Contents Page | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 (appendices)
In this chapter the cohort of m/s who took part in this research will be described as will the 1O% sample of s/l first referred to in Chapter 3. As such a small number of participants was involved they are discussed in terms of percentages where tables of the various factors are given.
Of the total intake of first year degree students (27O) enrolling at CCAT in October,1984, 15% (n=4O) were aged 25 or over. All had agreed to take part in this research and of this cohort 4O% (16) were men and 6O% (24) were women. It was not possible to use an historical basis in this research nor delve into past records of m/s attending CCAT as not only would this have taken an inordinate amount of time, but also the reliability of the data would have been questionable. Information about this cohort will be given concerning:
a. Age and gender b. Marital status. c. Class and educational background. d. Reasons for returning to H/ed.
Although similar academic and social difficulties are often encountered by s/l when embarking in H/ed., they are usually more problematical for the m/s already involved in domestic and/or a working situation. What particularly marks out m/s from others is that they confront these problems at an older age. Coping with this situation successfully, as well as joining a degree course, is likely to make for a student who is perhaps more highly motivated than is a s/l. Age was the obvious and most marked difference that separated m/s from the s/l, andas I had chosen only to look at those students who were over 25 years, the assumption could be made that m/s were at least 7 years older than a s/l and none of them would have overlapped with a secondary school contemporary.
Table 1. Age distribution of m/s: male and female as a percentage of the total m/s intake.The average age of the women students was 34.3 years with a median age of 35. The respective figures for the men were 31.3 and 3O which is of some significance. Reasons for this will be explored in the following section which considers marital status.----------------------------------------------------- MEN Women TOTAL ----------------------------------------------------- Under 3O 2O Under 35 32.5 52.5 ----------------------------------------------------- Over 3O 2O Over 35 27.5 47.5 ----------------------------------------------------- 4O 6O 1OO -----------------------------------------------------
There were few older married men. The tradition of the father being financially responsible for the family, that still prevails, seemed to exclude many who would have liked an opportunity to go into full-time H/ed.The extra grant made for m/s was still well below the average wage or salary that principal breadwinners expect to be earning, and the consequent fall in the standard of living might not be acceptable for many families. Previous financial commitments, such as a mortgage, might appear to be an "albatross" which would be a source of worry during the three years of the course.
Among a group with such a wide ranging age band,(25-54) a problem for members was establishing who one's peer group actually was. It was noticeable that the younger, single men in this cohort of m/s identified more with the s/l than did the older students of both sexes. They dressed in a similar manner to s/l and associated with them in social activities, such as in the canteen or meeting in the local pub.
Young mothers who had many similar circumstances in common established another informal peer group. They would meet in the canteen, always at the same table, to discuss work, essay- writing and child-minding problems. They laughingly referred to themselves as "the geriatrics". But the social intercourse which quickly built up was a valuable source of mutual support and help.
Where the situation might be somewhat ambiguous,as far as a peer group was concerned, personality more than age, may be a deciding factor. This was high-lighted by the fact that two students of the same age in the same department saw themselves in quite different ways. One said that:
One must be prepared to act half your age.
while the other said:
I would hate to be on a course with all m/s. S/l
are very nice but one doesn't have much contact
with them.
1t did seem, however, that a role was imposed on some
m/s by s/l whether they liked it or not. Several m/s
in the older age range found themselves acting the part
of "father" or "mother" figures.Their advice was sought
and unsolicited confidences imparted. This was not
resented by the m/s but they were not sure whether to
be flattered by this or made to feel even older.
The fact that married women form the biggest group in the cohort - 54% - is indicated in Table 2 below.
Table 2. Marital status of m/s: in %
---------------------------------------------------
MEN WOMEN
----------------------------------------------------
MARRIED *OTHERS ALL MARRIED *OTHERS ALL
------------------------------------------------------
With 19 31 50 With 41 29 70
Children Children
------------------------------------------------------
Without 6 64 50 Without 13 17 30
Children Children
-------------------------------------------------------
25 75 100 54 46 100
--------------------------------------------------------
*Others include those who are divorced, separated or
single.
This might indicate that they can afford to become
students as they can rely for financial support on
their husbands. In most cases these students waited
until their children were of secondary school age and
their role as mothers was not then paramount. This
may be part of the explanation for the higher average
age of women compared with the men in the cohort as
indicated in Table1 above. (See also Table 13 below).
Those who had day to day family responsibilities were
differentiated in this way from the s/l, and this
applied to 7O% of m/s. The extra pressure on time for
study and the demands made on financial resources were
very evident,and these were added burdens throughout
the course for those parents with school-aged children.
The passage of time may have meant that children became
more independent, but it also meant, for example, that
they did not go to bed so early, so that the
student/parent had an even shorter period of
comparative peace and quietness at home for study.
The limited accommodation at CCAT for study during the
day was mentioned by many parents who had odd hours
available between lectures, tutorials or seminars which
they would have liked to use for reading or writing
essays.
This information was elicited from the individual filing card which was filled in with the student concerned at the first interview. ( 1) Class was established by occupation using the classifications of the Registrar-General. The question of which class to allocate to housewives who had not been working for some years was decided by using a combination of their life style and the occupation of their husbands. With that of the s/l, the deciding factor used was the occupation of their father.
As in most institutions of H/ed. CCAT has a majority of students who are m/c. In this cohort the proportion (of m/c to w/c) is 5:3 as demonstrated in Table 3 below. There are significant differences between men and women students. Men are equally divided between the m/c and w/c whilst the women are predominantly m/c in the ratio of 2.5:1.
