22. Research in Higher Education
Paper
Three Types of Learning from Storytelling in The Example of Non-traditional Students
Katarina Rozvadska
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Presenting Author: Rozvadska, Katarina
Investigating students' learning biographies can help to understand the interdependence of education, learning and biography (Merrill & Alheit, 2004). More attention paid to the study of learning biographies and to understanding human learning is also one of the leading suggestions for the future of education by OECD (2023, p. 11). This paper connects these two issues, learning biographies and a better understanding of the process of learning, as it aims to explore what patterns can be found in how we learn from telling stories about our educational biographies. The paper views the research interview as a storytelling setting and achieves its aim by analysing data from 29 biographical narrative interviews. The participants were recruited as a part of a project on non-traditional students at Czech universities, i.e. students who were at least 26 years old and had a one-year break in their educational trajectory before coming to higher education. Those students were enrolled in education degree programmes, including i.e. teacher education programmes, social pedagogy, special pedagogy, and andragogy.
Those adults are considered non-traditional students in the Czech education system because of their previous educational trajectory that was not direct from upper-secondary to tertiary education (Novotný et al., 2019). However, a non-traditional student is a general term for under-represented groups in higher education. The term can designate diverse groups of individuals who do not fit the traditional student mould. The definitions of non-traditional students vary across educational systems. They may concern students who are older, have a family, work full-time, or have other commitments or backgrounds that prevent them from participating in higher education in the same way as traditional students. The definition can include first-generation students, disadvantaged or international students etc. What connects all the definitions is that this concept was created in connection to the diversification of the student community, which is one of the manifestations of the de-standardisation of life trajectories, in this case, those leading to higher education.
For example, the differences between younger and older students in higher education are caused not so much by their age differences but by their different educational and professional trajectories and the fact that "adults have more experiences, adults have different kinds of experiences, and adult experiences are organised differently" (Kidd, 1973, p. 46). This study, therefore, concentrates on the previous life trajectories to investigate how they learn from the biographical experiences gained during them as they bring this knowledge to their new higher educational experiences. Those individual life trajectories in social space can also be framed as biographies.
To study learning biographies, this paper adopts a biographical learning framework. Alheit (1995) asserted that we learn authentically when we involve our biographies; from this point, scholars refer to this phenomenon as biographical learning. Biographical learning helps understand the processes in which people are involved when forming their lives through storytelling (Alheit & Dausien, 2000). However, it has not yet been clearly stated how exactly this biographical learning takes place, what its parts and outcomes are, and how it can be identified in the narratives. Therefore, the research questions addressed in this study were formulated as follows: 1. How do adults learn when storytelling their educational trajectories? and 2. What do they learn when they are storytelling their educational trajectories?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used Interviews were based on the biographic narrative interview method (BNIM) that was developed mainly by Schütze (1992, 2008), Rosenthal (2003, 2005) and Wengraf (2011). The traditional BNIM consists of three sub-sessions (Burke, 2014). The interview scheme used in this study was in line with Rosenthal’s conceptualisation (2004): the interview started with a period of main narration with the initial narrative question; this was followed by a questioning period beginning with internal narrative questions and continuing with external narrative questions. In the first phase, the respondents were asked a broad initial narrative question (inspired by Lieblich et al., 1998; Rosenthal, 2004) that started as follows: “Please imagine that you would like to write a book about your educational trajectory”.
In the second phase, they were asked questions from their previous narration, i.e. from what they just said. In the last phase, the interviewer asked pre-prepared questions to clarify aspects that were not mentioned. The biographical narrative interviews lasted from one to two hours. As this study is concerned with the narrative analysis of this data, the respondents will be subsequently designated as “narrators” and have been assigned pseudonyms from mythology.
Following Horsdal’s (2011) conception of the main focus of narrative analysis, the underlying presumption was that this specific type of analysis enables researchers to understand how the narrator tries to make sense of lived experiences through narration. The first step of the analysis was the process of theoretical sensitising. As this study deals with biographical learning, I considered biographicity, narrativity, and learning. With the help of the learning theories (Bruner, 1990; Jarvis, 2006), learning from storytelling can be translated as (A) the transformation of biographical experiences or (B) the narrative (re)construction of the self. Within the analysis, this distinction was reflected in the attention paid to both the content (A) and the structural level (B) of the narrative.
