Contents Page | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 (appendices)
This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy.
Sponsoring Establishment: Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology. June, 1988.I would like to express my gratitude to my tutors, Jennifer Nias and Andrew Webster for the help and encouragement they have given me.
This thesis would not have been possible without the co-operation of the staff and students at CCAT, to whom I extend my thanks.
This research project was begun in October, 1984, although preparations for it started in the previous year. There were a number of principal aims, including:
The definition of a m/s has been laid down by the DES
for the purposes of defining status for grant
entitlement. There are two possible definitions:
1. A person over the age of 25 years.
2. A person aged 21, or under 25, who has been in
full-time employment for three consecutive years.
In the context of this research project, a m/s was defined as being anyone over the age of 25. By so doing there was a greater chance of finding a higher percentage of students who had a family commitment and responsibility than if the minimum age had been fixed at 21 years. In practice this has indeed been the case as 60% of the cohort in October, 1984 had children ranging in age from 4 - 18 years.
So, in this project, I decided to follow all those m/s who were over the age of 25 in October,1984 who had enrolled at CCAT to read for a first degree, for the three years of their studies. I did find such a cohort at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology. As there was an opportunity for me to do this research on a longitudinal basis I wanted to take advantage of this fact and work in some depth with such a cohort. Thus the work was planned to cover many aspects of life for m/s at CCAT including their academic, social and personal careers over this span of time. In the area of education the main issues to be considered included previous school experience, academic entry requirements, the responses of m/s to lectures, tutorials and seminars and the attitudes of staff to m/s.
It was hoped that the data obtained would enable the concept of a career of the m/s at CCAT to be developed. Thus the changes seen between the time of admission in 1984 and the taking of the Final Examinations three years later will be discussed in Chapter 6 - The Career of M/s.
Such questions to be explored were:
How m/s see their role as student compared with the
student stereotype of a s/l with whom they worked;how
m/s found out the standard of academic work required;
and how those students with family responsibilities
managed.
In the social area, the attitudes of family and friends were of special concern as well as the interaction between m/s and s/l. At the personal level the motivation that drove someone back to f/t study and the changes that took place over the three years were also examined.
Initially my interest in this subject arose from my own experiences of being a student at CCAT where I started studying for my 'A' level examinations on a two year p/t course in 1978. This led directly onto a degree in the Hum/Soc department where I chose to read the English/History combination. I completed the first-year part of the course as a p/t student, subsequently becoming a f/t student for the last two years.At the time nearly 30% of my fellow students were m/s and I was very much aware of the struggles, worries and lack of support experienced by some of them.Towards the end of my four years, in 1983,I discussed with my tutor the possibility of working in a voluntary capacity in the Welfare Department of CCAT with m/s. She suggested that I did some research on the subject as so little was known about it. An exploratory investigation of literature sources indicated a lack of information and understanding about m/s. Further discussion led to the proposal to pursue the matter in a more formal and rigorous way. Hence this project, one in which it was hoped that my own experience could be used in a practical and constructive way.
In preparation for this study I took a one year course
in Sociology at 'A' level standard as well as enrolling
as an Associate Member in the Open University to study
for the course on "Research Methods in Education and
the Social Sciences" which lasted for six months.(1) At
the same time I attended an Introductory Course in
Counselling at Hatfield Polytechnic. In this way I
hoped to be able to produce a piece of research that
would be reliable and valid as far as was possible. I
chose to do the work at CCAT because:
1. There was a relatively high intake of m/s; approximately 16% in 1984 over the degree courses as a whole, compared with 1/2 % at Cambridge University. 2. Having studied there myself I was aware of the ethos of college life and its impact on m/s and had a good working relationship with the staff, who gave me every encouragement on my first tentative enquiries as to the feasibility of this project. 3. The degree course itself, as operated at CCAT, made it particularly suitable for a longitudinal study on the lines I envisaged in that in each of the three years there was one prominent aspect of work which could provide a built-in focus point on which to concentrate. In the first year the culmination of the introductory course was the end-of-year examinations which had to be passed to gain entry to the second year of the course. Progress in the second year was monitored by Continuous Assessment and in the final year students worked on a dissertation of some 10,000-12,000 words as well as preparing for the final examinations.
This structured background provided an opportunity to identify many aspects of the various experiences that m/s might be expected to meet in the areas of education, social setting and personal attitudes during a degree course at CCAT.
Lastly I would like to mention some ethical aspects of this research project of which I was aware and which needed to be handled carefully in case future problems arose. In the initial letter of introduction (see Appendix 1) I completely and openly described the work on which I was engaged and defined my position as a researcher. A promise was given to maintain confidentiality, and throughout the three years the database has been under my sole control. Where life histories were used to illustrate material, the respondents themselves were asked to read and comment on what had been written before it was used in its final form. In Chaper 3, Methodology, this are will be more fully examined.
I found the research to be a stimulating learning experience from my own point of view and hope that the results will be of use to others in the same field exploring different educational establishments.
1. Course DE304. OU Associate Course. Included theory
and practice in Education and Social Science
fields.
Contents Page | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 (appendices)