A Pedagogy Of Aspirations: Promising Practices

Young people from all walks of life are engaged in shaping their future in ways that have meaning and purpose for them and that makes sense in their personal, family and community context. Schools try to provide young people with what they need to develop the capabilities required to support and extend their aspirations. The Big Picture Academy research project, discussed in this paper, sits in a funding context designed to support the aspirations of secondary school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It is located in a low socio-economic outer metropolitan region and involves five secondary schools from the government, independent and community sectors. Through an analysis of interview data obtained from students and parents during the students’ first year in a Big Picture environment, we hear what they have to say about the student’s education and what works best for them and why. We examine what they are telling us about their experiences and also explore the elements of the Big Picture Education design for learning and school; that we are calling here ‘promising practices for a pedagogy of aspiration’. In this way, the students’ lived experiences of the Big Picture Education design informs the role it plays in developing student aspiration.