Journal Facts

Journal
Auto/Biography
ISSN
0967-5507
Volume
13
Issue
1

Article Facts

Title
`I Call Myself a Mature Student. That One Word Makes All the Difference': Reflections on Adult Learners' Experiences
DOI
10.1191/0967550705ab023oa
Author
Richard Waller (University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, richard.waller at uwe.ac.uk)
Pages
53-76

Article Links

`I Call Myself a Mature Student. That One Word Makes All the Difference': Reflections on Adult Learners' Experiences

Richard Waller (University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, richard.waller at uwe.ac.uk)

DOI: 10.1191/0967550705ab023oa

Abstract

This article discusses findings from a longitudinal study of 20 mature students from a broad range of backgrounds that joined a full-time Access to University programme at an English urban FE college in September 2001. The fieldwork involved repeated interviews — up to five times each — over a two-year period, covering the Access course and first year at university for those progressing as intended (13 of the 20). The interviews explored the impact of returning to study on the lives and biographies of those involved, particularly changing personal relationships, negotiations of risk and the (re)construction of class and learner identities. I seek here to highlight the social context of the interviewees' lives, and to draw heavily upon their stories and self-representations to ground the theories underpinning the analysis offered.

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