendt

This article proposes a novel theorisation of higher education classroom spaces by bringing Arendt’s concept of the space of appearance into relation with Guillemin and Gillam’s notion of ethically important moments. The main arguments are first, that a focus on ethically important moments within the higher education space of appearance enables a finer-grained account of student and lecturer becomings through small-scale pedagogic interventions; and second, that a focus on the classroom as a higher education space of appearance provides for a more nuanced appreciation of the collaborative, political and educative practices that occur within it. The article focuses on three instances of ethically important moments as a means to illuminate how higher education spaces of appearance may become ethical spaces for educative praxis in ways which contest pessimistic discourses regarding the deformation of teaching and learning relations in increasingly marketised conditions.     

Why Go to a Counsellor? Attitudes to, and Knowledge of Counselling in Australia, 2002

Knowledge about, and attitudes to counselling and counsellors were surveyed in 226 participants representative of the general public in northern New South Wales and the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. As well as information about the training required, types of treatment offered, familiarity with a counselor, benefits and drawbacks of counselling, and issues of cost, professionalism and registration, participants were also asked whether they had sought, or would ever seek the assistance of a counselor, and what it was that counsellors did that could be of benefit to participants. Data indicated that the sample considered that counsellors' primary roles were listening, supporting, and helping to solve problems. About 80% of all participants thought there needed to be more counsellors, and 79% stated that they would be willing to pay for a counsellor's services. A series of questions asked participants to make some comparisons between counsellors, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers on issues such as: communicative ability, whether they would refer a friend in need, type of treatment offered, and what specific problems were best treated by each of the four professionals. Overall, counselors were most likely to be consulted for 13 of 20 presenting problems. Issues of professional training and recognition are discussed.     

The Development of Children's Beliefs about Social and Biological Aspects of Gender Differences

2 studies examined children's beliefs about the origins of gender differences and addressed 2 main questions: (a) What age-related changes are there in children's beliefs about the contributions of nature and nurture to the development of gender roles? and (b) Do children differentiate between aspects of gender roles that adults believe to be more biologically determined and those they believe to be more socially influenced? 160 4- to 10-year-olds and 32 adults participated in Study 1. Participants were told about a child raised with only opposite-sex individuals and were asked whether the child would grow up to possess a series of gender-stereotyped, biological, and control properties. Until age 9 or 10, children believed that gender-stereotyped properties would develop in an infant regardless of the social context of upbringing. Study 2 provides evidence that children were not merely reporting stereotypical category associations. These studies suggest that young children may have an early bias to view gender categories as predictive of essential, underlying similarities between members, but later come to acknowledge the role of other causal mechanisms (e.g., the social environment) in shaping how category members develop.     

Interpreting Reading Comprehension Test Results: Quantile Regression Shows that Explanatory Factors Can Vary with Performance Level

One of the most important findings to emerge from recent reading comprehension research is that there are large differences between tests in what they assess—specifically, the extent to which performance depends on word recognition versus listening comprehension skills. Because this research used ordinary least squares regression, it is not clear that the findings apply similarly to poor and good readers. The current study uses quantile regression to assess whether there might be differences within tests in the relative contributions of component skills as a function of performance level. There were 834 individuals (ages 8–18) who took 5 reading comprehension tests. Quantile regression showed that, for 3 of 5 tests, the contributions of word recognition and listening comprehension vary as a function of reading comprehension skill. These quantile differences hold across both younger and older readers. Our findings show that what skills a test assesses vary not only with the specific test used but also with how well the person performs.