This is a work in progress and it is expected to present the results at the Conference.

 In the context of the last decades, the study of the experiences of non-traditional students in higher education, including first-generation students (FGS), has accounted for a large part of the academic and research agenda (Espinoza et al., 2022; Flanagan-Bórquez et al., 2023; Gable, 2021; Isopahkala-Bouret et al., 2018).

FGS are typically defined as those whose parents or guardians did not graduate from a post-secondary institution (Beattie, 2018; Ishitani, 2003). Specifically, research conducted in Latin America (LA) shows that FGSs share characteristics and needs compared to FGSs in the global north. Oftentimes, FGS come from a lower socioeconomic status, graduate from primary and secondary schools with lower academic attainments, fulfill multiple roles while studying, have higher subject failure rates, and their families have less knowledge about how to support the educational trajectory of their children (Flanagan-Bórquez, 2017; Guzmán-Valenzuela et al., 2023; Morosini and Felicetti, 2019; Pataro, 2019; Webb, 2019).

These characteristics challenge FGSs’ access to higher education, requiring greater family and external support to be able to access and persist in university (Segovia and Flanagan-Bórquez, 2019). Unlike European countries, some studies in LA (Guzmán-Valenzuela et al., 2022; Guerrero-Valenzuela et al., 2022) have shown some family challenges in persistence, including internal tensions occurring when one member becomes the first to attend university or when FGS must migrate to a city other than their hometown while highlighting the role of the mother and her participation in the educational perspectives of FGS, assisting them in choosing post-secondary institutions and accompanying them during the university entry process (Guzmán-Valenzuela et al., 2022). Compared to educational models in some European countries, access to LA higher education usually depends on FGS’s economic capital (Guerrero-Valenzuela et al., 2022). In countries such as Denmark and Sweden, access to prestigious programs is less limited to students of professional parents with greater cultural capital (Thomsen, 2018; Isopahkala-Bouret et al., 2018). On the other hand, in some countries of LA, FGS are less likely to be admitted in selective institutions, highlighting that university selection procedures are an important source of exclusion (Espinoza et al., 2022). Traditional approaches to FGS in LA and Chile have focused on describing the experiences of the students and there is limited research on hidden curriculum regarding FGS and academics’ perspectives.

The qualitative study reported here is designed to characterize the hidden curriculum that FGS and academic experience regarding being FGS, that is, to examine how a range of FGS encounter transition and study experiences in Chilean universities and how those experiences are similar or different to those who teach them and/or make the policies. The specific research questions are: What does it mean to be FGS? What are the main affordances and challenges of being an FGS in Chile? What are the similarities and differences in the FGS and academic experts’ experiences? What are the main similarities and differences regarding the European context?

The design of this qualitative research is informed by sociological and hidden curriculum frameworks drawing on the concepts of academic and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 2011/1986) and educational experiences (Gaztambide-Fernandez, 2010). Using the affordances of these range of conceptual tools we seek to critically analyze the nature of FGS’s experiences, particularly seeking to understand the complex relationships of students with their own educational experiences and with those who teach them and/or make the educational policies in the country.

The study presented here is part of a wider research project that commenced in 2023 that was designed to create a comprehensive framework of FGS’s experiences in Chilean higher education. This research involved several research streams, methodologies, and data sources (including surveys, focus groups and interviews with students and academics across higher education institutions). However, in this work we present the results of the hidden curriculum experienced by FGS and their academics or educational policymakers in higher education. In 2023 and 2024, the authors invited FGS students from different cities and universities, who had completed at least one academic semester to participate in semi structured interviews (Creswell & Poth, 2023) about their educational experiences in higher education. In addition, university instructors and educational policymakers were invited to participate in the study. 22 FGS from different genders, age, progress, undergraduate majors or program of studies, and universities (i.e. selective or not selective, etc.) were interviewed. Subsequently, 7 academics or experts in educational policies in higher education were interviewed. Currently, the interviews are being coded (Creswell & Guetterman, 2019). The researchers independently are coding the interview transcripts, comparing them for agreement, and performing content analysis to identify major themes. It is expected to present the main results at the Conference in September.

It is expected to find differences between the FGS' educational experiences and those who teach them or make the policies in terms of what means to be a FGS in higher education. Globally, the results of this study will contribute to improve the comprehension of the phenomenom and the educational practices and policies for those students.

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