Spirals and zig zags: Understanding first in family students’ journeys into and through university

This article draws upon a large international study which involved 536 first in family university students who were enrolled in universities in Australia, the UK, Ireland and Austria. This paper focuses on the Australian cohort ( n = 376), all of whom were in the final stages of an undergraduate degree. Adopting a narrative inquiry approach, participants were encouraged to reflect deeply on their passage into and through university, including the barriers and detours encountered. The overarching study examined how learners persisted in what could be alien and somewhat isolating environments, with this article reflecting on the ‘journey narratives’ that learners told. Whilst students from more diverse backgrounds are encouraged to access university to fulfil widening participation or social inclusion objectives, certain types of university learner identities continue to be normalised and valorised across higher education systems. There is often an unspoken expectation that the ‘ideal’ student will study full-time, prioritise studies over all other activities and move efficiently through the system and into employability. In the research featured in this article, the narratives told by participants offer an alternative to this idyll of the ‘turbo’ student highlighting the disjointed pathways that many students took and the ways in which the material realities of life significantly impacted on their educational decision making.