Beyond Fragments: Adults, Motivation and Higher Education

Forming learning identities in higher education in Sweden

“…West (1996) shows, for example, that perspectives developed through human experience, adult learning, the problems of adult learners and ways of communicating are underdeveloped in academic institutions, and that this has consequences for mature students. Murphy & Fleming (2000) identified a clash between the "college knowledge" presented by the universities and "common knowledge" related to the life experience of mature students.…”

‘I don’t feel like ‘a student’, I feel like ‘me’!’: the over‐simplification of mature learners’ experience(s)

“…This recognition that 'learning careers', can go both forwards and into reverse helps us understand the experience of Meg here and others in the wider study, now with a weaker learner identity than before joining the course by virtue of having dropped out. 5 As West (1996) suggested, academic success and confidence is not simply a matter of linear progress, but can wax and wane in reaction to experience. (For a more detailed treatment of this, see Brine and Waller, 2004;or Davies and Williams, 2001).…”

“…As other recent longitudinal studies (eg Ball et al, 2000) have highlighted, personal stories behind educational transitions are seldom straightforward for those whose position is summarised by harsh statistical figures. Several previous studies of Access students employed biographical research methods to better understand the affect of -and effect upon -adults returning to formal education, for example West (1996), Bowl (2003) and Burke (2002), but without explicitly challenging the simplistic representation of that experience.…”

Qualitative Life-Grids: A Proposed Method for Comparative European Educational Research

“…The relative brevity of the interviews and the method of recording the data allow for resources to be concentrated elsewhere. They do not require the hours of transcription required for recorded biographies or last the several hours or take subsequent revisits often associated with lifehistory interviews (West, 1996). In addition, the grid makes it easier to check that researchers are producing similar quality data.…”