The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success acknowledges Indigenous peoples across Australia as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which the nation’s campuses are situated. With a history spanning more than 60,000 years as the original educators, Indigenous peoples hold a unique place in our nation. We recognise the importance of their knowledge and culture, and reflect the principles of participation, equity, and cultural respect in our work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future, and consider it an honour to learn from our Indigenous colleagues, partners, and friends.

You are reading: Recognition and accountability: sole parent postgraduates in university conditions

Written by Genine A. Hook

ABSTRACT
This paper aims to examine some of the ways sole parents sought recognition as postgraduate students in Australian universities. Judith Butler’s theory of recognition notes that recognition is always partial and any account we give of ourselves must be given to another. Participants articulated that supervisors were critical in the process of recognition; without recognition from an academic supervisor, postgraduates are unrecognisable and are unable to account for themselves. University timetabling often conflicted with sole parenting responsibilities, academic conference attendance and expectations of academic publications were understood as problematic factors in recognisability for sole parent postgraduates. Problematic supervisory relations, restricted access to academic classes or seminars and limited access to academic conferences exacerbated sole parent isolation and influenced their recognisability as sole parent postgraduates.

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Genine A. Hook (2014): Recognition and accountability: sole parent postgraduates in university conditions, Gender and Education, DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2014.992301.
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