Congruent work dyads show the reproduction of the mother and daughter pairings going into the workplace from compulsory schooling and neither going to university. There are two pairs in this group, Kathy and Katherine and Steph and Stephanie. The two daughters, Katherine and Stephanie, share similar educational outcomes to their mothers, ceasing education at the end of their secondary schooling.
It is noteworthy here that in identifying their classes, Kathy self identified as middle class and Katherine as working/middle. In attempting to ‘read class in a range of practices of distinction and reproduction’ (Reay, David and Ball, 2005: 16), Kathy’s middle class values conceal a dilemma for Katherine, as she was raised within a middle class environment, but is currently in working class employment as a shop worker. Although Kathy was completely supportive of Katherine’s decision not to go to university, her narrative suggests an unfulfilled desire for her daughter ‘I’m slightly disappointed that [Katherine] hasn’t decided to [go to university], we’re not saying she’s never going to, she’s not ready yet’. Kathy is in effect ‘looking away’ from Katherine’s choice to enter the workplace, a sense of ‘not letting go’ of the possibility that her youngest child could eventually attend university. Her sense of disinterest, yet emotional investment in her daughter’s possible higher education future demonstrates illusio (Bourdieu, 1993). Kathy’s two eldest daughters are the first in their family to go to university, an indicator of Kathy’s working family background. Katherine has made different choices from her two sisters, who both studied at undergraduate level. Katherine has followed her mother’s pathway into employment rather than education. The different outcomes between the siblings support the suggestion that the habitus is not deterministic (Grenfell and James, 1998).
Both Steph and Stephanie self identified as working class. Their backgrounds and current employment as a dog walker and cosmetics retailer in a department store respectively place them in a working class category. Other than one nephew, nobody in Steph’s family have been to university.
All four of these women demonstrate a strong desire to work and earn money. The women show little interest in the long-term benefits of higher education, with the possibility of increased employment and lifestyle aspirations (Burke, 2012). Their lack of greater earning potential subsequently perpetuates their financial status quo. Both Steph and Kathy made positive comments of their daughter’s financial independence, at a time when many students or their families are carrying large financial debt.
Kathy and Katherine
Kathy, 51, has been married for 28 years and has three daughters. Katherine won a grant, aged 11, to go to private school. Following her A-levels, Kathy went into the catering industry until she had her children. She has been back in employment for 15 years as PA to a Director. Two of Kathy’s daughters went to university and she and her husband are paying off their student loans to reduce their debt. Kathy lives with her husband and Katherine.
Katherine is 18 years old. She attended state secondary school and a sixth form college. She works as a full time sales assistant in a department store. Katherine is ultimately hoping to have a career as a photographer. Katherine has shown a positive rejection of higher education, citing work experience and putting together a portfolio as more important for her future career prospects. Katherine currently lives with her parents.
Steph and Stephanie
Steph is 52 years old. She has two children and one grandson. Steph left school at 15 to go into silver service waitressing like her grandmother and mother. She continued with this career until she had her children. Neither of Steph’s children has attended university. Steph works as a dog walker and groomer and studied for her NVQs in dog grooming as a mature student at a local college. Until recently she was a full time carer for her grandson. Steph lives with her second husband and her daughter.
Stephanie, 27, works as an assistant manager for a well-known cosmetics company. Stephanie went to state primary and secondary schools. She missed a large section of her compulsory schooling due to a long-term illness. Stephanie left school at 16 and undertook a hairdressing apprenticeship. She remained a hairdresser for six years before re-training as a make-up artist. Stephanie lives between her Nan’s home and the family home with her Mum and stepfather.
4.4 Conclusion
There are class inflected experiences and identifications that are inherent in all of the narratives surrounding educational background. Bourdieu and Passeron’s (1977) theory of the ‘system of determinations’ has been used to explore the axes of reproduction, transformation and retranslation of educational outcome between mother and daughter.
This chapter began by reviewing the schools attended by the mothers and daughters and reflected a large assortment of school types. Schooling background varied and included state secondary modern, comprehensive and grammar provision, faith schooling and the independent sector, as well as one mother who received a state education in Jamaica. None of the mothers reflect on their schooling as a time to build qualifications for a future career, although the mothers in the deferred congruent grouping re-dressed this consideration and returned to education later in their lives.
The eight mothers who went to university as mature students are an important group of women in this study. Seven of them went to post-1992 institutions, following the expansion of polytechnics to university status (Burke and Jackson, 2007). These women are products of the widening participation agenda, which was to include more diverse social groups, including women (Archer et al., 2003).This again is indicative of the changing face of women in the workplace and the greater acceptance of the mature student, often with children.
The mothers who attended grammar school all went on to become teachers or lecturers. All of the women in the deferred congruent study group, with the exception of one, embodied their learning experiences and became teachers or university lecturers. In this regard, access to university has supported women to be both educated and educators.
The exploration of congruent and divergent dyads demonstrates the relationship between mothers’ attendance at university and its positive effect on daughters’ attendance. There is evidence here of positive role modelling, of daughters following in their mothers’ educational footsteps. This line of thinking also channels further discussion in later chapters regarding concerted cultivation of mothers’ desires for their daughters’ futures (Lareau, 2003; Bradley, 2013; Perrier, 2013). The mothers’ wish for their daughters to have better futures is not diminished within the congruent work dyads, rather they shared a strong, collective sense of work ethic, with all women positively rejecting further study and going directly into the workplace.
The necessity for specific qualifications at secondary education level in order to access university entry is much more visible in the dialogues with the daughters than the mothers. With the exception of the two daughters in the congruent work group, all of the daughters, except Samantha, needed A-level qualifications to continue into higher education. Samantha’s story of university entry without formal qualifications is discussed further in Chapter Six.
Corver (2010) acknowledges that students from middle class, advantaged backgrounds have a better chance of progression onto professional employment positions, although many of the daughters in this study are not realising increased work status and income through university study. The choice of job sector for many of these women remains largely public sector or service/care related, which is automatically placing these women into lower paid positions. Many of the graduate daughters are in low paid employment, voluntary internships and one daughter remains unwaged. In this regard much remains unaltered in earnings terms between the generations.
This chapter has placed all of the pairs into typology dyads based on their compulsory schooling choices and provided a framework within which to view the participants. Chapter Five will consider the women’s family backgrounds. Exploration of the mothers’ and daughters’ social and economic context at the time of making decisions around university education will provide a better understanding of the myriad of ways in which women support their daughters through the education process. I will explore the daughters’ suggestion of a greater commonality of university attendance as a necessity in order to gain future employment, regardless in many cases of the lack of future career choice or ambitions.