Isolated learners: young mature-age students, university culture, and desire for academic sociality

Abstract

The differentiated experiences of young mature-age students are under-researched and often unacknowledged in higher education literature and university policy. This article contends that, due to their age (early 20s to early 30s), many younger mature-age students feel ‘out of the loop’ and ‘alienated’ from university culture. The sample is drawn from a large first-year subject and analyses students’ written ethnographic reflections on their identities as students within university culture. Using interpretive theory and NVivo coding software to analyse the written assignments, the experience of isolation amongst the young mature-age demographic was a prominent and unanticipated finding. Students in this age range want academic-based sociality but do not identify as either school leaver or ‘mature-age’. They feel like isolated learners. We argue young mature-age students’ experiences of social isolation pose a significant barrier to full participation, negatively impacting their identities as students and their university transition. In Australia and internationally, governments and universities have increased their enrolments of young mature-age students, but their capacity to structure learning environments to suit them are limited without greater knowledge of their diverse experiences. Taking a cultural, socially situated view of learning allows insights into students’ experiences and suggests opportunities for understanding and supporting them.

Keywords:

• Young mature-age
• higher education
• university culture
• learner identity
• student support

Notes

1. Bowl and Bathmaker (2016) found, in their review of relevant literature, that there is no consensus between or within countries as to what age constitutes ‘mature age’. Most countries determine an age in the early to mid-20s. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS, 2012) reports that approximately 40% of Australian university students are between 25 and 64 years old, another 59% being between 15 and 24 years old, suggesting 24/25 being the age boundary. However, the university where this research was conducted considers those 22 years and older to be mature age.

2. Although these were the predominant patterns, there was some variation in views within the groups, with some school leavers reporting disinterest in sociality, and some older mature-age students describing an interest in making friends at university. O’Boyle (2014) found that some mature-age students who report in their first year they are too busy or otherwise uninterested in university friendships, end up valuing friendships they make in later years of study.