In the last step, the data analysis was devided into two corresponding and interrelated levels of structure and content to analyse the biographical learning in the data further. These two levels correspond to the two main types of narrative analysis (Lieblich et al. 1998) and to the biographicity (content) and narrativity (structure) of biographical learning. In the whole analysis I also employed word-by-word coding, structural description (Alheit, 1994; Schütze, 1984) and abductive reasoning (Bron & Thunborg, 2017).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThis paper shows that the study of narrated biographies in higher education research by applying learning theories to live accounts can help understand how, whether, and what people learn from their previous educational biographies when coming to higher education. In the setting of a biographical narrative interview, the narrators in this research presented meaningful biographical experiences that were crucial for developing their educational trajectories. Those experiences were, in their nature, either educational, familial, or work-life-related. Investigating students’ educational biographies helps understand the interdependence of education and biography (Merrill & Alheit, 2004). The narrators gave meaning to their experiences when they placed them in a meaningful order in their life stories and interpreted them. However, this study explored that the narrators do not present the experiences separately, one after another. The narrative analysis revealed that those experiences are intertwined. In adding another experience, the narrators discover new, previously unseen meanings. Therefore, it is possible to talk about the learning process in the narration itself. This paper revealed three qualitatively different types of learning that go on in narration: learning by analogy, learning by authority, and learning by audit. The results of this study suggest that the use of stories can be beneficial for enhancing learning for (not only mature) students in higher education institutions “it is only in more exceptional circumstances that we engage deliberately in narrative construction in order to learn from it.”(Goodson et al.,2010). However, there are some records of programmes that focus on the autobiographical work of adults in education (Alterio & McDrury, 2003; Dominicé, 2000; Van Houten, 1998; Rossiter & Clark, 2010). The study results have implications for both higher education research and practice. They suggest that narrative pedagogy could be employed more as a teaching method to make learning more personal and connected to biographies.
ReferencesAlheit P. (1995), Biographizität als Lernpotential. Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zum biographischen Ansatz in der Erwachsenenbildung, In H.-H. Krüger & W. Marotzki (Eds), Erziehungswissenschaftliche Biographieforschung (pp. 276-307). Leske + Budrich.
Alheit, P., & Dausien, B. (2002). The ‘double face’of lifelong learning: Two analytical perspectives on a ‘silent revolution’. Studies in the Education of Adults, 34(1), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2002.11661458
Alterio, M., & McDrury, J. (2003). Learning through storytelling in higher education: Using reflection and experience to improve learning. Routledge.
Bron, A., & Thunborg, C. (2017). Theorising biographical work from non-traditional students' stories in higher education. International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, 54(2), 112-127.
Bruner, J. (1996). The culture of education. Harvard University Press.
Burke, C. T. (2014). Biographical narrative interview method: tracing graduates' futures. SAGE Publications, Ltd.
Dominicé, P. (2000). Learning from Our Lives: Using Educational Biographies with Adults. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Goodson, I. F., Biesta, G., Tedder, M., & Adair, N. (2010). Narrative learning. Routledge.
Horsdal, M. (2011). Telling Lives: Exploring Dimensions of Narratives. Taylor & Francis Group.
Jarvis, P. (2006). Towards a comprehensive theory of human learning. Routledge.
Kidd, J. R. (1973). How adults learn. Revised Edition. Association Press.
Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R. & Zilber, T. (1998) Narrative Research: Reading, Analysis, and Interpretation. Vol. 47, Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412985253
Merrill, B., & Alheit, P. (2004). Biography and narratives: Adult returners to learning. In Researching widening access to lifelong learning (pp. 150-162). Routledge.
Novotný, P., Brücknerová, K., Juhaňák, L., & Rozvadská, K. (2019). Driven to be a non-traditional student: Measurement of the academic motivation scale with adult learners after their transition to university. Studia Paedagogica, 24(2), 109–135. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.muni.cz/10.5817/SP2019-2-5
OECD (2023). Building the future of education.
Rosenthal, G. (2004). Biographical research. In C. Seale, D. Silverman, J.F. Gubrium & G. Gobo (Eds.), Qualitative research practice, (pp. 48-64).
22. Research in Higher Education
Paper
Adult Learners’ Conceptions of Studying and Learning in Higher Education. The Contribution of Critical Pedagogy to its Analysis
Ana Luisa Oliveira Pires
Escola Superior de Educação (ESE-IPS); CICS.NOVA, Portugal
Presenting Author: Oliveira Pires, Ana Luisa
This paper presents some preliminary results of an exploratory study focused on adult learners conceptions of studying and learning in Higher Education (HE). The study emerges from the author’s experience of teaching and researching in HE, particularly in the field of lifelong education with non-traditional students, usually named adult learners or mature students, according to the current literature.
