‘My past is a double edge sword’: temporality and reflexivity in mature learners

Abstract

This paper discusses the ways in which mature students orientate themselves towards the future in making decisions to access higher education (HE). Their narratives connect their past, often difficult, educational and personal lives to their future aspirations and to their current experiences in further education (FE) and HE. The research was part of a larger project undertaken for the UK Higher Education Academy Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics (C-SAP) exploring FE and HE mature learners' future ‘possible selves’ including those selves that are desired and those that are not. Students were asked to reflect on both their past journeys as well as on what their possible future(s) might look like. In this paper, we focus on the mature learners in our study as they emerged as having distinctive orientations towards their futures.

Keywords:

• mature learners
• higher education
• further education
• possible selves

Notes

1. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the European Society for Research into the Education of Adults Life History and Biographical Research Network Conference ‘Human Agency and Biographical Transformations Adult Education and Life Paths’, University of Geneva, 3–6 March 2011.

2. Despite best attempts, we were unable to arrange an interview with one of the course leaders.