VET & TAFEWorkforce
Practical help for the disadvantaged
To help students from low socio-economic backgrounds do their best universities need to engage with them and their teachers rather than act when it is too late, writes Marcia Devlin.
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I agree wholeheartedly with the points raised in this piece, especially re. “engagement with others”. I’ve recently published a couple of papers that highlight the importance of social integration for working-class students at university which might be of interest:
Rubin, M. (2012). Social class differences in social integration among students in higher education: A meta-analysis and recommendations for future research. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 5, 22-38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0026162
Rubin, M. (2012). Working-class students need more friends at university: A cautionary note for Australia’s higher education equity initiative. Higher Education Research and Development, 31, 431-433. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2012.689246 Free access available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/vfyypRnNZK27hiH5WDQ8/full