In a wider context, contemporary changes at societal and educational level have contributed to the emergence of a lifelong learning society, where HE plays a major role. Consequently, there has been a rapid expansion of this sector in Europe over the last decades, following the widening political concern to widen the access of adults to HE, in parallel with the concerns of raising the level of qualifications in different European countries, as several studies have pointed out (Griffits, Kaldi & Pires, 2008; Alves & Pires, 2008; Pires, 2009, 2010, 2016; Schuetze & Sloey, 2000; Joengbloed & Vossenstein, 2016).
In the recent years, several studies have focused the participation of adult learners in HE, from the scope of a diversity of fields and theoretical perspectives (Griffits, Kaldi & Pires, 2008; Pires, 2009, 2010; Pearce, 2017; Stevens, 2014; Venazzi et al, 2018). Some studies have shown that attraction and engagement of the population of adult learners will not go far enough in truly developing the adult learner if doesn’t take into account their needs and desires(Stevens, 2014). For adult learners, studying in HE has different meanings than it does for younger students, but it can still be regarded as a transformational experience (Pearce, 2017). Starting from the ideia that conceptions of learning are related to personal and contextual factors, Venazzi, Vettori and Pinto (2018), have studied how gender, academic area, and level of study can influence university students’ conceptions of learning.
According to Bowden and Marton (2004), there are different students’ approaches to learning — a range that could go from a surface to a deeper approach —, depending on what the learners are focusing on, what they are trying to achieve and how they are going about it” (Bowden & Marton, 2004, p.8). It is crucial to acknowledge the role of students’ expectations towards learning, their individual projects, as well as the meaning they give to the context: “Student approaches to learning are also related to their project at university – on one hand, what kind of meaning studying there carries for them, what there conception of learning is and, on the other hand, their understanding of what the institution wants them to do and what view of learning its way of acting reflects” (ibid).
In order to understand more deeply students conceptions about learning and studying in HE we can use the critical lens of Freire's pedagogy, that affirms the impossibility of studying for the study's sake. According to Freire (1996), it is not possible to understand studying as a neutral activity: no one can be in the world, with the world and with others in a neutral way. Considering that teaching and learning are only moments of a greater process that is knowing, which is a dialectical process, Freire defends a critical understanding of education.
General research questions:
What are adult learners’ conceptions of studying and learning in Higher Education?
What contributions does Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy offer us to (re)think the meanings of studying and learning in higher education?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis is a qualitative and interpretative exploratory study (Bogdan & Biklen, 1994, Amado, 2014), focused on the analysis of HE students' conceptions of studying and learning. The study is developed with a specific group of students – adult learners, enrolled in a new master's degree, offered by a public HE institution in Portugal, started in the academic year of 2022/23. This is a master degree in the area of Education, with a study plan of 120 ECTS, and has a multidisciplinary nature, which crosses the areas of Education, Arts and social Inclusion. It was created “to respond to the need to train qualified professionals to intervene in social realities, cultural and artistic in this region, through a multipurpose professional profile with skills to understand, conceptualise, intervene, investigate, operationalise educational projects for populations of different age groups and in different facilities of a social, cultural and artistic nature.” (IPS-ESE, 2021). One of the main targets of the course was to meet the needs of professionals who were already working in these areas, namely by the design of an adequate study plan and by the creation of organisational and pedagogic conditions that could take into account the reality of adult students.
The specific goals of the empirical study include 1) identification and analysis of adult learners’ characteristics (age, gender, nationality, local of birth, place of residence, level of education, professional experience, previous training and working life experience; 2) the analysis of their motivations to return to study in HE; 3) the analysis of the meaning attributed to studying in HE.
Aligned with this goals, the preliminary data will be supported on the analysis of the aims and purposes of the master’s degree, using the official documents and the study plan; a socio-demographic characterisation of the participants (n=20), based on the analysis of their CV; the analysis of their motivation letters submitted at the time of application; and the students’ answers to an open question, raised at the beginning of the academic year, with the objective to collect students’ conceptions of studying in HE.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsAt a general level, we expect to contribute to the ongoing discussion of the current challenges faced by Higher Education, specifically related to widening access / participation of new publics — non-traditional students, such as adult learners — characterized by a diversity of educational and training trajectories, family and work responsibilities, labor market experience, knowledge and competences gained from experience, and often a strong professional identity. In a lifelong learning and education society, understanding and responding to the emerging needs of lifelong learners is crucial to H.E. institutions.