Table 3. Class and Gender of m/s. (%)
-----------------------------------------------------
CLASS MEN WOMEN %
-----------------------------------------------------
m/c 20 42.5 62.5
-----------------------------------------------------
w/c 20 17.5 37.5
------------------------------------------------------
40 60 100
------------------------------------------------------
There are also some significant differences apparent in terms of the relationship between age, class and gender in this cohort as indicated by Table 4 below:
Table 4. Age, class and gender.(%)
-------------------------------------------------------
MEN WOMEN
-------------------------------------------------------
Over 31 under 30 % over 35 under 34 %
--------------------------------------------------------
M/C 19 31 50 42 29 71
---------------------------------------------------------
W/C 25 25 50 8 21 29
---------------------------------------------------------
44 56 100 50 50 100
--------------------------------------------------------
Median ages are shown differently for each gender in order that the figures are presented consistently with Table 1. Table 4 indicates that the largest group in the cohort is made up of m/c women in the older age range.This will be discussed in the section below dealing with categories.
The wide age range of m/s students was reflected in the many types of school that were attended due to the reorganisation of the state system of education during this period, 1951-1968. Table 5 below provides a distribution of m/s according to the type of school attended. The presence of the category Comprehensive/Grammar is explained where a change of status occurred while the old system was being "phased out". The change towards comprehensive education from the three-tiered system established by the Butler Education Act of 1944 was slow and not uniform throughout the country because of the decentralised educational system in Britain. Changes were accompanied by the abolition of the Direct Grant System and the withdrawal of many minor "Public" Schools from the public sector, e.g. the Perse School and the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge. Thus there are six categories of school which the respondents have experienced.
Table 5. Types of school attended by m/s:----------------------------------------------------- Type % of students ----------------------------------------------------- 1. Secondary Modern 12.5 Public 2. Comprehensive. 25 3. Grammar/Comprehensive. 12.5 4. Grammar 30 80 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Private 5. Public School. 12.5 6. Other. (Technical,foreign) 7.5 20 ------------------------------------------------------ 100 ------------------------------------------------------
In Chapter 2 it was noted that some authors made the point that there was an unbalanced class structure within the student body in H/ed. where m/c students predominate. (Halsey, Heath and Ridge,198O; Goldthorpe,198O.) One of the findings was that those students who went on into H/ed straight from school, had had a longer and better experience of school. The more successful the pupil was at school the more likely it was that that pupil went on into H/ed. One of the original claims for comprehensive education was that the hitherto strong correlation between class and the type of school attended would be broken. Table 6 below shows the situation in this cohort:
Table 6.Type of school and class distribution.
------------------------------------------------------
Type of School M/c W/c %
-------------------------------------------------------
Secondary Modern 7.5 5 12.5
Public Comprehensive 12.5 12.5 25
Grammar/Comprehensive 2.5 1O 12.5
Grammar 2O 1O 3O
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Private Public School 12.5 --- 12.5
Other(technical,foreign) 7.5 --- 7.5
---------------------------------------------------------
The table shows that only those from a m/c background went toprivate schools; and of those m/c students who attended state schools the majority were in the higher grade of these schools, the Grammar schools. The data confirm, therefore, the pattern of relative m/c advantage in education identified in previous sociological research.
On enquiring into school experience, it was noted that a large proportion of m/s reported that they left school as soon as they could, or that their school days were unrewarding or irrelevant. 5O% of the students taking part in this project reported that they had not enjoyed their school years. The following comments are typical of those made:
It was lousy. I "dropped out" after "O" levels.
I was an 11+ failure. I wanted to prove to myself
that they were wrong and I was right. The trouble
was that I was pushed into the wrong mould -
science.
and:
I didn't have a good schooling. There was a
general disinterest. One particular teacher
annihilated self-confidence. That is the
thing about CCAT, it builds up confidence.
Occasionally feelings about school are
resurrected - perhaps unconsciously - and
then I feel resentment.
Given these experiences it might be thought surprising that such individuals would return to education. In fact, the motivation to return to H/ed.was as strong in this group of apparent early "failures" as it was among those who had "done well" but who had not followed the typical H/ed. career as teenagers.But the data also suggest that despite a "less successful" schooling, the possession of a m/c culture will be a valuable social resource later in life, drawn on, for example, in gaining access to H/ed. Nevertheless, there are still a wide range of social and personal risks that all m/s have to face whatever class they come from. The reasons why people return to H/ed.are considerably varied. This next section examines the reasons that this cohort gave.
