Developing a Socially Sensitive Research Approach to Higher Education Aspirations: Exploring the Hopes and Aspirations of British Sixth Form Students of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Heritage

This project centres the voices of British Pakistani and Bangladeshi students and their families, exploring how they imagine, hope for, and navigate pathways to university together.

This interdisciplinary project explores the university aspirations and hopes of British Pakistani and British Bangladeshi heritage families in England. It aims to understand how socio-cultural relationships, community strengths, and structural inequalities shape educational aspirations within these communities. The study also seeks to develop a culturally sensitive methodology for engaging young people in conversations about their future goals, while fostering meaningful, long-term relationships with participants and stakeholders.

At the heart of the project is the central research question: How do sixth-form college students and their families from British Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds imagine and aspire towards higher education in the UK? To address this, the research adopts an iterative, multi-phase, and mixed-methods design. It includes creative knowledge exchange workshops with parents, in-depth narrative interviews and surveys with students, and sustained engagement with stakeholders such as access officers from Oxford colleges.

Parent workshops, using creative narrative techniques, will explore family aspirations, socio-cultural values, and experiences navigating university pathways. Interviews with students will examine how they understand and express hope, articulate their goals, and identify the barriers and supports they encounter in their educational journeys. A central component of the project involves piloting a survey tool informed by Snyder’s Hope Theory—which defines hope through the lenses of agency (goal-directed motivation) and pathways (strategies to achieve goals). The findings will guide the development of a refined instrument for use in a larger study.

Integrating perspectives from positive psychology and education, this project forms the foundation for a future international study in regions marked by socio-political and environmental instability. By centering the voices and lived experiences of British Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage families, the research aims to inform inclusive policy reforms that promote equitable access to higher education.