(Australia) Supporting First-In-Family Students: Practitioner Experiences & Research Findings

In today's episode we discuss first-in-family students in Australia with Professor Sarah O'Shea and Dr. Kylie Austin. Professor O'Shea has published a significant amount of research on first in family students in Australia and in Europe. Much of her work observes how first in family students are intersected by other categories and groupings that can lead to educational marginalisation; this includes the six equity groups currently  identified in Australia. Dr. Kylie Austin is the Associate Director of Student Equity and Success at the University of Wollongong where she has led programming efforts to support and celebrate first in family students, or "First Gen" students as they are called at the University of Wollongong.  In this episode our guests reference a forthcoming, open-access book on first and family students and an app for first in family students currently in its pilot. When links to these resources become available, they will be added to the show notes of the episode.  First-in-Family Website First Gen at the University of Wollongong (website) O’Shea, S., May, J., Stone, C. & Delahunty, J. (2017). First-in-Family Students, University Experience and Family Life: Motivations, Transitions and Participation (First Edition). Springer. ** The second edition is forthcoming and will be posted in the show notes once it is available!  About Sarah O’Shea How to Get in Contact:  Professor Sarah O’Shea Twitter: @seos895 Sarah O’Shea (LinkedIn Profile) Dr. Kylie Austin Twitter: @kyausti