A wide range of reasons were given by m/s for their return to H/ed, and, in many cases, there was often more than one reason. In broad terms these may be categorized as being either vocational or non-vocational reasons, but,as signalled earlier,some do not fit easily into either category, or may overlap both. I give below the original headings that were listed in the order of respondents' preferences:
Table 7. Reasons for returning to H/ed. % 1. Original intention on leaving school. 37.5 2. Depressing job. Need for mental stimulation 27.5 3. Aid to obtaining a better job. 27.5 4. Enjoys study for its own sake 15 5. Good time to do it when children are small. 15 6. Missed out on schooling. 7.5 7. It seemed the right thing to do. 7.5 8. Wish to change jobs. 7.5 9. Example of a friend. 5 1O.Children growing up, therefore more time. 2.5 11.Need to earn a living. 2.5 12.Unable to do manual work due to injury. 2.5 13.Wish to make social contacts. 2.5
It was noticeable that there was an age and sex bias towards mainly non-vocational reasons given by older female students and mainly vocational reasons given by younger male students. Table 8 below describes the distribution of vocational and non- vocational reasons by age and sex:
Table 8.Vocational and non-vocationalreasons for men
and women.(%) --------------------------------------------------- MEN WOMEN ----------------------------------------------------- VOC NON-VOC VOC NON-VOC % ----------------------------------------------------- Under under 3O 17.5 2.5 35 15 17.5 52.5 ------------------------------------------------------ Over Over 31 12.5 7.5 36 5 22.5 47.5 ----------------------------------------------------- 3O 1O 2O 4O 1OO -----------------------------------------------------
It can be seen that the proportion of vocational to non-vocational reasons given by men are in the ratio of 3:1. The same comparison for women reveals a ratio of 2:1 in favour of non-vocational reasons, which is very marked when the figures for non-vocational reasons for men and women as a whole are compared. It was also noticeable that the differences between older and younger women in those giving priority to vocational reasons were more marked than those between all. These findings bear out the work of the Hutchinsons (1978) as discussed in Chapter 2. The data also reveal that single students of either sex place vocational reasons higher than non-vocational ones. As these students are usually younger, this fits into the pattern previously noted. (2)
A multiplicity of reasons were given by m/s for returning to H/ed. That given most often was that there had always been the intention to take a degree, and the opportunity had now arisen to make this possible. This seems to bear out the "trigger mechanism" theory of Levinson (1978) (3) where a particular stage of personal development had been reached and, as a result, some fundamental decisions might then be taken. The final decision to seek entry to a degree course was often taken quite suddenly, though this could also occur after a long period of gestation, as one correspondent said:
It was always at the back of my mind. Then a
friend started a course at another university
and she enjoyed it very much. So I thought it
was time I had a go.
and another commented:
It's all happened in the last few weeks. My
partner moved to a job here and I have taken
the opportunity to do this course. It's some
thing I always wanted to do. I think it will
help me job-hunting.
The last part of this section offers a similar description of the 1O% sample from the s/l. As already indicated (4) these were chosen by random sampling from the roll of first year students. 27 s/l were chosen and they were interviewed during the second term of the first year.
Of the sample, 55% were female and 45% were male, giving a ratio of 11:9 between them, and all were between 18 and 2O years of age. The majority of females over males was smaller than in the m/s cohort. None of the s/l was married.
Again there was a majority of students who were m/c compared with numbers from a w/c background. Percentages for females were a little lower than for m/s, but those for male s/l were slightly larger, which might be accounted for by the fact that there were more males in this samples because of the more even sex distribution among the population of s/l. The following table demonstrates this:
Table 9. Class and Gender of s/l.
---------------------------------------------------
MEN WOMEN %
---------------------------------------------------
M/C 26 33 59
---------------------------------------------------
W/C 19 22 41
---------------------------------------------------
45 55 100
----------------------------------------------------
There was a slightly more restricted range of schools attended than those seen amongst the m/s. The "Grammar" school has disappeared from the list but insteadthere was a new phenomenon - the Sixth Form College - which is the top layer of the tertiary system of schooling such as used by the L.E.A.s of Sussex and Cambridgeshire.
Table 10.Table 11 below describes the relationship between the class and school background of the s/l.Type of School Attended by s/l.
------------------------------------------------ Type of School % ------------------------------------------------- 1. Comprehensive/Grammar 3.7 2. Comprehensive 66 Public 3. Secondary Modern 7.4 4. 6th. Form College 3.7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Private 5. Public School 18.5 ----------------------------------------------------
Table 11. Type of School and Class Distribution.
----------------------------------------------------
TYPE OF SCHOOL M/C W/C %
--------------------------------------------------------
Comprehensive/Grammar 3.7 --- 3.7
Comprehensive 33 33 66
Public Secondary Modern --- 7.4 7.4
6th. Form College 3.7 --- 3.7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -
Private Public School 18.5 18.5
----------------------------------------------------------
A much larger percentage of s/l attended the
Comprehensive type of school than did the m/s, and the
range of schools attended by m/c s/l was wider than
that of w/c s/l.
All s/l obtained entrance to CCAT on the basis of their "A" level results and an interview, but initially they came because their grades were too low for entrance to the universities of their choice. CCAT was the alternative but all seemed satisfied that it was an acceptable alternative. The fact that in 1984 there was no central admissions service for colleges of Advanced Education such as CCAT meant that a further choice had to be made by each individual for admission to an institution and/or a course. This was mainly done with help from a school teacher making a recommendation, or a liking for a particular course. e.g. the breadth of approach in the Music Diploma or the choices available in the Geography degree, as shown in these extracts from interviews:
CCAT has a good reputation and it was a good
course. [Music]
or:
One of the teachers recommended it.The course
was more what I wanted to do - the Joint
Honours bit. [Geography/Science]
and:
It sounded interesting [English/ETL] - I wanted to
do drama really and this wasthe next best thing.
The parents thought it better than drama.
Table 12. Reasons for going into H/ed.Very few of the s/l had more than one reason for taking a degree course and the range of answers was smaller than that of m/s. For a s/l it seems that H/ed. was the normal progression for a student who had been in a sixth form at school as one said, "it was expected of me" and another [laughing] "it was the natural thing to do after "A" levels."-------------------------------------------------- Reason % --------------------------------------------------- 1. Purely vocational. 44 2. A degree is necessary 33 3. Its the natural thing 26 4. I always wanted to do 15 5. Need more education. 10 6. Did not know what else to do. 10 7. Friends did so. 3.7 8. To have a good time. 3.7 9. Not yet ready for a job. 3.7 -----------------------------------------------------
A further, more analytical look at the data now follows.
