Travellers in lifelong learning: dreams and realities
Suzanne Reynolds and Linda Daniell, University of Nottingham, UK
Paper presented at SCUTREA, 31st Annual Conference, 3-5 July 2001, University of East London
THIS paper enables a number of journeys, both literal and metaphorical, to be made as it incorporates both the dreams and realities of the researchers, as well as those they research. Using autobiography and biographies, the research draws conclusions on both the process of research and the problems of being researched in order to assess the implications for lifelong learning (Hall, 1997).
Our first journey takes us to New Zealand, where Linda Daniell considers what motivates mature-age women to return to study in higher education. There she found that there may be any number of reasons, professional development, subject interest or even an opportunity to recoup previous lost opportunities. It is the latter reason that offered an area of personal interest, and one that involved many travellers' tales.
The New Zealand experience - tourist or traveller?
The concept of a traveller conjures up images of someone who leads an itinerant and unconventional lifestyle. A person who travels often, possibly in some sort of official capacity or maybe someone who wants to spend time submerging him or herself in the atmosphere and culture of a particular country or countries, exploring places off the beaten track and developing an understanding of the people and their customs. Conversely, a tourist may be seen as someone who travels to or visits a place for pleasure.
They may never leave the hotel complex, instead choosing to soak up the sun by a pool or on the beach. The more curious may take a coach tour or taxi to local places of interest that cater for the less intrepid traveller. The length of the journey or the destination does not necessarily differentiate between a traveller and a tourist. It is the intended purpose and motivation for the journey that defines the difference.
In the context of this paper a similar analogy might be applied to the concept of lifelong learning. What are the aims and expectations of the mature-age women who return to study? Is the experience intended purely for pleasure as in the case of the tourist; will they simply dip their toe into the shallow end of the pool to test the water or take a deep breath and jump into the deep end? Whichever route is chosen, the returner will experience new challenges. The outcomes may be temporary, like a suntan, or something more permanent, such as a passion for learning that continues throughout the remainder of that person's life.
The long and winding road
At the time of writing this paper I am the first postgraduate student from the University of Nottingham to have taken part in the Universitas 21 Exchange Programme with the University of Auckland. That itself required a physical journey of 12,000 miles but my metaphorical journey as a mature-age woman returning to learning began six years ago. Until that time I would describe myself as a tourist on the trail of lifelong learning; dipping my toe into the shallow end, taking part in various adult education courses but always feeling on the periphery of learning. It was not until I began a degree course in 1995 that I felt I had crossed the divide and became a traveller on the journey of lifelong learning. This is, of course, a very personal interpretation and one that has been developed as a result of reflection rather than an initial understanding of the concept of lifelong learning. I wanted to change my lifestyle and returning to education seemed to be a good route to bring about these changes.
At the University of Auckland I found myself sharing a study with a fellow mature-age postgraduate student. We soon discovered that we shared a similar motivation for returning to study although our routes and reasoning were quite different. Sheryll had attended a newly established college in the suburbs of Auckland and had excelled in sport as well as academically. It was the ethos of the college to expect high achievement and subsequent entry to university.
Although Sheryll did begin a degree course on archaeology she did not graduate, instead choosing to 'lead a hedonistic, self-absorbed life for the proceeding twenty years'. At the age of forty she re-appraised her life goals. She needed to have a job that would pay reasonably well support her as a mature solo parent, offer portable qualifications and transcend age barriers. Her decision was to become a primary school teacher and for that she needed a degree.
Having successfully graduated and qualifying as a teacher she felt that a Masters degree would enable her to become a more effective in her chosen profession. At the time of our meeting she had fulfilled this goal and is now using her expertise and experience to carry out research projects within the Department of Education.
These two examples describe the logistics of achieving a particular goal. Motivation is more nebulous and individual needs and wants influence the various stages. I decided that a degree was my passage to a different lifestyle when the children had left home but to achieve that I had to plan the route. Sheryll needed a degree to support herself and her daughter and also had to plan her journey. It would seem that we both possess a desire for personal achievement that is driven by a sense of curiosity and the belief that education represents power and autonomy; qualities shared with many mature-age returning students.
