Post‐school horizons: New Zealand’s neo‐liberal generation in transition

The politics of aspiration: neo-liberal education policy, ‘low’ parental aspirations, and primary school Extended Services in disadvantaged communities

“…As one headteacher (HT5) suggested above, localised strategies for earlier access to employment/ state benefits may be valued over longer periods of study by individuals within the community, yet this deployment of working class cultural capital is regarded as inappropriate by headteachers. Nor is there recognition that these aspirations might well be based on realistic expectations, because these low-income pupils will have poorer educational opportunities and less access to professional employment (regardless of qualifications) than their middle-class counterparts (Nairn et al, 2007).…”

The role of familial habitus in shaping children's views of their future employment

“…Research has shown distinctions in parental aspirations for their children according to ethnic and socio-economic background (Coleman, 1988;Portes and MacLeod, 1996), and has highlighted how families are viewed by educationalists as key to the academic success of their children (Holloway and Pimlott-Wilson, this issue). Whilst young people and parents remain central to considerations of aspiration (Nairn et al, 2007), the hopes of young children are also crucial when we take into account the implications which may arise when children judge one path of action feasible as a future goal whilst others appear unattainable.…”

Colonial Privileges in a Settler Society: Disparities of Cultural Capital in a University Setting

“…Moreover, Nairn, Higgins and Ormond (2007) found that Māori and Pacific university students are further burdened with conflicting social expectationsuniversity figureheads and peers who expect them to fail versus extended families who lean on them to succeed and become the family's economic backbone. Notably, participants from privileged backgrounds were far less likely to raise racism or other forms of discrimination as factors of any sort in their educational journey.…”