I started this in-depth study of 4O m/s reading for a first degree at CCAT with some concern as to how I could proceed with research into the lives of 4O individuals. By the end of the first year it became apparent that "patterns" were beginning to emerge. Individuals could be looked at where their circumstances and characteristics were so similar that they could be described as forming sub-groups or categories in their own right. These groups were then identified according to the following categories:
1. Middle class, middle-aged married women with children. 2. Single parents. 3. Other married students. 4. Single female students. 5. Single male students.
The data obtained from the initial questionnaire used at the first interview showed up the largest of these groups to be the first identified in the above list, which we can now examine.
Ten housewives whose average age in 1984 was 38.3 years, enrolled as students. The classification of their social status was taken to be derived from that of their husbands as none of these students were in employment before they enrolled.
Table 13 shows the occupation of the husbands who supported their wives financially. These were all in the upper bands of the occupational class scales as recognised by the Registrar-General.
Table 13. Situation of m/c, middle-aged Married Women with Children.
-------------------------------------------------------- Age f/t or Occupation No. of Age of child. p/t of husband. Child. in Oct. 1984 ---------------------------------------------------------41 f/t Information 2 10, 13 officer. 38 p/t Accountant 3 7, 11, 13 38 p/t Teacher 2 12, 14 34 f/t Accountant 2 4, 6 31 p/t Police Officer 3 4, 6, 8 38 f/t University don 3 5, 8, 11 41 f/t Managing Director 3 12, 13, 17 46 f/t Computer- 1 18 consultant. 38 p/t Medical 2 10, 12 Practitioner. 38 f/t Electronic 3 8, 11, 13 engineer. --------------------------------------------------------- 38.3 = average age Age range 4 - 18
Some doubt has recently been thrown on this method of classifying women who work in the domestic situation as it has been demonstrated that they themselves do not always perceive social class in the same way as men. Abbott (1987) (5) pointed out that 31% of a sample of 342 married women in routine non- manual occupations defined themselves as w/c and:
...therefore mis-allocated themselves if their own
occupation were to be taken as the objective
criterion.
p.1O1.
The students here were all previously full-time housewives engaged in looking after their children and households, and would therefore have been classified as being in Class E by the scale adopted by the Registrar-General, if their own occupation was the only criteria. However, in this situation I felt the criteria used could be justified. Their life-style was m/c in standard and their aspirations were based on professional occupations for themselves in the future. All but two of them came from middle class families and had been to grammar or public schools. But only three of these six students went into a sixth form to do their "A" level examinations. One of the two from a w/c family background had been to a local grammar school leaving at 18 with four "A" level passes. The other w/c student had had a difficult time at her Secondary Modern School and left, aged 15, with no examination successes at all. As she said:
I hated school.There isa totally different
attitude here from school. I had a feeling of
resentment - I had not had the opportunities.
I was part of the post-war bulge and they
couldn't cope with the numbers.Beinga m/s
has shown me that school is not everything.
One does have an opportunity later.
As the table shows, they all had children of school age, the eldest being 18 and expecting to go to university in October, 1985. The youngest was 4 years old and her mother used all her "minimum grant" to pay for child care for the first year, after which the child started f/t school. The only other child of pre-school age was cared for by a child-minder for the 6 months before she also started school in April, 1985.
Table 13 indicates that 5 out of the 1Ostudents waited until their children started secondary school before beginning their own studies again. In Chapter 6 I will be discussing the double role that women have as students and mothers.
Five of this cohort have chosen the option of being p/t students and four of them come from this group.This option is possible in the 2-subject Humanities/Social Studies degree. Then the first two years' work is spread over four years and the last year is worked on a f/t basis, making five years in all. These four students cited their family responsibilities as their main reason for choosing the p/t option:
I had been considering it for along time. My
domestic situation had to be considered. The CCAT
holidays fitted in with the children and doing
the'A' level[priorto joining the course] was a
test that I could cope with the course and the
family.
By the end of the second year 2 out of the 4 became f/t students. They did so with some trepidation:
I'm glad I did the first year's work p/t.[over a two year span]. That has been helpful. In October I will find it terrifying when I go f/t. I'm worried about being able to fit it all in. I've had problemsregardingmy husband'ssupport. He prefers me to be free... to be able to wait upon him! The children have been very good and accept it.
The third p/t student enrolled in the University of Cambridge after completing one year at CCAT. The University considered her p/t work for that year was equal to their entrance qualification although she had matriculated with the University of London as an overseas school pupil, (albeit twenty years previously.)
The remaining fourth p/t student in this group did not qualify for a mandatory grant as she had started a teacher's training course on leaving school, but only completed 4 terms. She then finished a two-year Design Course.
It may be necessary here to point out that there is a considerable difference between fees paid by f/t or p/t students. The latter are subsidised by central government support whereas f/t students are financed by their L.E.A. If a student cannot obtain a mandatory grant it would be in their interest to opt for p/t status.
Of the ten students in this category only four had full support and encouragement from their husbands.This quote was typical from one of these four:
My husband is very supportive. He took the children away at half- term so that I could catch up on my essays. That week showed me what a difference it would make if one didn't have children to cope with. But I alwaysput my family first. My studies have to suffer if one of the children is ill.Ididn't think of that possibility when I started. It's hell on earth!
