Digital capital and socio-economic disadvantage : an examination of the digital practices and online career information seeking of year 11 students in new south wales government schools

Abstract

This study examines the online career information seeking practices of Year 11 students within five New South Wales (NSW) state secondary schools of different socio-economic status (SES). The broader context of this study is the ongoing inequality within the Australian education system, particularly the continued underrepresentation of students from low SES backgrounds in tertiary education. With the large-scale adoption of information and communications technologies (ICTs) within Australian secondary schools, the study shows the powerful ways in which ICTs can inform and influence students' post-secondary school career transitions and opportunities. A growing body of literature over the last three decades indicates the interconnected nature of these phenomena, particularly among low-SES students; however, little research has been conducted from an Australian perspective. Indeed, an examination of the career information needs that motivate young people, how they resolve these needs online, the sources and channels they use and how these practices differ within this large heterogeneous group is lacking globally. This study adopts a mixed methods approach, drawing together insights from survey, interview and observational data from a range of participants: students, teachers, university admissions and marketing directors and a former NSW Department of Education (DoE) information technologies (IT) director. It develops Ignatow and Robinson's (2017) concept of digital capital to highlight the relationships between young people's digital practices and the structural constraints of their social environment which mediate them. It also builds on the work of Park, (2017a) which uses the notion of digital capital to examine new forms of digital inequalities across Australia. By further developing the notion of digital capital, this thesis progresses research on digital divides away from simplistic binary analyses of haves and have-nots, skilled and unskilled, to include potential real world outcomes from varied levels of digital capital and differential OISPs, thereby creating a more nuanced account of young people's digital practices. It also highlights the connections between young people's SES, digital capital and their position concerning on-going digital divides. The study proposes a typology of four distinct groups of students based on their differing online information seeking practices (OISPs) to illuminate how young people in Australia seek and use online information to inform their post-high school career choices. These are the Traditional Job Seekers, the Social Networkers, the Future Professionals and the Creative Dreamers. Each category represents students' future career aspirations and digital practices, highlighting their differing stores of objectified and embodied digital capital and the opportunities and constraints of each. Except for the Social Networkers, this research shows that young people largely underinvest in online career information seeking, preferring traditional sources of information, particularly parents, older siblings and careers advisors, along with serendipitous factors such as accumulated self-knowledge to inform their post-school career and educational options. In a hyper-digitalised world, digital inequities have the potential to shape key life chances of young people in multiple ways, including their educational and career outcomes. This study suggests that the widespread proliferation and adoption of ICTs within secondary schools and the everyday lives of young people have done little to promote equal opportunities for all. It therefore suggests that teachers, parents, researchers and education policymakers need to move beyond the current one-size-fits-all approach to secondary school ICT initiatives, to instead develop flexible, school-based programs that more accurately reflect the highly differentiated digital contexts in which young people now find themselves.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English