Students in transition: mature women students moving from Foundation Degree to Honours level 6

Abstract

This paper investigates the experiences of a group of mature students as they move from a Foundation degree in Teaching and Learning Support to a progression route, the BA (Honours) in Teaching Learning and Mentoring. This piece of action research employs student narratives as a means of gaining some understanding of individual and specific experiences of transition between programmes with a view to enhancing the experience for future cohorts. The student experiences are considered within the broader framework of the political and educational agenda of life‐long learning, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the pedagogic value of the use of narrative as a means of preparing both student and tutor for such a transition.

Keywords:

• Foundation degree
• transition
• action research
• narrative
• widening participation