Three other students reported that their husbands were ambivalent towards their studies, being neither encouraging nor enthusiastic:
My husband has mixed feelings about the
degree course, asking whether I can cope with
the family as well as the work. Now [in the
the second year] he says I'm much more
articulate than I used to be. I'm glad I'm
doing it p/t. Otherwise the children might
become jealous. They need attention whatever
age they are.
The remaining three claimed that they had neither support nor encouragement. The following remark illustrates this:
He says he doesn'tmind so long as it doesn't interfere with him. He's not interested in my work -he plays sports all the time. He tends to value people by their earning capacity.I hope to be able to do a f/t job in three years' time and this degree will increase my potential earning power.It causes stress at home because I need quiet for work and so I have to work late.One student's marriage did break up at the beginning of her second year. The actual break came suddenly and as a surprise, although the tensions in the marriage were made worse by the changes caused by the demands made on this mother by a f/t degree course. Then, after an initial painful adjustment, (greatly helped by practical and sympathetic aid from her fellow students) the student was aware of the removal of one part of the stress that was caused by the conflicting demands of a husband, three children and the work load of the degree course. Her own words conveyed this:
The pressure of the course could have contributed to the marriage break-down,although my husband was always very encouraging for me to take the course. But when it comes to reading and writing and the table not laid and the beds not made, things start falling apart and people start quarrelling among themselves. It was impossible to study. Thirty or forty per cent of it was associated with the course. There was no way of resolving it.
Having reached the half-way position in the degree course, this student decided to continue her studies in spite of the breakdown of her marriage and the subsequent drastic fallof 8O% in her income. After her divorce she received the student grant plus allowances for being a m/s which takes into consideration her individual circumstances. But a new situation had then to be faced in that the matrimonial courts treated this student as the potential bread-winner for her family. Alimony can no longer be relied on to assist with the upbringing of children.
This group of older women had left school some time before deciding to return to H/ed. Nearly all of them expressed some degree of apprehension at the beginning of the course, although they had all undertaken some form of p/t education prior to their enrolment, either at "A" level standard or with the Open University. At first the m/s were disappointed to find that this pre-course preparation was not of so much help as they had expected, but they quickly realised that the gap could be managed or bridged and that study skills could be enhanced with help from the special classes provided for those who might need them.
I indicated that support from the family background was patchy. Those who had this support appreciated the difference it made to them and made full use of the confidence-building aspect that the course gave. All emphasised the difference that having family responsibilities made on their lives as students, as compared with that of the s/l who did not have to carry such a burden. Nevertheless, their morale remained high, although at times the going may have been difficult. The motivation of this group of students was strong, whether it was associated with vocational or non-vocational ambitions. This bears out the findings of the literature dealing with education for m/s as illustrated by Challis (1976), who found that any problems that m/s experienced were overcome by the high motivation they showed.(6) Five out of the ten claimed that they were doing the course mainly for non-vocational reasons: for example one said,
I feel the need for mental stimulation. I have been thinking about doing it for a long time, and realised that I should have done it a long time ago.But the other five were mainly vocationally inspired with three of this latter group having mixed motives. The following comments were relevant here:
I missed out on my earlier education and I have a great thirst for knowledge now. A degree, any degree, will help me when looking for a job when the children are older.another remarked:
I'm a career woman. I need a degree to goup the career ladder in the Social Services. My HND qualification doesn't count.
These ten students were aware of the differences between themselves and s/l owing to their maturity, their family responsibilities and the pressure of time with having to cope with the work at CCAT and a home. They were pleased to find that there was no antagonism on the part of s/l as they commented,
They are very friendly, but I certainly don't want
to appear a mother-figure!
and:
I'm surprised by how easy it is. They are very
friendly and there are no problems.
At the same time, they found mutual support in the presence of other mature students who might have the same problems as themselves in, for example, finding child minders during the half-term break from school. (CCAT does not have a similar break)
There were 8 single parents - four fathers and four mothers - who had full responsibility for the care of their children. Four came from a m/c background and four from a w/c background. Their average age was younger than that of the previous group,being 33.25 years. The following table gives more information about them:
Table 14. Single Parent Families.
------------------------------------------------------
Class Age Male or No. of Age of
Female child. Child.
-------------------------------------------------------
m/c 3O M 2 4, 6
m/c 34 F 2 8, 1O
m/c 35 M 2 17
m/c 28 F 1 5
w/c 39 M 1 1O
w/c 31 F 2 5, 7
w/c 36 F 2 12, 15
w/c 35 M 2 9, 13
------------------------------------------------------
Average age 33.25 Age range = 4-17 yrs.
All the children attended school f/t. The main difficulties that this group of students faced were living on a very tight budget and the lack of time to devote to their studies. Because of their financial problems all but one took holiday jobs or did regular p/t work at week-ends or in the evening. But this could only "top-up" their grant which might in fact be affected if their earnings went over a certain level. (`4OO in 1984). In the Cambridge area work is readily available for the jobs which they took, such as driving the occasional bus, secretarial work or teaching music. These examples are indicative of the kind of work that they were doing before they became students so that they had a "network" of work contacts to fall back on in time of need.
