Introduction

Abstract

Most of my working life has been spent as a teacher, first in public schools and then as a lecturer in a tertiary setting. During that time I have been privileged to know many hundreds of students and to have played some small part in their educational experience. Every one of these students has a story of their educational journey, stories which too often remain untold. This text provides a space for the telling of a small number of such stories. These recount what it means to be a higher degree research student in the context of an Australian university. They unpack the complex twisting pathways that have lead the authors to this place, the early imaginings, their attempts to achieve the dream and the challenges that come with that achievement. Their education journeys have not followed the more usual pattern of undergraduate degree, honours program and then on to doctoral study, a journey often completed by the student's mid-twenties. While this may be common practice in other disciplines, it is rarely the case in Faculties and Departments of Education. Research students in the field of education are, on average, older than research students in other areas; they bring a range of life skills and experiences to their studies. This often means that they need to balance competing financial, family and employment related demands on their time and attention. For the international students whose voices dominate this text, there are also barriers of culture, language and physical and emotional dislocation.