What Does “Work” Mean to First-Generation Students? Emerging Identities in WIL Narratives

The impacts of work-integrated learning (WIL) on first-generation students are mixed. WIL can help first-generation students gain the social, cultural, and human capital needed to succeed in the workplace, capital possessed by their continuing-generation peers; yet the equity-deserving status of many first-generation students may create barriers to accessing WIL obstacles to completing WIL, and even negative relationships between participating in WIL and securing a job. Given this lack of consensus, we argue for more research on first-generation students that highlights student voices. Building on studies exploring first-generation students’ perceptions of higher education as well as recent scholarship on students’ reflections of work quality in WIL, we explore how they see “work” in WIL contexts and negotiate intersecting identities. By examining students’ “workview,” a framework from Designing Your Life that applies design thinking principles to life and career development, this study illuminates how these students navigate “cultural scripts”—the expectations and realities of WIL environments—and negotiate multifaceted identities. We compare cultural scripts about work between first-generation and continuing-generation students and explore how identity negotiation within WIL reshapes these scripts.