The necessity of supplementing their income compounded the problem of the time factor in their lives. The need to work made finding time for their studies, as well as their children, particularly problematic. Both male and female single parents drew attention to this difficulty: as one said,
Having the full responsibility for the children is hard on one's own. We were just managing financially, but I had to work in the evenings so social activities have to go. and another remarked: If I had been younger I might have given up after a year. Now I'm more responsible. We are just coping financially - having a lodger helps. Sometimes I feel guilty that my child is not getting as much attention as she needs.
This was the advice that one father would give to someone who might be contemplating following his example:
You will be tight financially. One must be a good organiser, but you will get a lot out of it.
Like the previous group, these students could not find the time to attend society or club meetings at CCAT in the evenings; or, if this was possible, then child-minding expenses had to be considered. But as the children got older these parents found the time to get more involved with various societies at CCAT. Three students in this group eventually became members of committees of three societies. If they could manage it they organised their administrative duties during the day time: as one said,
I have to do family things in the evening and at week-ends. If one has children, things are always "cropping up". But I do try to organise things during the day.
Although all found their work at CCAT to be absorbing and interesting, their family responsibilities had priority if there was a conflict of interest. The diary timetable for one week demonstrated the amount of time taken up by the family and the home, as discussed in Chapter 3.
The company of other students in the same position as themselves helped them to overcome the feeling of isolation that s/p found without another adult to share in the care and upbringing of a family. Two students in this group did marry each other and their two family units were united.
The chief characteristic of this group was their lower age range as compared with the two previous groups, being 25 years to 33 years with an average of 28 years. The table below describes this pattern:
Table 15. Other Married Students.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sex Class Age Occupation No. of Age of
of spouse. Child. Child.
---------------------------------------------------------------
M m/c 27 Bank clerk --- ---
F w/c 3O USAAF --- ---
M w/c 25 h/w 1 baby
M w/c 31 p/t florist 2 4, 11
F m/c 25 Nurse --- ---
F w/c 25 Nurse 1 baby
M m/c 33 h/w 2 4, 7
---------------------------------------------------------------
Average age 28
This lower age range has some bearing on the main
motivation of this group in that it is more
predominantly vocational than the previous two. Only
one of them says:
It's quite simply that I want to learn.
All the rest give as their main reason for undertaking a degree course such remarks as:
I was very depressed in myjob [welding in a factory], and I wanted to use my mind again. I couldn't get a better job without a degree.another remarked:
It's something I wanted to do for quite a while. I want to do somecommunity work eventually and a degree is obligatory for that.
All in this group, unlike those in the first one, had full support and encouragement from their spouses. In the case of those who had children - four out of the seven, this made a considerable difference from the point of view of having time free for study as compared with the single-parent family. The two fathers with school age children both made the observation that they gave more time to their studies than they did to their previous jobs and that they now had to make an effort to allot some of their time to their children. They were sure that the decision to go on the course was the right one, even though the greater part ofthe care of the children was thrown onto their wives, which they regretted.
One parent in this group divorced in the first term of the course but claimed that this was nothing to do with the fact that he had decided to return to f/t education. The marriage had broken down some time before.
One member of this category had a baby at the end of the first term of the second year but was able to go on with her studies almost without a break.Her husband was said to enjoy being able to share in the care of the baby which was made possible as he worked on a shift system. A babyminder was only used twice a week. However,this student reported that she had to be much more organised than before and make full use of the time when she was in college. Coffee in the canteen was ruled out.
Although the course work was important to these students they were aware that there was another sphere of life and activity away from the college. One student was the secretary to the local Labour Party which took up quite a lot of time. Others were involved in family life with such matters as decorating the home and contacts with friends and family.
There were four students in this category of whom one was a widow and one was divorced. Their ages ranged from 28 - 48 years, the latter being the eldest in the cohort.
All demonstrated great involvement in their studies and worked long hours as their diary time-table showed. In one case up to 34 hours a week were spent on course work over and above the 1O or 11 hours in attendance at CCAT. (7)
Three out of the four were course representatives on their respective Boards, where they were seen to be effective in putting over the voice of the student. As one said about this experience:
We are not intimidated by it as we are older. Usually the same things turn up each time, but being on the course board makes one realise that things are not so easy to solve as one thought.All but one of them gave up secure jobs in such areas as publishing or the legal profession to do the course for a varietyof motives, as shownby the following quotes:
I've been meaning to do it for some time and the opportunity has arisen to enable me to do it now. I've been interested in History for a long time and I hope to get some satisfaction from the course. I'm looking forward to doing my own research.and:
Several friends told me about the degree course, saying how lovely it was. I wanted company, encouragement and stimulation. It's very difficult to motivate yourself when you are on your own.
Although these students did not have the family commitment that the three previous groups had, they were all residents of Cambridge and had a firmly established circle of social contacts outside the college. They therefore did not entirely rely on the college for social activities. Two took p/t jobs to make up for the large drop in their income after going onto a student grant. One student in this group chose to take the p/t route because she did not qualify for a mandatory grant having started a teacher's training course twenty years ago. (8) The local ties of this group were in strong contrast with the last category to be looked at in this survey, the single male student.
There were six students who formed the only group to come entirely beyond Cambridgeshire borders. All but one had to find accommodation in Cambridge: one bought himself a caravan sited just a few miles from Cambridge, while the other 4 were helped to find digs by the Housing Office at CCAT. One of these was in a house owned by the CAMCAT Housing Association (8) and this student became an active member of the committee which administered the Association. The sixth student in this group travelled in from a distance of 3O miles from the private boarding school where he lodged in return for evening and week-end duties.
