Programme full

Thursday 16 April 2015 11:00 - 12:30
PAPER SESSION 4
Sociology of Education 2
W727, HAMISH WOOD BUILDING
ASPIRATION, ASPIRATION, ASPIRATION
Whilst new labour made education, education, education their three main priorities, it was mainly cultural based
initiatives which were proffered; progression was to be founded on ‘raising aspirations’. Since the coalition government
came into power we have only seen this focus become more pronounced. Diane Reay refers to the discourse of
'raising aspirations' as an 'ideological whip used to beat the working classes'. This symposium draws together four
complementary papers attempting to problematise this 'poverty of aspiration' discourse. Each paper engages with
empirical data from fieldwork with young people both within and outside of schools. We consider the way in which
policy is being interpreted and translated in institutions and how young people are experiencing and responding to
this. This symposium also problematises the focus on education as the only legitimate aspiration and engages with
the ambitions of young people who are aspiring to other things, considering how we as sociologists can account for
this without falling into the trap of re-enforcing the deficit model of the working-class.
'I'm Definitely Going to University, but Probably Not Oxford/Cambridge as They Cost a Lot.'
Abrahams, J.
(Cardiff University)
Despite the prevailing evidence of the inequality in access to higher education (HE), in 2012 the government
increased the cap on tuition fees such that universities can charge up to £9,000 per year. The effect of this policy on
young people's decision making regarding HE is still unknown. Whilst sociological literature seems to suggest that the
prospect of such debt is a deterrent- particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, UCAS report no
detrimental effect on their entry rates. This paper presents some preliminary findings from my PhD data emerging
from within three different fieldwork sites (a private school, a state school in a wealthy area and one in a
disadvantaged area). Using a Bourdieusian framework of analysis I consider the extent to which young people from
different backgrounds perceive of the tuition fees and student debt and how this might be feeding into their 'horizonsfor-action'.
Through this I will provide a critique of the simplistic and problematic discourse of 'raising aspirations'
highlighting the deep ways in which structural disadvantage restricts 'choice' which is further compounded by the extra
cost of HE.
'I'm a Working Class Snob…but I Just Want to Get Out There'
Morrin, K.
(University of Manchester)
In recent years we have increasingly seen the promotion of enterprise culture within educational policy and reform,
where it seems to have become 'common sense'-or 'doxic' to incorporate private sector principles to establish 'a
culture of ambition to replace the poverty of aspiration' in schools. Although not a new phenomenon, discourses of
'entrepreneurship' have arguably intensified attention on the importance of aspiration, with 'enterprising' initiatives
presented as 'progressive' and where 'solutions' to 'low aspirations' are to be founded. This paper draws on
ethnographic research within (and outside) a secondary academy championing such an 'entrepreneurial ethos' based
in North West England. Focusing on how entrepreneurial initiatives are practiced within the academy, I will offer
examples of the ways in which students interact with discourses of entrepreneurship. In particular, I will consider how
such 'enterprise culture' and wider debates on 'class' and 'respectability' collide in the context of the school and in the
narratives of some working class students. When talking about 'being aspirational' some working class pupils
considered their current position as untenable with a 'better' future self, leading them to talk about their imagined
future trajectory through 'abjecting' their 'home' values, rather than in respect of them. Finally there will be a theoretical
discussion about the notion of 'social abjection' itself, questioning the temporality of this concept and possibility of
'reflexivity' in these processes.
‘I Want to Get a Scholarship to Study Architecture in Texas and Design an Alice-In-Wonderland Housing
Estate’
Ingram, N., Bathmaker, A.M.
(University of Bath)
This paper focuses on the aspirations of young people in two University Technical Colleges (UTCs) in England. Policy
rhetoric promises highly skilled and highly paid work through vocational education routes and the attendant political
BSA Annual Conference 2015 164
Glasgow Caledonian University