Self-efficacy

This section discusses participants’ self-efficacy beliefs about their ability to achieve in their chosen subjects and then to go on to university. This is explored in terms of how they rated their chances of gaining the necessary marks to gain entry to

the course of their choice, and in terms of how they felt they would cope with university work. The notion of agency is used to describe the extent to which participants were able to envisage themselves as successful academic students and attending university. While these are discrete theoretical constructs, there was a high degree of overlap when participants talked about their sense of agency and self-efficacy. While most student participants expressed the hope that they would successfully achieve the required results to matriculate at the end of Year 12 and to get into university courses of their choosing, levels of optimism ranged from a vague hope through to unswerving confidence.

Most participants who had close positive role models were confident they would get the marks that they needed. Kate, whose father has a Business degree, rated her chances highly. She felt her academic performance was “pretty good” and said she usually “received pretty high marks in her subjects”. Similarly, Ben whose parents both went to university, displayed high self-efficacy with regard to his schoolwork, saying, “I’m really good at it … I got top marks at the end of last year and I’m going really well so far this year”. When asked if he had any concerns that he might not get the marks he needed, he said, “I’ll get in. Definitely”.

A small number of participants expressed concern they would not get into the university course of their choice. Claire was “really worried” she might not get the marks to get into an education degree offered by a Victorian university because “before … the mark was a bit lower. But now you have to get in the 80s … so I’m worried that I won’t get in”. Claire had tried to mitigate this potential problem by applying to a number of universities throughout Australia, including the University of Tasmania:

I really want to get into Monash because it has a great teaching course but you need to be realistic about these things … it’s very competitive to get into Monash … I have applied to lots of universities on the mainland and even UTAS … I suppose you need to have options if things don’t work out.

Phoebe recalled a period at the start of this year, where she “wasn’t getting very good marks” in some subjects and that consequently she was “scared I might not pass in a couple of subjects at the end of the year”. This period sparked a period of

but … after discussing the problem … I was able to make the right move into another pre-tertiary [subject] before it was too late”.

Jay spoke explicitly about concerns he had concerning his ability to cope with the workload at school. He considered he had the intellectual ability to achieve in a variety of subjects, but various factors such as parents, teachers and other peers were “making it hard” for him: “the teachers don’t help me … Mum is always busy doing other stuff … and the people in my class are annoying”. Jay was aware that getting into university was going to be difficult, but he was not going to deter him. Jay felt he could manage a university degree, saying, “I think there’d be a big workload but, if I put my mind to it, I could probably get through it”. The biggest challenge for Jay was trying to focus: “I have done some crazy shit at school … but in the future I will take more control”.

6.5 CONCLUSION

This chapter first explored the influence of social capital, in terms of family and social connections, on the development of student’s embodied cultural capital — their knowledge of, beliefs about and aspirations for a higher education. It described a clear correlation between the levels of parental occupation and education histories — and those of other significant role models — and the student’s knowledge and beliefs. Second, it explored the impact that conversations among peers have on these characteristics, and found significant positive impact on the student participants’ knowledge, beliefs and post-secondary expectations.

In the first instance, participants whose parents had higher levels of education and/or occupation demonstrated more accurate and in-depth knowledge about

university entry requirements, about the costs of university study and about the nature of university work and life. These students presented as having greater self-efficacy with regard to their ability to gain entry to university and to cope with university work. They also found it easier to envisage themselves as university students and working in their desired profession. Finally, while levels of post-secondary aspirations did not differ according to family background, participants with close positive role models expressed a stronger sense of expectation that they would make it to university. These differences appear to be the result of opportunities to experience the world of work in a

professional context and/or the world of university. Primarily, however, they reflected conversations held among those in their close social worlds.

Second, this chapter has demonstrated that conversations among peers had a significant and often powerful impact on participants’ knowledge, beliefs and

aspirations. This impact worked in varied ways. For some, it encouraged more effective utilisation of their existing social connections, prompting conversations around their career and study goals with parents, teachers and peers. For others, it simply increased their knowledge and corrected misconceptions around course options, entry

requirements, costs and the university experience, through the provision of timely and accurate information. In many cases this had the effect of breaking down perceived barriers to entry to university. The following chapter explores the means by which school authorities could develop a theory of intervention in a secondary college to help the process of constructing beliefs about, and aspirations for a university education.