Having no family commitments these students were free to choose where they went geographically, although they were restricted by the choice of course and whether they had the necessary qualifications for entry and passed the obligatory interviews. Three decided to come to CCAT on the recommendation of the tutor who was teaching them on an "A" level course.
The following table gives information about this group:
Table 16. Single Male Students.
------------------------------------------------------
Age Class Occupation Residence before
Oct. 1984
-------------------------------------------------------
25 m/c Building Sussex
labourer
29 m/c Unqualified Suffolk
teacher
27 w/c Clerk in London
local govt.
3O w/c Merchant Scotland
navy
32 w/c Carpenter Derby
35 m/c Merchant navy Hull
/photographer
-----------------------------------------------------------
29.6 = average age
All but one of these students gave up work to become
f/t students and, like group 3 - Other Married
Students - with a comparable average age of 28 -
their motivational impulse was strongly vocational.
Their main reason for giving up work was that they were
in dead-end jobs, and all chances for betterment were
blocked unless they had some kind of qualification at
degree level as one said,
I need a degree for job security in the teaching profession. There was pressure from the family, and I liked the course. (Science).and another,
I wanted to be more fully educated. I had been meaning to do it for a long time. I wanted to do somethingcompletely different.I started to do an Open University course, which I found very stimulating, and the course here -English/ETL- seemed to offer just what I wanted. It took some effort to give up the security of a full-time job.
One of this group had to give up manual work because of a back injury and discovered a delight in literature. He hoped to go on to post-graduate work when he finished the degree course at CCAT.
The two youngest members identified very much with the s/l and did not interact so much with other m/s compared with those nearer their own age. Two students found all their spare time was taken up with p/t work based on their previous occupations - teaching and photography. Two others had steady personal relationships which took up most of their spare time. Nearly all of thisgrouphadself-confidence regarding the course, which they claimed came from their previous work experience and which they believed would help them with their studies: as one remarked,
If you can get through the merchant navy exams, you can get through anything!
This description of the students taking part in this project gives some idea of the variety of experiences and backgrounds that these students brought with them to the degree course at CCAT.
To convey a more detailed sense of the way in which the findings of this chapter were linked we can turn to two brief case histories to illustrate them. The first is that of a m/c, middle aged, female student. This subject was married. and aged 41 when she started the course in 1984. She had three boys who were all at secondary school and a husband who followed a professional career. They lived in a village about 10 miles from Cambridge.
There was a gap of 24 years between leaving her local grammar school at 15 years of age with two "O" levels and starting p/t education again by joining an "A" level class in English literature at the local village college. After leaving school, which she described as a bad experience, she had worked in a variety of jobs as a secretary for 9 years. Then followed marriage and being a mother to three boys, which she found to be a f/t occupation.
More and more she found that she regretted leaving school at so early an age and now that her youngest boy was at secondary modern school there was both time and opportunity for her to do what she had always wanted to do - a degree in English studies. CCAT was within reach and there was a course available in which she was interested. This interest was the main reason for her returning to H/ed., but there was also a hope expressed that a suitable f/t job might be found at the end of the three year course. Perhaps also there was an added incentive in the fact that she stated that her husband valued people "by the amount they could earn." However, she was realistic about the drawback of her lack of mobility imposed by her family responsibilities and so the chances of her getting a job of her choice might be limited.
Because of the way m/s grants are means-tested, this student only qualified for a "minimum grant" as the family income ruled out any further support in this way. However,little financial difference was made to the family by her decision to undertake the work at CCAT. Her husband gave her no support and she spent a lot of time taking her boys to out-of-school activities by car owing to the lack of public transport in rural Cambridgeshire. In order to find a quiet time for study she worked late at night but felt that this was justified because, as she said:
I have done things I would never otherwise have done. Even if I don't use this experience in a career, I still have an enormous amount of interest which will last for the rest of my life.
The fact that she coped with the work load of the course, and looked after the family as well, helped to give her some confidence in herself. The diary form that this student filled in showed that she put in 3O hours of work on her studies on top of the 11 hours scheduled for study at CCAT each week and spent 35 hours looking after the household. Nine hours of that time was spent "chauffering".
This student demonstrated in the interviews that she was not going to give up, however hard the going was and the amount of time imposed by the work load of the course. She was inclined to be very self-deprecating, claiming that she was a "non-academic type"; but her essay marks showed that she was typically achieving the standard to get a 2.1 degree. She did achieve a 2.2 degree mark in the final examinations with which she was pleased.
Her case also showed the mechanism of "trigger" events working in that she was enabled to begin the course when the youngest child no longer needed so much of her time and there was no financial barrier to prevent her from applying for a place at CCAT,an ambition which she had had for many years.
Another example illustrated the range of circumstances and experiences which was such a feature of this group of m/s. By way of a contrast the following case history focused on a w/c male m/s:
This male student, aged 35 in 1984, was resident in Suffolkshire. He had left his local secondary modern school aged 16 with one "O" level and joined the armed forces on a 7 year contract. On leaving at the end of this time he was persuaded to join the family business in electrical wholesaleing instead of going onto H/ed. as he had originally intended and wished to do. This step proved to be unsatisfactory in that there was no room for development or promotion which he felt he deserved. His marriage broke up leaving him with the care of a teen-aged son. He then took a p/t job which enabled him to attend evening classes where he took four "O" level examinations in one year and two "A" level examinations in the following year. However, his grades were not good enough for a place at the University of East Anglia, so, on his tutor's advice, he applied for a place at CCAT on the Hum/Soc course. He had found studying enjoyable and satisfying for its own sake and, despite a considerable fall in income, was glad that he had made the decision to read for a degree. He was hopeful that there would be better opportunities to obtain work at the end of this three year course as he would have a degree plus work experience to offer an employer as well as being a comparatively young man when he finished in 1987 (aged 38). From the beginning of the course he found he was doing much better in the history component of the Hum/Soc course than the English literature part and after the first year examinations, where he had only just scraped through on the English side, he was able to switch to the single history degree course. He found this suited him much better and was able to catch up without difficulty on the work he had missed.