A well travelled road
Linden West (1996) explored the way in which educational participation can represent a powerful paradox: the desire to escape contrasting with wanting and needing to reclaim a past. He cites two women who entered higher education in an attempt to transcend lack of confidence, uncertainty and marginality. It is my belief that it is a combination of similar feelings that are the true motivation of many mature age women returning to education. A perceived panacea of all ills that could allow the individual time and space to reflect and consider the next stage of the journey rather than the more overt reasoning of enhanced career prospects or lifestyle changes (even though this was how I interpreted my own needs at the time).
Davis & Cairns (1990) followed the lives of twelve women who wanted the chance to make up for what they had missed as school leavers and had taken part in New Start at the University of Auckland. New Start has been offering programmes for adults considering University study since 1976 and is one of several academic support courses.
All courses are part time and graded at the University's Stage 1 level. There is no academic requirement for entry into these courses. The multi-cultural group of participants was first interviewed in 1986 and each provided an update three years later. Some of the participants had clearly defined goals and were fulfilling long held wishes that had been delayed until the children of the family were more independent. Others had no clearly defined except to 'get an education'. However, all agreed that the programme helped them to gain the confidence to take the next step of their journey to recoup lost opportunities.
In 1986 Joan Martin based her PhD thesis and subsequent book on the process, hopes, fears and concepts behind the desire of mature-age women to return to study.
Martin suggests that an understanding of the hidden reasons why the mature-age student undertakes study, for example, low self-image or isolation, would help them to choose their course of action more critically.
One of the most famous adult returners (although by no stretch of the imagination female) was Willy Russell.
He briefly describes his experiences in the foreword to James Pye's book Second Chances - Adults returning to Education.
Russell talks about the fact that he felt that he had 'fallen in love with learning' and his subsequent fight with the local education authority to fulfil his dream of becoming a teacher.
Fortunately many of the institutional obstacles he faced no longer exist, but it would seem the personal price and frustrations still occur. However, our second traveller, Suzanne Reynolds, found that instead of discovering similarities between the experiences of women returners in New Zealand and the experiences of adult learners in the Sure Start area of Osmaston/Allenton, there were stark contrasts between the two.
Being a researcher
The act of writing the paper reminded me of aspects of my own journey as a mature student in adult education, and led to an expectation that these experiences might in some way enable me to understand the nature of the journeys of the learners that I was to research. After all, I had myself gone back into education as a mature student whilst living in the Osmaston area of Derby. Whilst this was the dream of researcher, the realities of both the process of the research, and the conclusions drawn from the researched, indicate that nothing much has changed, as the learners' utopian dreams of their journeys into lifelong learning are found to be at odds with the dystopian realities of the possibilities available.
Now, both living and working for Sure Start in the Osmaston/Allenton area as an adult education outreach worker, as part of a multi-agency team, the fact that I live in the area does appear to give me some credibility with the local community. Instead of being seen as an outsider coming in, I speak the same language and really know and understand what it is like to live here. As a result, both the practice of teaching and doing research is made more equal as I am accepted as a member of the groups I work with.
This more equal relationship also had a direct effect on the process of doing the research. In order to be representative of the groups I worked with, where far more women than men accessing Sure Start activities, one man and six women were interviewed for the paper. All seven were engaged on introductory IT courses that I was teaching entitled Confidence with Computers. They had each stated that they felt at ease with me, and so levels of trust were highly developed. When the interviews took place, these were not interviews such as I has undertaken in the past - instead they simply felt like part of an ongoing discussion.
This was because I had known of many of the issues and events that the six interviewees had raised quite naturally in previous conversations- prior to the interviews proper.
This enabled me to chart some of the real dreams, ambitions and the realities of being an adult learner in the Sure Start Osmaston/Allenton area that had, so far, remained unspoken.
Looking forwards - utopian dreams and dystopian realities
Andrea: 'I have enjoyed going back to learning, but my husband isn't keen. He wants me to go back to work.' Mick: 'I'd like to do something, but it's mind-boggling all the different options you can take that I cannot commit to it fully - not as yet.' Kelly: 'School - I hardly went. I couldn't be bothered. You don't realise at school age - you just want fun'. Kelly is now on a local Basic Skills course as she wants to get a different job.
