Dr Sally Patfield

On ‘being first’: Reconsidering Australian higher education equity policy through a comprehensive analysis of the aspirations of prospective first-in-family students 

Higher education policy in Australia has long focused on six equity target groups. Sally’s thesis shifted attention to group of students who have received comparatively little attention within the widening participation agenda and the Australian context more broadly – students who would be ‘first in family’ to hold a university-level qualification.

Drawing on quantitative data in the form of annual online surveys completed by students still at school and interviews with a sub-sample of prospective first-in-family students, Sally’s analysis challenged existing policy by showing that first-in-family status constitutes a distinct equity category. She argued that school students who are ‘first’ in their families to pursue higher education may need extra support, which must not only occur once they have arrived at university, but also during the period of early aspiration formation over the course of primary and secondary schooling.

Since being published, Sally’s research has played an important role in recognition of the first-in-family equity category in Australia and she has since become a co-convenor of the national first-in-family network, a group of academics and professional staff interested in supporting the access, participation and success of first-in-family students in higher education.

Sally’s thesis was awarded the Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education by the Australian Association for Research in Education, which recognises the best education thesis in Australia for a given year. Throughout her candidature, Sally was also awarded the Higher Degree by Research Excellence Award by the Faculty of Education and Arts at The University of Newcastle in 2018 and the Australian Council of Deans of Education Postgraduate/Early Career Researcher Poster Award in 2016.