Despite my parents' best efforts to civilize me, I did not easily blend into higher-class expectations when I attended university. There was always a divide between how I dressed, appeared, spoke and thought and the behaviours expected in (what might be called) professional environments. I especially felt this when I sat on university boards and committees. This paper speaks to the difficulties lower socio-economic status (SES) students face in work-integrated learning (WIL) placements, and it resonates (though I'm not a fan of the use of terms like 'identity capital' and 'cultural capital' throughout). "The paper highlights substantial employability gains achieved by low SES students through WIL placements, notably improved confidence, navigation of unwritten workplace norms, and resilience in overcoming challenges. However, their social and cultural contexts often hinder their ability to mobilize key forms of capital, delaying their capacity to decode professional expectations and norms."
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