Imagination and aspiration : flames of possibility for migrant background high school students and their parents

This paper aims to show how imagination is an important tool in the formation of aspiration and ethnic capital for young high school students and their parents in the city of Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia. Through semi-structured focus group interviews with parents, teachers and students, data from the demographic space of the school revealed that despite the limitations in economic capital there was social and cultural capital in migrant families, which provided reinforcement for the realisation of various goals, especially through education and “hard work”. The students from migrant backgrounds had an opportunity to aspire and imagine a grand future because they were able to inhabit and negotiate the field of education more easily with the strong support from the family. So ethnicity and cultural background affected not only educational and vocational aspirations but also impacted on the imagination of the parents and students.