Exploring students' feelings of place
- Authors: Webb, Susan Christine , Knight, Elizabeth , Black, Rosalyn , Roy, Reshmi
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian and International Journal of Rural Education Vol. 31, no. 3 (2021), p. 43-60
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- Description: Geographically unequal distribution of opportunities for participation in post-school education particularly affects young people in rural and regional areas of Australia. This study contends that the perception of opportunities by young people from low socio-economic status backgrounds should be considered alongside the distribution of opportunities, in order to understand how place and social mobility are intertwined in the reproduction of inequality. Drawing on data about post-school transitions in peri-urban and rural areas of Australia, our study shows that understandings of a sense of belonging to a rural place of origin and the attraction of nature and the outdoors are intrinsic to understanding young people's educational mobilities. Despite a growing interest in the more emotional aspects of mobility, including the concept of 'emotional topographies' and issues of dislocation and belonging, the spatial contingency of student identities and their effects on participation are only just beginning to be manifested in an ontological shift in scholarship. Educational mobilities and the sense of place have been tested by the impact of the 2020 global pandemic. By deepening understanding of how students from rural areas frame their educational choices, this study offers a progression in thinking about dislocation and belonging in the interactions of post-school transitions. Arguably, a broader emotional geographical sense of belonging is needed to understand the experiences of rural students and their mobility or immobility. This broader conceptualisation may indicate new research directions for urban research.
The intersection of geography, topography and mindset : a nuanced understanding of regional, rural and remote students’ tertiary education participation in Australia
- Authors: Webb, Susan , Knight, Elizabeth , Lahiri-Roy, Reshmi , Koshy, Paul
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian and International Journal of Rural Education Vol. 34, no. 3 (2024), p. 1-18
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- Description: This paper explores the notion of rurality in Australian tertiary education as part of an investigation into the subtle but distinct differences in participation thinking and patterns among young people in regional, rural and remote communities. Drawing on qualitative data gathered as part of a wider research project for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, the paper examines whether student participation in tertiary education is shaped by factors more deeply related to a sense of connection to community, the relationality and reflexivity as related to the context, as well as proximity to major tertiary education infrastructure, such as campuses. This analysis of place challenges traditional geographical lenses that emphasise regional, rural and remote—or ‘RRR’—location in and of itself. Hence, the paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of language in relation to RRR location as used in Australian policy, providing insights into the contested nature of the Australian term RRR, the concept of rurality in the wider literature, and concomitantly, investigating the impact of the same on youth participation in Australian tertiary education. © The Author's, 2024.