‘Possible Selves’ in practice: how students at Further Education Colleges in England conceptualise university

Abstract

is a Professor of Higher Education and Head of the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. He conducts research into policy and practice in post-compulsory education that explores how economically disadvantaged young people conceptualise, engage with and perform at university. He is particularly interested in how students' cultural and social capital affects their HE experiences.

Global and local possible selves: Differentiated strategies for positional competition among Chinese university students

“…Similarly, rural students in this study appeared to self‐regulate, accepting the restricted agency resulting from their socio‐economic position. Thus, unclear or less optimistic possible selves may result not from a lack of ambition but from ‘social realism’ (Jones et al, 2021, p. 12), in this case a recognition that the best opportunities to achieve distinction (associated with ‘going global’), which students from relatively privileged backgrounds tended to perceive as desirable and probable, were in contrast, not open to them.…”

“…This article also incorporates the concept of ‘possible selves’, itself part of a broader body of work on ‘self‐concept’ developed within the field of social psychology (Markus & Nurius, 1986), but more recently applied in small number of studies focused on higher education students’ aspirations (e.g., Hardgrove et al, 2015; Harrison, 2018; Henderson et al, 2018; Jones et al, 2021; Papafilipou & Bathmaker, 2018). We suggest that the combination of self‐concept and positional conflict theory has utility in elucidating how the nature of aspirations may diverge along the lines of social privilege and disadvantage, and how aspirations in turn influence strategies for entering the graduate labour market.…”

“…It highlights that the expectations (or probable selves) and aspirations (or ideal selves) of young people are frequently misaligned, and thus aids in revealing the role of expectations in tempering aspirations (Harrison & Waller, 2018). Related to this is ‘elaboration’, which refers to how clearly individuals ‘elaborate’ both the imaginaries of future selves and the steps required to achieve them (Harrison & Waller, 2018; Jones et al, 2021). The more wholly imaginaries of possible selves are formed, the more they can be linked to specific strategies which may serve to regulate behaviour (Oyserman et al, 2004).…”

Career decisions of further education college students: where does higher education 'fit in'?

“…Students clearly weighed up their individual circumstances and options for both short, medium, and long-term, calculating their best option whilst accepting the structural constraints on their agency. The risks associated with university progression also go beyond financial concerns, given the importance of closeness to family, and the apprehension over university teaching and learning practices (see also Acquah et al, 2017;Holton and Finn, 2018;Jones et al, 2021). Overall, participation and the associated 'student experience' might not mitigate the potential financial risks associated with university attendance.…”

“…Six of the fourteen students interviewed were clear that they did not wish to attend university. To support engagement and in-depth responses, students were interviewed using a mediating artefact, based on a model adapted from the possible selves literature (Harrison, 2018;Henderson, 2019;Erikson, 2019;Jones et al, 2021). During the interview, students listed and talked through their various aspirations, the aspects they were unsure about, and the options they had rejected for their future.…”