Abstract
ABSTRACT For many adult learners transitioning into higher education is an intense experience that challenges their sense of themselves. This article reports on a study that examined the discourse of thirty-four undergraduate adult learners at the start and end of their first year in two Irish higher education institutions. The study focused on participants’ evolving sense of who they were in the new educational context and how they incorporated this new adult learner identity into their existing identity portfolio, their overall sense of who they are. The key finding in this discursive psychology analysis of interview data was that participants engaged in two interrelated forms of identity work across their first year: constructing an identity formation narrative, about becoming adult learners; and ongoing, day-to-day identity management. The study illustrates how these adult learners experienced varying degrees of identity struggle, which had to be minimised if they were to maintain a consistent and coherent sense of themselves.
Highlights
Educational research on the transition of learners into higher education and the first year experience is predominantly focused on traditional-age school-leavers, with less focus on the transition experiences of adult learners (Mehmet, Erdogdu, Kokoc, and Cagiltay 2019), who differ from traditional-age learners in terms of psychological, academic, and life characteristics (Richardson and King 1998)
The findings show that participants constructed themselves as engaging in forms of identity work across their first year of study, and as experiencing varying degrees of identity struggle
Participants were identifiably engaged in the macro-level formation, development, maintenance, and augmentation of their new learner identity and changing identity portfolio, developing a story about how they were becoming adult learners and what that meant for their overall sense of themselves
Summary
Educational research on the transition of learners into higher education and the first year experience is predominantly focused on traditional-age school-leavers, with less focus on the transition experiences of adult learners (Mehmet, Erdogdu, Kokoc, and Cagiltay 2019), who differ from traditional-age learners in terms of psychological, academic, and life characteristics (Richardson and King 1998). This is despite the fact that the extension of opportunities for adult learners to enter higher education is a growing international goal, policy, and reality (European Commission 2014; OECD 2015). Understanding how adult learners psychologically form and manage their identities is vital to understanding their motivations, barriers to learning, and support needs (Askham 2008; Ecclestone, Biesta, and Hughes 2010)
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