'HIGH AND DRY' IN RURAL AUSTRALIA: OBSTACLES TO STUDENT ASPIRATIONS AND EXPECTATIONS

This paper documents the voices of Australian rural students as a means of examining students' views of the obstacles confronting them in their endeavours to fulfil the aspirations and expectations for their future imagined lives. The paper draws upon a national research project, and more specifically, data collected in a series of focus group interviews conducted with secondary school students in thirteen rural/regional communities across Australia. In view of this data, the paper demonstrates that the influences on, and indeed the obstacles to, rural students' aspirations and expectations, can be categorised into two dimensions - the personal and the social - that are nonetheless interconnected. Finally, in light of this, and as evident in the students' voices, it explores the following range of issues: availability of finance; apprehension and fear; attachment to home; work opportunities, as well as, educational opportunities.