Throughout the three years at CCAT he was able to supplement his m/s grant by continuing some of his p/t work which he had done prior to starting the course - giving music lessons - but at the end of each term he felt very tired with the effort of keeping dead-lines for essays as well as doing the reading for the degree. Before the end of the degree course this student applied to continue his studies at CCAT on a p/t post-graduate course for a M.Phil. degree with the option of transferring to a Ph. D. course if he wished. As there was little opportunity to obtain a grant he intended to take a p/t job to finance himself - his son now having followed his father by also going into the forces.
The material for this post-graduate degree was uncovered in the work he did for his dissertation which he found absorbing, fascinating and very time-consuming.
This student had demonstrated his commitment before he started his course, by the work he put into his efforts to obtain the entry qualifications.
He found his work experience useful by giving him the self-discipline necessary to cope with the load of the degree course and his p/t work in his spare time. His diary form showed that he put in about 2O extra hours a week studying, on top of the 12 hours spent at CCAT, as well as 15 hours taken up by his p/t work.
This case study illustrated the mixture of vocational and non-vocational reasons for returning to H/ed. combined with a strong motivation to achieve results and finish the course whatever difficulties there might be to overcome.
When looking at these two case histories one difference stands out in that the role of the woman had to combine being a student with that of wife and mother. She had to bear the main role in looking after the family and the domestic arrangements on top of the work for the degree; whilst the male student, who was a single parent, gave little or no time to domestic duties. His spare time was taken up in earning a little extra money to pay for this to be done.
There was also a similarity in these particular cases in that both subjects described their school experiences as "bad". They had left school with very few examination successes and neither went into the sixth form. The final step to return to H/ed. was taken after a long interval, and they both felt it was necessary to do some p/t education because of the long gap between leaving school and returning to H/ed. The time spent on the degree course at CCAT was found by both to be an enriching experience and one that they enjoyed.
This chapter has described the broad features of the cohort under investigation and suggested a number of distinctive patterns to the various subgroups that constitute it. The principal concern has been to describe rather than analyse.
A large amount of qualitative and quantitative data was generated by the use of various procedures and this data was used to put the cohort in their social context and background so that any changes that took place could be better understood and evaluated.
The wide scope of work and life experiences brought to the degree courses by this cohort bears out in many ways the findings explored in Chapter 2 on the literature concerned with m/s.
The commitment and motivation of m/s was noted by the staff of CCAT as being more pronounced than that of s/l and was also emphasised in the literature as being a major element in the success shown by m/s returning to H/ed. The data showed that age and gender were a part of the specific attributes found in m/s only.
The younger members of the cohort included a majority of male students who claimed that the main reason for their return to H/ed. was vocational, whereas the older women students originally were looking for mental stimulation and gave more non-vocational reasons for undertaking such a demanding course. In the next chapter changes will be seen where this clear-cut division becomes somewhat more blurred.
Many m/s mentioned the drop in income that they suffered when they became students, although this did not apply to the large group of m/c married women with families. All those with families had difficulty in finding time to devote both to their studies and to the demands of family life. Associated with these changes was the alteration in their social status as students in academic competition with s/l in their life at CCAT; at the same time they maintained a role as parent, spouse or adult with responsiblities, such as a mortgage to meet. These findings will be further developed in Chapter 6.
It was noted that in the various categories into which this cohort naturally divided, the social and marital status ofthe respondents was the maindeciding factor, rather than through student-specific variables such as type of course studied, pattern of assessment experienced and success or failure in examinations, etc.
The two examples illustrated by the case histories demonstrated many aspects of the theoretical approach noted in Chapter 2. The "trigger" mechanism that operated in both cases, albeit for different reasons and at different stages of development, bore out the findings of Levinson (1978) which claimed to show why decisions are made at certain times when opportunity and aspirations coincide. The lack of confidence in their academic ability was typical of most m/s returning to H/ed. after a gap of some years; the realisation that they were able to keep up with their fellow students helped to restore this confidence over the three year period. The more vocational approach of the younger man compared with the non-vocational motives of the older woman was also noted in the literature as shown by the work of the Hutchinsons,(1978) The next chapter charts how m/s dealt with and resolved the problems of changes in status as their personal and academic "careers" evolved and developed.
1. Stacey,M. Methods of Social Research. 1969. Chapter 7. p.1O1.2. Challis, R. 1976. Experiences of M/s. Studies in H/ed.Vol. 1 No. 2. pp.209-222.
3. See Chapter 2.p24.
4. See Chapter 3. p.42
5. Abbott, P. 1987. "Women's Social Class Identification. Does Husband's Occupation make a difference?" Sociology. Vol. 21 No.1. February.
6. See Chapter 2. pp. 19/20.
7. See Chapter 3. Diary. p.48.
8. CCAT successfully supported a claim for a grant for this student when she wanted to change from being a p/t student to a f/t student after completing her first year of the course.
Contents Page | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 (appendices)