Perceived community influence on rural Australian students’ higher education decisions: exploring community, school and family

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on rural Australian students’ decisions to pursue higher education, and compares metropolitan and rural higher education statistics, using select qualitative narratives to highlight rural subjectivities. By analysing school students’ belonging process, this article begins to uncover the depth of the perceived influence of the community on its youth in relation to their university plans. Showcasing six selected student interviews from a sample of 25 interviewed rural Queensland students, findings show the community is perceived to have some influence on interviewed students’ decisions about higher education, however, this influence is foreshadowed by the family. Students are exposed to a general sense of community values simply by being part of that community, and more implicitly through school. Bourdieu’s habitus, and specifically Wacquant’s primary and secondary habitus are used to provide an understanding of the relationship among the community in which students live, their families, and their university aspirations.