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Understanding secondary school students' agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon

Zhao, Tongtong; Xu, Yuwei; Yu, Yun; Liu, Zeyi

Authors

Tongtong Zhao

Yun Yu

Zeyi Liu



Abstract

This article investigates students’ post-secondary education transition processes in Cameroon through the lens of agency. Situated in a country where the higher education participation rate is fairly low, our article explores how students agentically negotiate access to higher education within structural constraints of socio-economic status and gender. Semi-structured interviews with 25 students from two secondary schools in Yaoundé, Cameroon were conducted. The findings reveal that students enacted the four modes of reflexives (Archer, 2003) dynamically and discursively, with specific manifestations of agency relevant to gendered and classed structures in Cameroonian society. In this paper, we propose a person-centred, empowering approach to supporting students in higher education participation. We further confirm the importance of non-universal, contextually-situated employment of Archer’s (2003) typology of four reflexive modes.

Citation

Zhao, T., Xu, Y., Yu, Y., & Liu, Z. (2023). Understanding secondary school students' agentic negotiation strategies in accessing higher education in Cameroon. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2179870

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 29, 2023
Online Publication Date Feb 21, 2023
Publication Date Feb 21, 2023
Deposit Date Feb 1, 2023
Publicly Available Date Aug 22, 2024
Journal Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
Print ISSN 0305-7925
Electronic ISSN 1469-3623
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2023.2179870
Keywords Agency, higher education participation, gender, Cameroon, reflexivity
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/16794501
Publisher URL https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057925.2023.2179870?journalCode=ccom20
Additional Information This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education on 21/2/23, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03057925.2023.2179870