Stacey: Her mum had moaned at her only the day before - 'You should have done it then - not now, but you were more interested in boys, fags and skiving.' Stacey is interested in doing an Access course in the future.
Becky: She told me that her health had improved since she had joined the computer course. She had suffered from panic attacks and agrophobia which had kept her housebound for a year and a half when she was 17.
Now, 'I want to be a computer programmer, or work in computer maintenance'.
Irene: She told me that her husband worked, so it would cost her to go to university. She questioned: 'why shouldn't I go to university? If I have to pay, I won't be able to afford it. It makes me think, what's the point of going back to learning if you can't get to where you want to be?' Jeannie: Following a very difficult pregnancy and a premature birth Jeannie now wants to be a midwife. 'I want to put all of my bad experiences towards helping others. I want other people to benefit. Cos I've had these difficulties myself, I can understand what they're going through, so I can help them.' Jeannie is now enrolled on a Basic Skills class. 'I know it's going to take me a long time to get to where I want to be, but I'm determined to get there!' In order for those being researched to feel comfortable, I had talked with the learners about the process of research and explained how it is often done. They were also given an opportunity to read the paper before submission in order to ensure fairness and equality. I wanted to prevent the perpetuation of the dichotomy between 'us' and 'them' where the position of the learner is made subject, as other or alien, or where the worker/researcher attempts to fit their own models, their own trajectories or expectations of learning, onto other learners. I had become more self-aware of the dangers of this, so it was important to recognise that their dreams would not be the same as my dreams. However, I still felt that I was a member of the very community that I was engaged in researching, and yet not! I felt a strange, strong sense of alienation - as, in the act of research, I was continuing the practice of placing myself in the powerful role of other by holding a microscope - effectively to my own neighbours.
The interviews indeed highlighted that each learner had very different dreams and ideas of where they wanted to be. However, these dreams and hopes for their futures were still directly affected by many of the barriers to participation that continued to exist. The interviewees each expressed that they had experienced difficulties as adult learners in terms of childcare, transport, timing of classes as well as the personal, social and economic costs: two had also been advised about the dangers of personal over commitment on courses. It was felt by the researcher that these barriers often prevented access to future educational opportunities.
The fact that these barriers persisted worked against the ethos of widening participation, and also stifled moves to eradicate social exclusion. Because of these continuing issues, progression, motivation and retention of learners was still being adversely affected.
On being researched
However, my ability always to draw all of the conclusions I wanted on those I was researching was affected by my personal and intimate knowledge of those being researched.
As a result of the high levels of trust we had developed, I felt I had to be even more aware of any inappropriate use of source material. Consequently some details of interest had to be discarded from dissemination within the public domain.
The research process was further complicated by my growing awareness that, as I worked with more and more learners in the area, there was also a sense that some members of the community are actively engaged in some form of research on both myself and my family. So, whilst I may feel that I am the researcher, I am myself, at the same time, being researched by others. Learners are interested to know which is my house, what my family do, and what my family are like. Did this covert form of surveillance pose any particular dangers for me as a member of that community, either in terms of my own credibility or my personal safety, or even the safety of my family? After all, the new 'joined-up' government way of working in Sure Start involves Social Services and Health, as well as Education, and working in this new way, with families and their children aged 0-4 years, raises issues for each of us that we may not have been aware of previously. In particular, my Child Protection training within Sure Start has, in some sense, already moved me away from a primary concern with adults towards the paramountcy of the child, as young children are often present when I am teaching in a Home Learning situation. In some instances, it could be that I am the first professional to enter a particular home and may actually gain access to homes that other professionals do not. Could this pose risks or any dangers for me or local people as I am so close to home, and do not travel far enough away from potential situations? What is clear is that I now have new duties, responsibilities and obligations to fulfill in order to serve and protect all of my clientele.
Time travelling - looking backwards to look forwards
This model of multi-agency working had been proposed back in the 1970s, a time when community education considered issues of learner motivation, and attempted to politicise the learner (Freire, Lovett and Thompson). Whilst this took the USA on a journey to address these issues via programmes such as Headstart, up until now, there has been no tradition of British governmental departments working multi-agency.