Aspirations of Pacific Island High School Students for University Study in Southeast Queensland

Abstract

Although Australia is a nation of great opportunity, this is not always the case for many Pacific high school students from low socio economic status (low-SES) backgrounds in Logan City, Australia. Many Pacific Island young people continue to be under-represented in tertiary education and over-represented in low skilled, low paid employment (Kearney & Glen, 2017; Ravulo, 2015, 2018, 2019; Ravulo, Said, Micsko, & Purchase, 2020). This qualitative study explored the lives and experiences of Pacific high school students that shaped their (a) aspirations for university study, (b) pursuit of these aspirations, and (c) participation at university. Thirty-one students participated in six semi-structured year-level-specific focus groups referred to as talanoa circles. Of this group, eight students participated in semi-structured interviews three years later which provided rich data on their lived experiences that supported, or not, their participation at university. Van Manen’s (1990) phenomenological approach was applied to better understand the essences of participants’ lived experiences. It also examined the relationships and experiences influencing student aspirations, aligned with Bronfenbrenner’s (1995, 2005) bioecological model. The study found that while participants aspired to attend university to fulfil their parents’ migrant dream, their sense of responsibility to the collective group, more specifically their family and community, outweighed their aspirations. This greatly influenced the decisions and pathways young people pursued on completion of high school, many times at the expense of their participation at university. The learnings from this study contribute to the very limited literature on Pacific high school students’ experiences in Australia and adds to the body of knowledge available on the influences of aspiration for Pacific students. It also provides practical contributions for families, schools/universities and government to better support more positive outcomes for Pacific young people.