Though findings can’ t be generalisable, due to the nature and questions of the ongoing research, the expected outcomes of this preliminary study will give us a better understanding of an specific reality and might constitute a relevant contribution for a critical discussion about adult learners in HE.
Note: This work is financed by national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the project «UIDB/04647/2020» of CICS.NOVA – Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
ReferencesAlves, M. & Pires, A. (2008) Aprendizagem ao longo da vida e Ensino Superior: novos públicos, novas oportunidades? In Actas da Conferência internacional de Sociologia da Educação, João Pessoa, 2008.
Amado, J. (2014) (Coord.) Manual de Investigação Qualitativa em Educação. Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
Bogdan, R. e Biklen, S. (1994) Investigação Qualitativa em Educação.Porto Editora
Bowden, J. & Marton, F. (2004) The University of learning. Beyond Quality and Competence. Routledge.
Freire, P. (1996) Pedagogia da Autonomia. Saberes necessários à pratica educativa. Editora Paz Terra.
Freire, P. (2007) 30ª ed. Educação e mudança. Paz e Terra.
Freire, P. (2018) 4ª ed. Educação como prática da liberdade. Paz e Terra.
Griffits, V., Kaldi, S., Pires, A. (2008) Adult learners and entry to higher education: motivation, prior experience and entry requirements. Conference Procedings of the International Association of Scientific Knowledge Teaching and Learning 2008 University of Aveiro, Portugal, pp.632-640
Holst, J. (2019) Paulo Freire as a learning Theorist. Procedings of Adult Education Research Conference.
https://newprairiepress.org/aerc/2019/papers/29
Pearce, N. (2017) Exploring the learning experiences of older mature undergraduate students. Widening participation and Lifelong learning. Vol 19 number 1, pages 1-18.
Pires, A. (2009) Novos públicos no Ensino Superior em Portugal. Contributos para uma problematização. In Rummert, S., Canário, R. e Frigotto, G. (Orgs) Políticas de formação de jovens e adultos no Brasil e em Portugal., p 185-205. Ed. UFF.
Pires, A. (2010) Aprendizagem ao Longo da Vida, novos públicos. Uma perspectiva internacional. In Alves, M.G. (Ed) Aprendizagem ao Longo da VIda e políticas educativas europeias.Tensões e ambiguidades nos discursos e nas práticas de estados, instituições e indivíduos., p 107-138
Pires, A. (2016) Between challenges and trends of lifelong learning: Higher Education and the recognition of prior experiential learning. In Acess and expansion Post-massification. Opportunities and barriers to further growth in Higher Education Participation. in Jongbloed, B. & Vossenstein, H., (Eds), p.212-23. Routledge.
Stevens, J. (2014) Perceptions, Attitudes, & Preferences of Adult Learners in Higher Education: A National Survey. Journal of Learning in Higher Education. Volume 10 issue 2, pages 65-78
Carstensen, T., Nina B. Ødegaard & Tore Bonsaksen (2018). Approaches to studying: Associations with learning conceptions and preferences for teaching, Cogent Education, 5:1, 1480909, DOI: 10.1080/2331186X.2018.1480909
https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1480909
Venazzi, Vettori and Pinto (2018). University students’ conceptions of learning across multiple domains. European Journal of Psychology of Education. Volume 33, pages 665–684.
22. Research in Higher Education
Paper
Carers in Higher Education
Chris Kubiak, Mary Larkin, Manik Deepak-Gopinath, Tajinda Gill, Julie Messenger, Jitka Vseteckova
The Open University, United Kingdom
Presenting Author: Kubiak, Chris
Carers provide unpaid care or support to a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support (Carers Trust, 2022). Across Europe, 10%-30% of the population provide informal care, a number which is projected to grow (Zigante, 2018). With the growing emphasis placed on widening participation and equality of access to education, attention to the needs of students with caring responsibilities is intensifying. In the United Kingdom, it is still the case that there are no official statistics on the numbers of higher education students with caring responsibilities (Office for Students, 2020), the National Union of Students (2013) estimate that in the United Kingdom carers make up between three and six per cent of the student population.
There is a growing body of research identifying the difficulties student carers have in managing their commitments to study and caring (Knopf et al., 2022, Runacres et al., 2021). The challenges of combining caring responsibilities with study can adversely affect the social, financial and academic dimensions of university life (Larkin and Kubiak, 2021). The time poverty, fatigue and lack of flexibility typically associated with caring can cause lateness, absence and missed deadlines, for example (Sempik and Becker, 2014, González-Arnal and Kilkey, 2009). Interactions with other students are often comprised (National Union of Students, 2013) and carers in higher education can experience challenges to their mental and physical health (Runacres et al., 2021). Attrition rates for caring-experienced students can be four times higher than for other students (Kettell, 2020).
