Fitting-In Whilst Standing-Out In The Academy

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This reflective think piece looks back on my experiences, thus far, as a ‘non-traditional HE (higher education) student’ (Bowl, 2001), as I move from graduate study into the doctoral school. Having uncovered some of my anxieties and dilemmas around professional and academic identity formation and integration, whilst attempting to retain my individuality and sense of self as a working-class 49 year old feminist socialist countercultural woman, I explore a range of multidisciplinary literature in search of guidance and insight, examining strategies for non-traditional HE students such as mentoring, peer support and social networks. The piece concludes with my personal recognition, developed from a diverse body of literature, of the valuable contributions made to academic institutions by non-traditional HE students. I highlight the need for mechanisms of solidarity to ensure mentoring, peer support and public scholarship increasingly cultivate a truly diverse and dynamic 21st century academy. And thus, how I might navigate my own path through the next few years, adapting an earlier idea by Reay et al. (2010) to find ways of fitting-in whilst standing-out.