Stories of Success from Part-Time Undergraduate Students
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL Part-time Study, Full-time Lives: Stories of Success from Part-time Undergraduate Students being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD in the University of Hull by Pamela Wendy Medhurst BA (Hons), MSc December, 2008 Abstract This thesis is concerned with part-time undergraduate students within the higher education system in England. In particular it focusses on the strategies this group of students employ to complete their degrees successfully. I place the experience of successful part-time students at the heart of the thesis because I think that it is vital in the twenty-first century to further our understanding of this heterogeneous group in order to have an accessible higher education system that does not by design discriminate against those who choose a particular mode of study. By doing this I create a collective narrative for part-time students. A small qualitative sample of completed part-time undergraduate students was interviewed to produce the data used herein. I introduce this topic by showing how hidden part-time study is within the higher education (HE) sector at the beginning of the 21st century. This lack of visibility is problematic as it reduces the available narratives for non-traditional adult students to enter and successfully negotiate their way through an undergraduate degree to completion. In chapter 1 I discuss the range of studying and working practices used by this group of students in order to make visible the ways they „did student‟ over the period of up to six years that they studied, this chapter shows that there are many ways to „do student‟ successfully. In chapter 2 I look at the consequences of part-time study on the family and vice- versa. I use the concept of „ripples of education‟ to describe how part-time study affects significant others in the lives of the students. Chapter 3 follows with an investigation of others who are important to the students along their learning journeys. In chapter 4 I report on the resources that the students draw upon in undertaking their degrees and is divided into two sections. Section one includes resources such as space, finances, time and employer support. Section two looks at resources such as the students‟ attitudes towards their studies and being a student, including their discourses of luck, self-belief, motivation and enjoyment. Chapter 5 uses the framework of institutional habitus and shows how part-time study can be seen as „stapled onto the margins‟ of HE provision and looks at how the sector and individual institutions can improve provision to the prospective part-time students of the future. I conclude by making some recommendations as to how institutions need to adapt radically to enable more part-time undergraduates to be successful in their endeavours to obtain a degree. By looking for and making visible a new collective story for part-time students this thesis aims to be part of a move towards a new educational order, one in which part-time study is not seen as subordinate to full-time study, one in which part-time study as an adult is regarded as a normal part of life course development across all sections of society, and one in which the structure of the society and the HE sector supports the endeavour of the individual (and groups) in this. ii Contents Abstract ii Tables and Charts iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Research design and methods 6 Literature review 40 Chapter 1 Studying and working practices: „I‟d sooner be a student than watch EastEnders’ 77 Chapter 2 Part-time study and the family: Allies or otherwise? 122 Chapter 3 The importance of social bonds: Students, tutors, Councillors and God 174 Chapter 4 Resource-related strategies: „It‟s just what I do‟ 230 Chapter 5 Institutional provision: „Stapled on to the margins‟ 269 Conclusions 323 Bibliography 346 Appendices I Questionnaire 367 II Interview schedule 376 III Student Biographies 379 IV Questionnaire Data 388 iii Tables and Charts Table 1 Part-time students by gender and detailed qualification aim 21 Table 2 Age on entry to degree programme by gender 22 Table 3 Part-time students by gender and family status 24 Table 4 Social class: self-classification, current status and upbringing by gender 26 Table 5 Part-time students’ partner education level 126 Table 6 Part-time students’ parental education level 129 Table 7 Part-time students’ children’s age and educational level 133 Table 8 Age on entry to degree programme by gender (questionnaire data) 388 Table 9 Part-time students by gender and family status (questionnaire data) 388 Table 10 Social class: self-classification, current status and upbringing by gender (questionnaire data) 389 Table 11 Education level on entry (questionnaire data) 389 Table 12 Previous experience of HE (questionnaire data) 389 Table 13 Consideration of part-time students by institution (questionnaire data) 390 Table 14 Decision making process on entry by gender 390 Chart 1 Number of hours studied per week – women 91 Chart 2 Number of hours studied per week – men 92 iv Acknowledgements My warmest thanks go to the 27 successful part-time students who participated in this research. Without their generous input this thesis would not have been written and the data would not have been nearly as rich. Their words have not only allowed me to write this thesis, they have supported me along my own educational journey. Thank you all for sharing your success stories with me in order to make my own a success. My thanks go to the ESRC-funded seminar series Lifelong Learning and Gender which provided me with many ideas incorporated herein, and the travel allowance without which attendance would have been impossible. Similar thanks to the Birkbeck Institute for Lifelong Learning (BILL) and the University Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) for seminars related to the part-time student body and giving me the opportunity to present work from this thesis at the Gendered Choices and Transitions: Part-time Pathways, Full-time Lives conference, and which inspired the title of this thesis. To the „gatekeepers‟, the academics and administrators who circulated my questionnaire early in this research: without your help I would not have been able to contact the students from a diverse range of institutions; particular thanks to those at the Universities of Hull, Lincoln, Sussex, Birkbeck College and The Open University. I am grateful to the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Hull, particularly Daniel Vulliamy, for allowing me a period of leave of absence in order to grasp this opportunity, and for encouraging me to do so. For the support offered to me from the Access and Barriers research group at the University of Hull, whose encouragement, reading of drafts, comments, discussions and numerous cups of coffee kept me going when times were rough, and who are very much appreciated. Warmest thanks to Gill Hughes, Sheila Gaynard and Shirley Bennett who in individual ways supported me at different times. Peter Ryley offered support and close reading of various chapters and his wise insights aided my thinking about the wider situation. I appreciate the support from Women‟s Centre at the University of York, who warmly welcomed me into the community when the research project transferred to that department. Thanks to Rachel Alsop in the Department of Gender Studies at the University of Hull who acted as second supervisor and supported my final year. Trish, my colleague, my friend: I relied on you and you were always there, even when your own path was troubled, many and heartfelt thanks. Other friends were important along the way, particularly Ali, John and Heather, who helped more than they will ever know. Most importantly, thanks go to my family, who have always been there for me, even when uncertain why I chose to do this mad thing and when it repeatedly took me away from the family. I love you all. Allan, thank you for your never-ending support; Claire and Luke, thank you for making me laugh and reminding me of the real world, I am so proud of you both, you are the true success in my life. Dad and Mum, thank you for your unwavering belief in me. Manda, thank you for your long-distance support and for helping me to understand. Finally my thanks go to Gabriele Griffin for supervising this thesis. I have learnt so much more than just how to write a PhD. Thank you for helping me to believe I could do this and for enabling me to become a successful student. v Introduction This thesis is concerned with part-time undergraduate students within the higher education system in England. In particular it focusses on the strategies this group of students employ to complete their degrees successfully. I place the experience of part-time students at the heart of the thesis because I think that it is vital in the twenty-first century to further our understanding of this heterogeneous group in order to have an accessible higher education system that does not by design discriminate against those who choose a particular mode of study. I am passionate about this topic because of my own history. As Diane Reay states: „All research is in one way or another autobiographical or the avoidance of autobiography‟ (1998: 2), and „many feminists choose research topics that are deeply personal‟ (Reinharz and Chase, 2003: 79). My educational history has a similar story to that of some of the students within this investigation and indeed to many adult returners to education (see, for example, Edwards, 1993; Schuller et al, 1999; Tett, 2000; Blaxter and Tight, 1993; Bowl, 2001; Crossan et al, 2003; Burke, 2002; Hughes, 2000 and McGivney, 2001) and aspects of my own auto/biography will be written into the thesis following the work of writers such as Sue Jackson (2004) and Penny Burke (2002).