Studies in the Education of Adults
Volume 45 Number 2, Autumn 2013
ISSN: 0266-0830
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Contents of Volume 45 Number 2
Editorial: Access, retention and withdrawal: A European perspective, Barbara Merrill and Lyn Tett
Connecting Bourdieu, Winnicott, and Honneth: Understanding the experiences of non-traditional
learners through an interdisciplinary lens, Linden West, Ted Fleming and Fergal Finnegan
This paper connects Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, dispositions and capital with a psychosocial
analysis of how Winnicott’s psychoanalysis and Honneth’s recognition theory can be of importance
in understanding how and why non-traditional students remain in higher education. Understanding
power relations in an interdisciplinary way makes connections – by highlighting intersubjectivity –
between external social structures and subjective experiences in a biographical study of how nontraditional learner identities may be transformed through higher education in England and the
Republic of Ireland.
How students ‘stay the course’: Retention practices in higher education, Ewa Kurantowicz and
Adrianna Nizinska
The article is based on the results of research carried out under the RANLHE project in several Polish
academic institutions. Applying the biographical research approach, the project aimed to explore
and understand the access and retention-related experiences of non-traditional students. In a study
of non-traditional students, three distinct patterns of retention practices have been identified. These
have been investigated and discussed against the background of the students’ habitus and
institutional academic culture. In the article, we focus primarily on the key factors that influence
retention and dropout rates in higher education.
Participation in higher education: Barriers and opportunities for non-traditional students in higher
education in Germany and Spain, Frank Schömer and José González-Monteagudo
This paper explores participation in higher education in Germany and Spain through two case studies
from the RANLHE project. There is one case in each national context (Germany and Spain) based on
biographical interviews undertaken between 2008 and 2010. Social, economic and cultural
dimensions are explored in order to better understand the German and Spanish contexts. In
addition, we look at the comparison of the two cultural and institutional contexts, searching for a
more complex description of the processes related to access, retention, completion and learning in
higher education from a European and transnational perspective. These issues are connected to
social challenges regarding inequalities and social class.
Reappraising the importance of class in higher education entry and persistence, John Field and
Natalie Morgan-Klein
This paper looks at the ways in which experiences and constraints of social class were experienced
and ‘storied’ by a group of non-traditional students in higher education. It starts out with reflections
on the current status – or rather absence – of class as a key category of critical analysis in adult
learning. It then briefly examines the question of class in the context of mass higher education.
Motives, commitment and student identity in higher education – experiences of non-traditional
students in Sweden, Camilla Thunborg, Agnieszka Bron and Eva Edström
Changes in higher education (HE) in Sweden, from elite to mass education, with an increased
number of students and institutions, has raised questions about the role of HE in society. Relating to
conflicts between discourses of employability, democracy, traditional academic norms and
experiences of non-traditional students, the aim of this article is to explore and discuss nontraditional students’ motives for studying as part of the process of the formation of student
identities. In this article motives and commitment to HE are two aspects of student identity apparent
in student narratives. The material is based on 48 biographical interviews with non-traditional
students at three HE institutions. The result shows different motives for entering, dropping out and
continuing to study. From these motives, we have identified eight student identity types that are
analysed in relation to commitment to HE, and to being a ‘continuer’ versus a ‘drop out’: the
altruistic student, the ambivalent student, the car-park student, the life-long learner, the at-risk-offailing student, the instrumental student, the one-track student and the self-realiser. These identity
types are further discussed in relation to conflicting discourses of HE in society.
Identifying configurations of higher education: Reflections on concepts that compare complex
cultural settings, Peter Alheit
This paper examines the idea of qualitative comparing in order to create a heuristic concept that will
enable relational structures to be examined, drawing on the sociological tradition founded by
Norbert Elias. Subsequently, an empirical research example – the comparison of three ‘mentality
spaces’ in post-socialist societies in Central Europe drawing on intergenerational biographical data –
is used to demonstrate how the theory of figuration can show the way in which underlying historical
structures consolidate into a social ‘climate’ that permits certain structures and blocks others. Next,
the comparative concept is applied to the core results of the RANLHE project using a typology of the
intercultural constellations of HE systems in terms of their efficiency, economy, social responsibility
and culture. The national systems of universities in the different countries are then delineated to
illustrate the dominant styles of education in terms of their specific figurations. It is concluded that
figurations form a complex relational framework between structure and action that possess a
certain inner constitutional logic, such as a certain habitus, an aesthetic design principle, mentality
spaces or national styles of education.
Book reviews
Index
About Studies in the Education of Adults
Published twice a year by NIACE, in spring and autumn, Studies in the Education of Adults is an
international refereed academic journal, publishing theoretical, empirical and historical studies from
all sectors of post-initial education and training. It aims to provide a forum for the debate and
development of key concepts. Each issue normally contains 6–8 refereed articles on academic topics
in the education of adults, an editorial and a substantial book review section. Studies in the
Education of Adults is published by NIACE in association with the Standing Conference on University
Research and Teaching in the Education of Adults (SCUTREA) and the European Society for Research
on the Education of Adults (ESREA).