School engagement is crucial for adolescents' academic performance. This study identifies that perceptions of barriers despite schooling significantly influence such engagement. When students in a class share these perceptions, a unique classroom climate emerges, impacting overall school engagement. Specifically, this study explores how…

Gypsy, Roma and Travellers (GRT) are a highly marginalised UK higher education minority with patchy targeted policy interventions. Drawing on qualitative interview data with education professionals working with GRT and with GRT young people, families and activists, the article compares attitudes, expectations, and desires around higher education.…

Although a large body of literature explored the mechanisms that shape social mobility of youth, it remains unclear how youth, in general, especially from marginalized backgrounds, exercise agency in pursuing aspirations. Drawing on life history narratives of prestigious university graduates from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in Kazakhstan, this…

This qualitative multi-case study explored the experiences, motivation, and persistence factors for African American college students with basic needs issues while attending a four-year public, urban, predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Mid-Atlantic region. The study addressed two primary research questions: 1) What motivates Black…

Class and geography profoundly influence rural youth's opportunities and aspirations for social mobility (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). Neoliberalism insists this mobility is achievable individually through education, though education is also often antithetical to the rural lifeworlds and communities of youth pursuing it (Corbett, 2007). These…

Examining the entanglement of democracy and social justice in education and the relationship to social mobility, this paper critiques the individualising nature of social mobility in policy discourse as inimical to human flourishing and education as a public good. The rhetoric of social mobility which responsibilises individuals for their success,…

The rising growth of student debt among Black women postgraduates highlights an alarming trend impacting social class attainment and economic mobility. Federal loan programs increase college access for students of color; however, these programs also contribute to racial disparities that influence students' academic outcomes and financial…

This international, phenomenological study involved marginalised individuals who completed higher education despite their socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. Two subsamples included first-in-family college graduates; 16 Roma professionals in the Czech Republic and 29 Native American academics across the United States. Due to the…

This book presents the life stories and lived experiences of 12 individuals who transitioned from the sixth form of a further education college in a traditionally working-class area of the UK, to higher education. The author employs narrative inquiry in order to explore the participants' unique perspectives. Theoretically, Bourdieu's concepts of…

In this qualitative study, we investigated the social class worldviews of Chinese International Students (CIS) in the United States. Social class worldviews are a constellation of beliefs, attitudes, and values that individuals use to maintain a sense of psychological equilibrium within their perceived social class groups and culture. Having…

Higher education institutions continue to face challenges in fostering social mobility and preparing their students for the world of work. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these challenges via disruption to education and reduced opportunities for work-integrated learning. Framing this as our point of departure, we propose that peer learning can…

Migrants face various challenges in new environments, which are further compounded for those with sensory disabilities. Deaf migrants often encounter unique obstacles that affect their integration and quality of life. This study aims to explore disparities in education, employment, social integration, and healthcare access between deaf and…

In this paper, I interpret the perspectives of 19 economically oppressed parents and five teachers from the Indian city of Vadodara, in the state of Gujarat, as they discuss the unprecedented emphasis on the learning of English in education in India. In this ethnographic study, I employed participant observations, sentence completion tasks,…

Education is the cornerstone of opportunity in America. It builds pathways, changes lives, and holds the promise of a brighter future. For my family, it has been the bridge that carried us from the American Nightmare to the American Dream. But make no mistake: that bridge is under attack. Public education--the very foundation of opportunity in…

This study explores the role of student support services in fostering persistence among Some College, No Credential (SCNC) students re-entering higher education, with a specific focus on community colleges in Southern California. As the number of SCNC students continues to rise, understanding the challenges and support systems available to this…