Perceptions of university among Irish children and adolescents

Abstract

This study uses both qualitative and quantitative data to inquire into the perceptions that young children and adolescents have about university. The study seeks to understand what influences have affected the construction of these perceptions. The study population are pupils from primary and post-primary schools in the greater Dublin area which span the social and economic divide from middle to working class. The pupils are both males and females who are attending single-sex and co-educational schools. I began my study with a literature review examining the work of historians and scholars who have sought to identify the idea of a university. I compared this with the continually evolving roles of modern universities. This provides a definition against which the perceptions of the pupils can be compared. The review then examines current research on the retention rates for first year university students and the causes which have been identified as influencing students’ decision not to continue with their studies. I use this data to understand the complex relationships between these causes and the impact individual perceptions have on a pupil’s decision to attend and remain at university. The review also looks at the role social background and cultural capital play in the formation of young children’s and adolescents’ perceptions about university. It outlines how cultural capital is gained and exchanged and looks at the imbalance of social classes in the student cohort of universities. The findings of this research have implications for further research into how school and university bodies can prepare pupils for university. They imply that there is an aspiration to attend university amongst young children and adolescents across the social divide. But those pupils do not have a clear understanding of the consequences of their decision to attend or of what is expected from them as students at university