Low-SES Students Face Cultural Mismatch on Placements

By Student Voice AI

Published Feb 20, 2026 · Updated Feb 20, 2026

At Student Voice AI, we often see placements and work-based learning come through in open-text student feedback, especially where employability promises meet operational reality. A paper in Higher Education by Lisa Williams, Kathy Jordan and Tricia McLaughlin focuses on a group that can be underserved by “one size fits all” placement support: students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Their study, “They want people who are not me”: low socioeconomic status students' WIL experiences, is grounded in students’ own accounts of sourcing and transitioning into work-integrated learning (WIL) placements.

Context and research question

Widening participation and inclusion are prominent in higher education strategy, but unequal graduate outcomes persist. WIL placements are widely positioned as a route to employability, yet students from low SES backgrounds can face additional barriers to accessing and benefitting from placements.

Williams, Jordan and McLaughlin ask what low SES students experience as they secure placements and enter professional environments, and how these experiences can be explained through the “capital” students can draw on. The study uses a qualitative multiple-case design, focusing on four low SES students at a large urban Australian university, purposefully selected from a survey of over 200 students.

Key findings

Placements can amplify existing inequality when access and transition are treated as “self-service”. The paper highlights the hurdles low SES students can face in securing placements and moving into professional settings, even when WIL is framed as a universal employability benefit.

The authors interpret the placement journey through a contemporary capital model of employability. In practice, this means paying attention to what students can draw on, including cultural knowledge of workplace norms and the confidence to navigate unfamiliar professional spaces.

One of the clearest findings is that students can experience the workplace as culturally unfamiliar. As the abstract summarises:

"Low SES students face heightened self-doubt and feelings of cultural mismatch within professional environments."

These pressures are not just about skills. They are about belonging, confidence and the hidden curriculum of professional life: what is considered “normal”, how to communicate, and how to present oneself without feeling like you are acting a part. For universities, that is a student experience issue, not just a careers issue.

Practical implications for UK higher education

UK institutions already collect rich placement feedback through module evaluations, local surveys, and NSS-style open text. This paper suggests several practical actions that Student Experience, Careers and Employability, and Widening Participation teams can take.

Make the hidden curriculum explicit. Pre-placement preparation can go beyond CV checks to cover workplace expectations, communication norms, professional confidence, and “what good looks like” in a placement week. Provide examples and scripts, not just signposting.

Reduce practical barriers that compound disadvantage. Travel costs, timetable inflexibility, and unpaid placement structures can make participation harder for students who do not have financial slack. Where universities cannot change external constraints, they can still offer targeted bursaries, earlier scheduling certainty, and clear escalation routes when placements become unworkable.

Build social capital around placements. Mentoring, buddying, and alumni networks can reduce the sense of “walking in alone”. Pairing students with near-peer mentors who have recently completed placements can be especially effective for confidence and norm-setting.

Use student voice to monitor equity, not just satisfaction. Collect placement feedback at multiple points (before, during, and after) and include a short open-text prompt about barriers and support. With tools like Student Voice Analytics, institutions can categorise and benchmark placement-related comments at scale, then segment themes by cohort to see whether cultural mismatch, confidence, or support issues are concentrated in particular student groups.

FAQ

Q: How can universities use placement feedback to spot widening participation gaps early?

A: Add a small number of consistent questions to placement check-ins, including one open-text prompt about barriers, support, and belonging. Analyse results by demographic and programme, then track whether themes change after specific interventions such as bursaries, mentoring, or pre-placement preparation. Free-text analysis is particularly useful for picking up “hidden curriculum” issues that students may not report through rating scales.

Q: What does a four-case qualitative study add compared with large-scale surveys?

A: Surveys can show where gaps exist, but qualitative cases help explain how and why they form. Here, student accounts make visible the emotional and cultural work involved in “fitting in” to professional environments. For institutional decision-making, the best approach is to triangulate: use qualitative insights to design better questions and interventions, then use scaled survey and open-text data to test whether those changes improve outcomes.

Q: What does this mean for student voice in employability and placement strategy?

A: It strengthens the case for treating placements as part of the student experience, not a bolt-on. If universities only hear from students who are already confident navigating professional norms, they risk designing support that works for the “easiest to serve” group. Systematically collecting and analysing feedback from low SES and other under-represented cohorts helps ensure employability strategies do not inadvertently widen gaps.

References

[Paper Source]: Lisa Williams, Kathy Jordan and Tricia McLaughlin "“They want people who are not me”: low socioeconomic status students' WIL experiences" DOI: 10.1007/s10734-025-01464-6

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