Despite greater awareness and prioritisation of this group in higher education, widening participation strategies in the United Kingdom’s higher education sector remain somewhat nascent (Office for Students, 2020). Furthermore, there is a dearth of knowledge about carers’ needs and how best to support them (Larkin and Kubiak, 2021, Runacres et al., 2021, Knopf et al., 2022). What does exist tends to focus on young adult carers and students in face-to-face institutions.
In this paper, the challenges and support needs of carers in higher education distance learning are framed by the Longitudinal Model of Student Integration (Tinto, 1994). This framework presents the likelihood of student drop out in terms of the fit between the student and the institution in three domains: study goals, academic activities and social engagements. This paper reports on the following project aims:
- To conduct an in-depth exploration of student carers’ experiences and views of good support for their study.
- To build an understanding of the strategies used by student-carers to manage study while caring.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe project is a two year qualitative study carried out at The Open University, a United Kingdom Higher Education institution offering distance learning. 62 student-carers identified by a marker on their student record studying were drawn from across the university and from a range of study programmes. 30-60 minute semi-structured interviews were carried out and recorded. These interviews were transcribed. The data was analysed using an approach based on Thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe results suggest that student-carers share the challenges of carers in other settings – financial limitations, time poverty and challenging, exhausting and unpredictable demands. Some participants reported losing or changing their career trajectory as their role demanded more of their time. In terms of study goals, career development or change was a focus for several. Others studied in a care-related area, hoping to become more skilled as carers or capitalising on their experience to move into a related profession in health and social care. For some, studying substituted for leisure or social activities – ‘me-time,’ an opportunity for self-rejuvenation or, a guilty break from the demands of caring. Others used care to transcend the day-to-day of their caring role.
In terms of academic integration, distance learning was chosen for its flexibility. However, caring often conflicted with the time demands and routines of successful study. Carers adopted a range of strategies to actively manage their time, boundaries and social circumstances. In relation to social integration, student-carers predominantly adopted one of two distinct study strategies: solo and connected. Solo studiers met their academic and caring commitments by eschewing potentially supportive faculty and peer engagements as well as any institutional accommodations of their circumstances. In addition to the need to contain study requirements so as to attend to care demands (and potential future crises), impression management also appears to be a key factor in adopting this strategy. In contrast, connected studiers were sustained by peer and faculty support and capitalized on institutional flexibility around study deadlines and other requirements. The paper will make recommendations for institutional support for carers.
ReferencesBRAUN, V. & CLARKE, V. 2006. Using thematic analysis in pyschology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101.
CARERS TRUST 2022. Pushed to the edge: Life for unpaid carers in the UK. London: Carers Trust.
GONZÁLEZ-ARNAL, S. & KILKEY, M. 2009. Contextualizing rationality: Mature student carers and higher education in England. Feminist Economics, 15, 85-111.
KETTELL, L. 2020. Young adult carers in higher education: the motivations, barriers and challenges involved – a UK study. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44, 100-112.
KNOPF, L., WAZINSKI, K., WANKA, A. & HESS, M. 2022. Caregiving students: a systematic literature review of an under-researched group. Journal of further and higher education, 46, 822-835.
LARKIN, M. & KUBIAK, C. 2021. Carers and Higher Education: Where next? Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 23, 130–151.
NATIONAL UNION OF STUDENTS. 2013. Learning with care: Experiences of student carers in the UK [Online]. Available: https://www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/learning-with-care [Accessed 17 September 2020].
OFFICE FOR STUDENTS. 2020. Transforming opportunity in higher education: An analysis of 2020-21 to 2024-25 access
and participation plans [Online]. Available: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/2efcda44-8715-4888-8d63-42c0fd6a31af/transforming-opportunity-in-higher-education.pdf.
RUNACRES, J., HERRON, D., BUCKLESS, K. & WORRALL, S. 2021. Student carer experiences of higher education and support: a scoping review. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-18.
SEMPIK, J. & BECKER, S. 2014. Young Adult Carers at College and University. London: Carers Trust.
TINTO, V. 1994. Leaving College : Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
ZIGANTE, V. 2018. Informal care in Europe: Exploring Formalisation, Availability and Quality. Luxembourg: European Comission.
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