Mid-life ‘transitions’ to higher education
Developing a multi-level explanation of increasing participation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11477113 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alison Fuller (0000-0002-1190-8407, University of Southampton, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 217-235 |
| Publication date | 2007-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in the Education of Adults (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0266-0830 • E-ISSN: 1478-9833 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02660830.2007.11661550 |
| OpenAlex | W87015022 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 22 |
© 2007, © 2007 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. In the UK in recent years, there have been substantial increases in the take-up of higher education (HE) by adults over thirty years old. This paper argues that a comprehensive explanation of the increase in mid-life transitions to HE requires a multi-level approach, which draws on: a) credentialist perspectives and labour market change; b) the changing relationship between individual and society; and c) insights from lifecourse literature. This argument is illustrated through discussion of a small-scale qualitative study of adults in their thirties and forties who have pursued first degrees. Interview evidence from life history interviews revealed a connection between participants' perceptions of expanding choice, opportunities for personal decision making and labour market change, and their take-up of HE in mid-life: social change appeared to be providing some individuals with more opportunities to develop ‘choice biographies’. Whilst the focus of this paper is on explaining why more adults in mid-life are participating in HE, it should not be forgotten that patterns of higher level participation remain highly uneven amongst those aged thirty plus and that this reality is weakly addressed and supported by government policy and publicly funded provision
Argument (complex analysis · Economic growth · Economics · Everyday life · Government (linguistics · Higher education · Perception · Political science · Scale (ratio · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Psychology · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
The Credential Society
Modernity and self-identity
I Don't Want to Commit Myself Yet’
Risk, identity and change
What happens to the girls? gender, work and learning in Canada's ‘new economy’1
Working‐class women on an Access course
Credentialism, adults and part-time higher education in the United Kingdom
Mature working-class students in an ‘elite’ university
The Sociological Imagination
Bettering Yourself'? Discourses of risk, cost and benefit in ethnically diverse, young working-class non-participants' constructions of higher education
Lifelong learning to labour
Safety in stereotypes? The impact of gender and ‘race’ on young people's perceptions of their post‐compulsory education and labour market opportunities
Risk society
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2012 - 2018 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |