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Introduction

I have observed that mature students form a considerable minority at the University

of Essex. However, the label ‘mature student’ is applied to undergraduate students

from the age range of twenty one years and up. Although two students might fit the

mature student criteria, their age difference might lead to each having significantly

different lived experiences of university life. I consider it reasonable therefore, to

consider that the lived experience of a younger mature student will differ from that of

an older mature student. My research compares the lived experience of two white

female second year Sociology undergraduate students at the University of Essex,

one of twenty three years and one of forty years. It asks if, and in what ways, do

these lived experiences differ?

Literature review

There is a significant body of work produced regarding the lived experience of

mature undergraduate students, which I find unsurprising, as mature undergraduate

students are defined as being twenty one or over on their first admission to

University (Richardson & King, 1998; Shanahan, 2000). Mature students also make

up a sizeable minority of the national student cohort with Wilson (1997) suggesting a

figure of twenty percent. This figure mirrors that of the University of Essex (2013)

who indicate mature undergraduate students make up nineteen percent of the

university’s undergraduate cohort. Richardson and King (1998) note however, that

the term, mature, can be misleading as it covers all undergraduates over twenty one.

Richardson and King (1998), point out that mature students are often at significantly

different life stages, advising caution when treating mature students as a ‘single

homogenous group’(Richardson & King, 1998, p. 66). This resonates in my case as I

am a mature student of fifty five years and my mature colleagues are all much

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younger. The mature student at the higher end of the age scale is considered

academically disadvantaged by Wheeler and Birtle (1993) who suggest that although

being highly motivated, they are generally unprepared for the rigours of academic

training when compared with their much younger peers. Shanahan (2000) agrees

that although mature students are highly motivated to succeed, pressure of family

commitments, concomitant with the myriad nature of their other roles, can lead to

stress and under confidence. Richardson (1995) indicates that previous researchers

have questioned the study skills of mature students citing their absence from formal

education as evidence for poor performance.

Furthermore, older mature students intellectual capacity has been called into

question with Woodley (1984) postulating that an individual’s intellectual peak

performance is reached in the age range of mid twenty to thirty years. Richardson

(1994) dispute both these findings by suggesting that the resulting negative

stereotyping of mature students has lead to a, false, belief that mature students

generally, underperform. Stress management and the alleviation of stress are,

therefore, considered to be important in the emotional and academic well being of

the mature student with several different coping strategies being adopted by

students (Shanahan, 2000; Wilson, 1997).

Wheeler and Birtle (1993) suggest that mature students prior relationships can suffer

as a result of a student’s academic advancement. In fulfilling their academic

potential, they leave those who are less academically successful behind, just at the

time when, as Shanahan (2000), indicates, familial and friendship support is needed

the most.

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Confidence in the students own ability is also considered to be fundamental in a

positive academic outcome (Richardson & King, 1998; Shanahan, 2000; Wheeler &

Birtle, 1993). The variability of self confidence often relating to how the student feels

at any particular time, which is also linked to whether they are on the right track

academically, is likened by Shanahan (2000, p. 156) to an emotional ‘roller coaster’.

Part of this lack of self confidence is grounded in the route to University the student

has taken. Wheeler and Birtle (1993) suggest that the transition from small, well

supported access course classes, to large academically intensive university lectures

and seminars, is difficult for prior access course mature students, with Wilson (1997,

p. 350), suggesting that mature students have ‘made bigger leaps into the unknown’

than their younger peers.

Research method

The research question explores “In what ways do the lived experiences of two white,

mature female University of Essex second year sociology undergraduates, differ?”

Departmental ethical approval and informed consent from the participants was

obtained prior to starting the interviews (appendix three and four). I also consulted

the British Sociological Association’s statement of ethical practice (B.S.A., 2004),

which are published and freely available online and found that my research does not

require any extra considerations. My sample of two participants was a volunteer

purposeful sample (Saks & Allsop, 2012). They were preselected by me as suitable

for the research as they both have specific knowledge of the research question

topics. White females were chosen, as females form, according to Ratcliffe (2013),

the largest group, 64.5% compared to 35.5% of males in the national undergraduate

cohort, therefore providing less variability through gender and ethnic homogeneity.

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Due to such a small sample size and being highly localised, my research concerns

itself with the subjective interpretation of my participants’ social actions, rather than

an attempt to create generalisable knowledge.

The research method used is thematic analysis, which according to Braun and

Clarke (2006), is widely used in qualitative analysis due to its flexibility and

usefulness across different epistemologies. Thematic analysis is, according to Braun

and Clarke (2006, p. 6), a ‘method for identifying, analysing, and reporting patterns

(themes) within data’. I have chosen this method because as a novice researcher I

wanted to use a method that is easily manipulated at my level of analytic ability.

Braun and Clarke (2006, p. 9) indicate ‘[thematic analysis] can offer a more

accessible form of analysis, particularly for those early in a qualitative research

career’.

I used semi structured interviews of one hour duration for the data collection. I

considered this appropriate to the constructionist ontology where participants are

social actors (Bryman, 2008), free to construct their own subjective reality within a

paradigm of an interpretive epistemology (Bryman, 2008). Reflexively, being both

male and considerably older than the participants, I am aware they may have

modified their responses to suit. I tried to counter this by keeping my questioning

brief, allowing them to do the talking while remaining positive to their responses both

verbally and non-verbally. Open questions, (appendix 2), allowed the participants

freedom of expression, exploring a range of topics concerned with their academic

and social life. Digital recordings were made of the interviews which were carried out

in neutral surroundings in a private room on campus, as Bryman (2008) indicates

that these provide a stress free environment, conducive to free uninterrupted

discussions. From those recordings verbatim transcripts were made, (appendix 1).

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To assure anonymity, the recordings were erased and the transcript responses were

anonymised using a letter rather than the participant’s name. From those transcripts

several themes emerged based on the question topics, with each major theme

having emergent subthemes. I then analysed those subthemes for patterns of

similarity and difference, comparing my analysis with the published literature. My

report’s analysis and findings focuses on some of those patterns.

Analysis and findings

My participants had different routes to university, Linda via A levels and Carmen via

a two year part time access course, (pseudonyms used throughout). They also have

very different expectations and aspirations. The older participant, Carmen cited a

degree as a means to an end; it will enable her to live and work overseas in a warm

climate, and now her children have grown up, she can do something for herself

(appendix 1: 279-283). This response mirrors those found in Shanahan (2000)

whose participants went back to education after their children grew up, or wanting a

change of life direction. Linda on the other hand is not ready for the ‘conveyor belt’

(appendix 1: 630) of education and is assuaging her thirst for knowledge, giving her

options for the future. She is living very much in the present ‘cos everything is going

to change so I’ve got to be happy and motivated right now’ (appendix 1:692-693).

Richardson and King (1998) suggest that mature students often have well

developed time management skills, these transferable skills then express

themselves in effective study skills. Shanahan (2000) indicate that the prior life skills

mature students bring with them are beneficial to studying subjects such as

sociology and psychology as they are more able to posit their understanding in the

taught theory.

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Carmen utilities a wall planner which comprehensively outlines her commitments but

then, guiltily, displays poor time management skills by working to assignment

deadlines ‘every time I’m gonna do it better next time (pause) and then it creeps up

on me’ (appendix 1:117). Linda also displays poor time management skills admitting

‘I don’t really plan at all ever I’m quite a spontaneous person...I just plod along until I

really have to do it’ (appendix 1:561-563). Both these responses are therefore at

odds with the published literature and suggest an opportunity for further research.

Linda also admits to reading about an assignment subject on the morning of its

online submission ‘so I do the assignment the day that it’s due so I will do the

reading in the morning’ (appendix1:530). Richardson (1995) states that mature

students learn at a deeper level than the more surface learning of younger students,

exhibiting a disparity between the literature and my findings.

Lack of self confidence was a major theme. Carmen, outwardly a very confident

person, claims to be a very under confident scholar constantly questioning her

scholastic ability. Carmen is consequently unable to ascertain the requirements of

assignments, doubting her own personal abilities (appendix 1:225-226), despite

having an academic excellence scholarship from the university. Linda however,

considers her previous high marks have made her complacent, using her last grades

as a barometer for her future grades. Wilson (1997) identifies a paradox when she

suggests that the overt display of social confidence exhibited by mature students can

be confused by teaching staff. The student’s often posses similar levels of academic

ability, as is clearly the case with Carmen, but then do not pick up on the student’s

lack of academic self confidence. Richardson and King (1998) suggest that gender

difference plays a significant part in mature students’ self confidence, perhaps this is

because, as Shanahan (2000) notes, for females to change direction in their lives,

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there is additional pressure to succeed, which places more pressure on their

confidence.

Summative feedback was considered by both participants to be important in

developing self confidence, but more so by Carmen. Carmen uses her feedback and

mark to increase her confidence (appendix1:82-85) setting a benchmark of sixty

percent as an acceptable performance (continuing academic excellence scholarship

requires a 60% year average). Linda does not see her high marks as adding much to

her confidence, she expects them and concedes that they do ‘make me more big

headed’ (appendix1:573). Shanahan (2000, p. 159) found that ‘getting formative (sic)

feedback on their assignments was essential to feelings of confidence’.

Peer support is considered important to Carmen who has an active group of mature

student study buddies. She gets together with them for revision sessions and

considers that without them she may ‘have scraped a pass...(pause) yeh invaluable’

(appendix1:274-275). Linda on the other hand finds study buddies distracting, ‘they

annoy me by talking too much’ (appendix1:665-666). Both participants use music to

get in the ‘zone’, therefore needing the right kind of noise to study (appendix 1:350;

675). Familial support provided by Carmen’s husband helps her concentration,

admonishing her for being online ‘looking for summer jobs in Spain’ (appendix1:68-

69) and she was pleasantly surprised by the support given to her by her brother and

recently graduated son. Linda, living in her parent’s home finds many distractions

‘because my sister and my dad, they don’t understand, my parents didn’t go to

university’ (appendix1: 680). Wilson (1997) found in her study that peer support was

valuable as mature students understood each other’s needs, while Shanahan (2000,

p. 156), went further, indicating that peer and familial support was of ‘tremendous

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value’ and that other studies have shown that women often form close support

networks based on shared understanding of the difficulties faced by mature students.

Both Carmen and Linda are active on campus with Carmen displaying social

responsibility in her choice of extracurricular activities. She is a frontrunner, student

ambassador and nightline volunteer. Linda on the other hand is more hedonistic,

enjoying drumming, henna artistry and yoga. Only Carmen is in the Mature Student’s

society and is disappointed in their range of activities which seem to be aimed at the

younger mature student, she had hoped to get more out of it. Wilson (1997) found in

her study that due to the heterogeneity of mature students, many of her participants

also felt the Mature Students society did not offer them much. Both Carmen and

Linda however, liked the atmosphere that the Top Bar offered over the

uncomfortable seating and noise of the Student Union bar (Carmen). Wilson (1997)

found that second year mature students, in particular, felt isolated and unable to

interact with younger students. Living off campus was cited by Wilson (1997) as

being causal in their isolation, Carmen lives on campus and Linda lives at home, but

lived on campus last year. Friendships made in the first year, allied to their active

social life, may account for the disparity with the literature.

Finally my research focuses on the thorny issue of money. Financial considerations

are considered very carefully by Carmen, as her husband is in relatively low paid

employment, so is generally unable to help financially. This has meant Carmen has

had to supplement her student loan from jobs as a frontrunner and university

ambassador. She is therefore, considering the viability of Christmas due to lack of

funds ‘Christmas is on hold until we get paid in January’ (appendix1:432). Linda

works in an outlet in Colchester two days a week and is quite financially self

sufficient with a well developed work ethic, stating that ‘I’ve had a job ever since I

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was thirteen’ (appendix1:727). Wilson (1997) notes that financial hardship is often

seen in mature students especially those who have no parental support or who have

partners in low paid jobs, with their student loans forming their main income. Wilson

(1997), further suggesting that the pressure to succeed is then greater, as failure to

graduate will involve them in a substantial debt they will be liable for, on a low

income.

Conclusion and reflections.

My research indicates my two participants, although both mature students have

markedly different lived experiences in some areas. Expectations of graduation, to

enable living and working in the sun, driving Carmen’s academic aspirations, with

Linda, almost twenty years her junior, living in the moment. The use of study buddies

and familial support, invaluable in Carmen’s strategy, is nothing more than a noisy

distraction to Linda. Both however, display similarities. Both like to get in the study

zone by listening to music on headphones. Both have active social lives on campus

with Carmen focussing on the paid nature of her activities, while Linda is able to earn

money off campus. Linda is younger and single; she does not have the same level of

responsibility, but shares a work ethic with Carmen.

Reflecting on my research as a whole, I consider the use of semi structured

interviews was the right research strategy to use. Although I have over twenty five

years experience in face to face interviews, conducting the interviews was a

challenge. This is possibly due to the sales interview’s intent to lead the customer to

buy, rather than research interviews, eliciting personal insights. On reflection, in

some instances I did lead the participant and will need to be mindful of this in the

future. I was fortunate to obtain a high quality digital recorder and suitable location

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for my interviews, which reduced stress not only for me, but for my participants.

Using thematic analysis, although a useful method for novice researchers, is limited

by my reflexive interpretation of my participant’s responses, which are influenced by

my own lived experience (Bryman, 2008). Thematic analysis is also limited by the

themes which emerge; produced by what the participants share with me. This is then

finally influenced by my age and gender, a younger female mature student, might

illicit different responses, although I was careful not to be too ‘male’.

Finally to summarise, in some instances both respondents are similar, but also very

different, as Wilson (1997, p. 364) points out, ‘There is no unified argument to say

that mature students are different; nor is there one which says they are similar’.

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Reference list

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.

British Sociological Association. (2002). STATEMENT OF ETHICAL PRACTICE FOR THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION Retrieved 13/1/2014, from http://www.britsoc.co.uk/media/27107/StatementofEthicalPractice.pdf

Bryman, A. (2008). Social research methods 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ratcliffe, R. (2013). The gender gap at universities: where are all the men? Retrieved 8/1/2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/education/datablog/2013/jan/29/how-many-men-and-women-are-studying-at-my-university

Richardson,J. (1994). Mature Students in Higher Education: Academic Performance and Intellectual Ability. Higher Education, 28(3), 373-386.

Richardson,J. (1995). Mature students in higher education: II. An investigation of approaches to studying and academic performance. Studies in Higher Education, 20(1), 5-17.

Richardson,J., & King, E. (1998). Adult Students in Higher Education: Burden or Boon? The Journal of Higher Education, 69(1), 65-88.

Saks, M., & Allsop, J. (2012). Researching health: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods: Sage.

Shanahan, M. (2000). Being that bit older: mature students' experience of university and healthcare education. Occupational Therapy International, 7(3), 153-162.

UniversityofEssex. (2013). Mature students. Retrieved 8/1/2014, from http://www.essex.ac.uk/information_for/mature_students/

Wheeler, S., & Birtle, J. (1993). A Handbook for Personal Tutors. Bristol: Taylor and Francis.

Wilson, F. (1997). The Construction of Paradox?: One Case of Mature Students in Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly, 51(4), 347-366.

Woodley, A. (1984). The older the better? A study of mature student performance in British universities. Research in Education, 32, 35-50.

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Appendix One 1

Transcription one, Carmen, Older mature student. 2

V. Thank you for agreeing to take part in my study which is concerned with the lived 3

experience of mature female university students versus those straight from school 4

and will be discussing a broad range of topics related to that experience. The forty 5

five minute to one hour interview will be taped and after transcription will be wiped 6

you will have the opportunity to see the transcription if you wish. You do not have to 7

answer any question you feel uncomfortable with and can withdraw from the 8

interview at any time our conversation is in the strictest confidence and any personal 9

details will be anonymised. Is that OK? 10

C. Yes. 11

V. Brilliant thanks. 12

V. Looking at study topics then C, tell me about the pattern of your working week? 13

C. Er if I get a chance to go home for a weekend I don’t get back on campus till 14

Tuesday erm, which involves a 7 o’clock train from Home to campus and normally 15

get back about half nine- ten o’clock something like that. 16

V. In the morning. 17

C. In the morning yeh I have a lecture at eleven, erm then have a big Gap and then 18

have two more starting at four for two hours Wednesday is a free day although it’s 19

not as it’s a front runner day erm Thursday is a day that starts at eleven I believe, 20

yeh, eleven, goes through till two with a one hour gap um Friday is a two hour day 21

starts at eleven and finishes at two. Yeh that’s right and then if it’s a weekend that I 22

can go home erm I go home, leaver campus about half past two erm get the twenty 23

past three train. 24

V. How many weekends do you go home? 25

C. I used to go home every weekend, last year unfortunately because I have other 26

commitments on the university campus such as nightline and erm, that really is the 27

one that stops me going home as often so that means my other half comes home to 28

me or comes down to me at weekends, sometimes. 29

V. When do you do most of your studying then? If you’re not in lectures. 30

C. erm I try to do it er while I am on campus erm although I still end up taking stuff 31

home at weekends erm generally evenings or try and do a bit in the gaps but I don’t 32

tend to do very well fitting them into the gaps erm its easier to do when there is 33

nobody about so in the evenings I sometimes go to the library 34

13

V. so when you are working at home during weekends are there any other 35

distractions when you are planning to work? 36

C. Here at campus? 37

V Erm Yeh. 38

C. erm I pop and see my good friend who lives on campus and her little girl erm we 39

try and do that once a week because after getting her little one from school she can’t 40

leave her room so I try to go to her once a week erm and I try when I can to go to the 41

mature students society but that doesn’t always happen because it’s on a Monday 42

and a Friday and I’m not always here on an evening on those days 43

V. What do you get out of the mature students association? 44

C. Sighs, not as much as I thought I would to be fair erm buts it’s just nice to know 45

that I can go by myself to the top bar or wherever they are meeting and meet other 46

people, talk about stuff that affects mature students support others, support new on 47

es that have come this year that’s about it really. 48

V. mmm 49

V. When you’re working, are you able to plan your work ahead of deadlines or do 50

you work towards the deadline? 51

C. Well I promised myself this year I would plan towards my deadlines and I sort of 52

do in my head but then it gets to about the week before and I realise I haven’t got 53

very far with it so them I’m working towards the deadline unfortunately which means 54

late nights. 55

V. How does that make you feel? 56

C. well I should know better really (laughs) it’s not like I don’t know (laughs) but um 57

yea I tell myself off every time I do that. 58

V. So what methods or devices do you use to help plan your work load? 59

C. I have a biiig planner in my room, a huge big planner and which has all my 60

commitments so it has my nightline commitments it has my course line deadlines 61

erm it has if I’m going home for the weekend erm it has if my other half is having his 62

children for the weekend and that may be the weekend I choose to stay on campus 63

to do my duties so that when I do go home I can have quality time with my husband 64

V. So if you have this great wall planner which is a terrific way to help you to plan 65

how do you end up (laugh) going to the deadline? 66

C. Ohh but procrastination (laugh) I was going to do my Spanish last night I ended 67

up looking for summer jobs in Spain instead. So when you haven’t got the distraction 68

of your husband saying come on what are you doing, why have you been on the 69

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computer so long you tend to think I’ll get that done this weekend then go from there. 70

There always somethink occasionally my flatmates might oh we’re going down to the 71

SU do you want to come though they don’t tend to do that too often as I’m a bit of the 72

odd one out when it comes to being in the flat. 73

V. Can you tell me when do you feel more or less confident in your academic ability? 74

C. laugh erm I don’t think there is one time actually, it tends to go through waves but 75

before doing my first piece of assignment it was a very low, thinking I can’t do this 76

I’m not sure what they want from me I don’t think I’m gonner be good enough erm 77

but that was because it was the first piece this term erm I got through that and 78

thought this aint too bad no I’m starting to think about the next piece of work I need 79

to do I’m thinking oh I don’t know what to do what have they just told me can I write a 80

piece on this how am I gonna fit it in, so my confidence sort of goes down a little bit 81

so um when I get the marks back I tend to think phew good but um yeh when I’ve get 82

the overall marls and I’ve passed the year over what I’ve got in my head as 83

acceptable, which is generally, if it’s over sixty that’s acceptable obviously the higher 84

I get the more I feel confident that I’m doing the right thing 85

V. And is that confidence, does that confidence sort of spur you on to do work harder 86

for the next one? 87

C. erm yeh I spose it does it make me think you know what you’re doing so get on 88

with it rather than you know feel a bit sort of why wasn’t it good enough what could I 89

have done to make it better and then you dwell on what you haven’t done right 90

instead of saying oh I did ok with that 91

V. And that then feeds back into the deadline thing again. 92

C. Mmm. 93

V. so do you then feel guilty about not putting the amount of work in that you know 94

you could have done better? 95

C. Yeh yeh. Could have done the last bit better I’m sure, I probably done it better 96

than a lot of the 18-19 year olds but I still think I wanted it to be as good as it could 97

be and I’m sure it isn’t as good as it could be but I, but I’m looking forward to the 98

feedback cos our tutor did say that she was gonna give us real details in the 99

feedback and so I’m kinda that hoping that will make sure I’m going down the right 100

track 101

V. and this was the piece of work that you actually did up to the deadline? 102

C. Yeh....I got it done the night before well there was a bit I wasn’t sure about the 103

next morning but I met another one of my friends and talked it back with her and then 104

um handed it in. 105

V. and that will then inform your working practice maybe then next time? 106

15

C. It will for this particular one that we’re doing yeh 107

V. But because you have worked to the deadline that ah, made you fell a little bit 108

guilty and then. 109

C. Oh it goes after you’ve handed it in once you’ve got the sense of relief if you’ve 110

handed it in it’s that you’ve got it in now, it is what it is and that’s my philosophy, 111

once they’ve got it... okay I maybe could have done better but it is what it is, can’t 112

stress about it it’s done and then I feel you know, and then we’ll see what comes 113

back when its marked oh (laughs) 114

V. Will that, will that help you plan your work a little bit better next time if you get the 115

marks? 116

C. Every time I’m gonna do it better next time... and then it creeps up on me. 117

V. Do you think your prior academic experience has helped and how has it helped? 118

C. mmmm I don’t know it didn’t help with me getting here because I would’ve got 119

here a lot sooner (laugh) if my prior academic experience had been in um more of a 120

positive you know anybody can achieve this you can do this um but when I left 121

school it was very much a case of if you’re in the top set you could go on and 122

achieve something a bit more maybe go to university, but if you weren’t in the top set 123

then it was about getting you works skills in office or hairdressing or maybe nursing 124

or caring with boys it was builder, em fishing, because that was the industry where I 125

was and if you were somewhere in between you could go and work for Norwich 126

Union so no them em tended to put me off otherwise I might have been here a little 127

bit sooner em there was one thing in between though being the access course did 128

give me a little bit of em, I enjoy learning why you know I’m gonna take this the next 129

step and that was that that gave me that but it was me... work wanting me to do an 130

NVQ and I thought ahhh that’s a tick box exercise, I helped Johnny Blogs do this and 131

it made him feel this and it Gave him extra confidence, tick a box that covers that. 132

How did you support somebody with their confidence issues erm and you’d have to 133

give say four more examples or however many examples of how you’d done that 134

with different people and erm you don’t learn anything from that, that just validating 135

what you do in everyday life though I said to them could I do an access course 136

instead and they were quite happy cos I was paying for it, to do that with the thought 137

that I would go into social work but obviously Id learnt that working alongside social 138

workers it’s not.. You don’t have the autonomy that I had in my previous role to help, 139

people in care and so I couldn’t be tied by that and so I’ve done this now I want to do 140

something for me so I’ll find something that I like. 141

V. So you say access course, specifically which access course? 142

C. Mine was an access to health and social care. 143

V. So this was a route directly to University other than A levels? 144

16

C. yeh. Um. 145

V. how long did that take? 146

C. That was two years I did mine part time, so I was working full time and then I was 147

going two nights a week every night of term and then doing my work on top of that so 148

in one way it did prepare me cos you had to timetable what you were doing a lot 149

more erm, this is a little bit more of a loose structure here at University erm and 150

actually the work load is less than what you had at uni er at the access course sorry 151

erm and because its less and your given a longer space to do it erm I dunno , it 152

doesn’t have the same kind of I’ve gotta get this done I’ve got to fit work in I’ve got to 153

fit family life in so when your livin on campus it’s easier to say oh ill do that tomorrow, 154

oh damn I’ve got a week to do that now, and a week is not enough for me I need at 155

least a week to read to make notes to try to put it in some kind of order to know 156

where I’m going understand what I’m writing out erm and then try and get the word 157

count 158

V. So do you feel guilty then when you’re working towards these deadlines cos other 159

things get in the way? 160

C. no I just get on a do it I’m a very sort of I’ve gotta take time out, and sometimes 161

you need time out when you’re doing heavy pieces of work I can’t do what some 162

students do, they’ll do a little bit of reading and then work all night in one period of 163

time, I can’t do that I loose my focus so I need to have , sort of spilt it into a couple of 164

times when I’m writing, try and get my outline first then try and work on a bit I am 165

more confident on and fit the other bits in 166

V. And do you feel that that method of working was instilled in you on the access 167

course? 168

C. No they weren’t particularly, my access course weren’t particularly good,,, yes it 169

was an access course to go to university, but actually they didn’t have really good 170

link s with the local universities or encourage the students to do what they needed to 171

do to get to university it was me that found out that I needed to have my personal 172

statement done by a set time, it was me that found out what I needed to have in my 173

personal statement erm and then I realised you had to get them to do a reference 174

and they, you know, id done that well in advance so (laugh), that was one thing I did 175

well in advance erm and then the tutor that should’ve signed it off didn’t sign it off till 176

after Christmas, it was ready for them well before Christmas and erm it had to be in 177

by the 15th January so I got a little bit like arghhhh I want this done I want to know it’s 178

there so they weren’t particularly set up for you going to uni and they didn’t have the 179

links very well with uni they didn’t tell you when the open days and that were, I found 180

them out. 181

V, which is amazing considering the whole idea of an access course is to ,prepare 182

people for university . 183

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C. yeh, this one weren’t particularly good at what comes on. 184

V. How about the academic training that you got, the essay writing skills? 185

C. it could have been better erm we had one, they struggled to get people to teach 186

on an access course and we had one who was a sociologist, or had done a degree 187

in sociology erm and she did the social work module, now I could her told her more 188

about social work than she told me she didn’t have a clue about what it all involved 189

and stuff erm and I was a little bit frustrated by that because ...apparently she was 190

handed a manual a week before and told this is what you are gonna have to teach 191

now that was the one piece, module that I was really looking forward to and because 192

I wasn’t overly enamoured with her she put me off sociology and because we had 193

done sociology first I had lost confidence in her as a lecturer and then having the 194

social work module straight after didn’t instil confidence in me and I wasn’t 195

particularly happy with the marks that I got back for that one erm I dunno whether.. I 196

just wasn’t happy at all with that. Still got the marks I needed to get her and I still got 197

the marks I needed to get an academic excellence scholarship that I really didn’t 198

know about at the time, again that was me finding out they didn’t say go to the uni’s 199

and find this and this out, I mean I spent several weekends going to loads of 200

universities off my own bat because I wanted to see what they were all like and the 201

differences and stuff, I did go as far as Chester to look at universities but only 202

because I was trying to find a university that did criminology and Spanish and that 203

one came up as it did, and it was one of the early early open days so that would give 204

me a bench mark and I’ve never been to Chester and it was a lovely place and I 205

though I would go for a weekend which is what I did and took my youngest son 206

hoping that would inspire him to think about University as well erm and I did sat in 207

the lecture talk about criminology oh yea this is it this is the one for me but yeh what 208

I’ve seen of the local access courses that run for a year and work with them and hive 209

them a much better picture and are much more engaged with the university about 210

how it works, erm the university actually goes out to them and sees them and talks to 211

them and tells them about what to expect tells them how to apply gives them 212

information about funding and finance I didn’t get any of that it was only because I 213

went to uni’s and went out of my way erm and I went to Cambridge to Nottingham 214

went to Ipswich came here went to Chester, where else did I go,i think that was it 215

actually. 216

V. so you were pretty self motivated then? 217

C. Yeh, I am when I can be. When there a focus or something important at the end 218

of it. 219

V. Bearing in mind you didn’t have a particularly good access course experience did 220

you feel as some students do that they’ve leapt into the unknown? 221

C. Even with the access course coming here, the time you finish the access course 222

may June time you don’t actually start here till the October, it’s a big gap and that 223

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was the thing I worried about last year it’s the thing I worried about this year I hadn’t 224

written for ages academically, how do I know it’s still in there? How do I know that 225

I’m writing to the next step up? I don’t know, id like, this might not be a good idea 226

really but I would like at the beginning of each term almost with the study skills little 227

sessions where they give you a couple of books and say for about four weeks even 228

two weeks three weeks it doesn’t really matter you spend an hour with them read 229

that piece or read this section out of this book now I want you to write a very 230

condensed piece and when you’ve done it they will tell you whether it’s at the level it 231

needs to be and it’s got everything in it just having that boost of confidence that your 232

writing at the right level each year erm because it’s a big gap a big big gap to think 233

about it in between so that’s what worries me. 234

V. And it would be fair to say that your current academic experience has been quite 235

a positive one, in so far as you’ve had good marks back in the first year. 236

C. yeh I’ve had two under 60 but I’ve had two firsts so I’m quite happy with that id 237

love everything to be over the sixty id love everything to be over the first but it isn’t 238

goin to be I don’t think but maybe with some other direction it would be I don’t know. 239

I know I could go and see them and stuff but I just think mines not a problem 240

whereas there are other people with dyslexia and other problems that really need to 241

use the skills of them ahead of myself so me wasting their time so I haven’t done, but 242

I know I could but I think of other before myself sometimes (laugh). 243

V. so you know support is available if you wanted it? 244

C. yeh, but if it was planned and organised and something you had to do I would be 245

there erm but because its erm go and make an appointment you just think if I go and 246

make an appointment, it just takes away something someone else could have that 247

might need it more than me I bumped into a new first year student yesterday who is 248

a mature student and erm she’s been here since October obviously and she just 249

found out she’s dyslexic while since being at uni, it’s never been picked up before 250

and I dunno I would say she’s somewhere between 45 and 55 . 251

V. And she’s come via an access course? 252

C. Yeh 253

V. A local access course? 254

C. er reasonably, I can’t think where she did come from to be fair erm but yeh 255

reasonably local. 256

V. And this hasn’t been picked up, you’ve said already all the work you do on the 257

access course is significantly more than you do at university , so you would have 258

thought that would have been picked up quite early. 259

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V. What is your support network for academic study? What do you do on a day to 260

day basis? 261

C. Talk to my study buddies erm yeh were quite lucky cos I think the one good thing 262

Essex did was to have the mature students weekend and from that before you even 263

started you had people that you knew that were doing the same degree so that was 264

a very good very valuable piece I thought I so valuable that I asked to do It again this 265

year as an ambassador for the unI so I could help other people and Its quite nice cos 266

I see them around campus and ask how their getting on they’ll often stop and say 267

hello It Is quite nice that I did that but my real support Is erm three or four of my 268

fellow students off my course we have got an exam coming up so were gonna plan 269

some study revision sessions together next week and actually the revision sessions 270

we did last year got me through my exams I had done revision by myself but doing It 271

In a room all together talking It through, when It came to the exams I could 272

remember things we’d said and talked about In that room which made me think oh I 273

know that whereas If I hadn’t have done that I probably would have scraped a pass 274

but then again exams aren’t my great thing so, yeh invaluable. 275

V. Are your study buddies all mature students? 276

C. Yes oh yes, even the youngest one is classed as a mature student (laughs). 277

V. What motivates your study, why do you do it? 278

C. cos I want to live and work in sunny Spain for the rest of my life, I don’t want to 279

be in cold England I want to explore life a little bit more now my children have grown 280

up and do something for me all the things I wanted to do along the way but got 281

distracted by families and children,. I just keep thinking of the long haul, we can live 282

in Spain and be nice and warm. 283

V. Is there anything else, what about the self actualisation of getting a degree? 284

C. It’s a means to an end so yeh you know I can’t think about the day that we 285

graduate at the moment because it’s a little bit away and at the back of my head, are 286

you really gonna be capable enough have you got what it takes, that’s when I am on 287

the down slop thinking oh my god but hopefully by the standards of last year I should 288

go through ok 289

V, What about the feeling of achievement you might get at the end bearing in mind 290

you didn’t do quite as well at school? 291

C. It will be nice to sit up and say I did that I’ve got a degree purely because it wasn’t 292

anything I that I would have achieved at school because their wasn’t the ethos of the 293

school at that time so yeh it would be nice I will also been thinking I could have done 294

this so many years before. 295

V. Do you think it would have been easier? 296

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C. depends when I had chosen to do it I suppose; it wouldn’t have been easier if I 297

had tried to do it with young children how my friend does it with her young one, I 298

dunno had I have done it with young children I would have had some other support 299

but having said that erm I did course in fact I have always done some form of 300

education , I’ve done adult evening classes and stuff and I’ve always enjoyed them 301

always trying to do something which was going to help my future when I went back 302

to work and stuff like that you tend to forget those as you come along the road a little 303

bit further but even doing those I didn’t think I would be here today. 304

V. Why didn’t you do it at school? 305

C. Confidence I wasn’t a very confident student I was always ok a middle of the road 306

student erm always did what I needed to do conformed to what was expected of me 307

but my last year of school I was unfortunate, I was a daughter of a local policeman 308

and in the blast year of school there was a certain amount of bullying that threw me 309

off track and so that knocked my confidence there was other stuff going on what de 310

valued myself quite well so I wasn’t in the place then and all I could think of were my 311

parents, I could have gone to catering college, that was something that I thought 312

about but it would have involved paying £100 out for equipment and stuff and I didn’t 313

even ask my parents because if I had I think they would have found it but I just 314

thought they can’t afford that so I thought I won’t bother applying so that’s where my 315

confidence was at that point so didn’t even go to sixth form I’d had enough I needed 316

to leave school erm so didn’t happen then . 317

V. Neither of your parents has got degrees. 318

C. No. But I’ve got an aunt that has, that’s the closest but my aunt is up in 319

Newcastle erm so had I lived up there.. She travelled round Europe I couldn’t do 320

that, confidence just wasn’t there to do that. 321

V. What’s given you the confidence? 322

C. (long silence) um I’m still not sure the confidence is particularly strong but it was 323

more um but got married had children and felt constrained and thought there is more 324

to my life than this um I love my children dearly but you know felt there was more. 325

Then got back into work and eventually I got to the point where I wanted to do 326

something for me this is for me I need to see where I can go. I did lots of different 327

course that have added to my academic ability, but it was also meeting my other new 328

other half who had the same thought and said you can do this and I’ll be there and 329

so all while I’m working full time and studying two three nights a week and holding 330

down a new relationship but he was there all the way from the beginning he said 331

you’ve got to do this, you need to achieve this for you,. It is invaluable. 332

V. Do you use any of the study facilities on campus? 333

C. Yeh go to limehouse the library, don’t go to the mature student common room 334

very often I think that’s because I have a room that I can go to myself although 335

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maybe I do need to use it more often to escape from you know , the flat is my 336

workspace as well as my living space. 337

V. I guess it can get quite noisy. 338

C. erm certain times of the evening yes and I have had certain nights when I’ve been 339

asleep and been woken up at three o’clock in the morning so um yeh. 340

V. Do you go to the library much? 341

C. yep erm I haven’t been this week actually and I’ve got the books in my room so er 342

I do need to take them back and sort some others out. 343

V. Do you find the library quite a conducive place to work? Easy to work? 344

C. erm I have to have my headphones in and I have two or three lots of music that I 345

listen to that I can tune out to because there quite easy listening I put joss stone in 346

and put in down to a level that you can hear it but it’s not like something that will 347

make you go jump like some of this music that makes you go Raaaaaa I can’t be 348

doing with that. So I tune out to that it takes away the other noise and allows me to 349

focus on what I’m doing and get in the zone but quiet space is best. 350

V. How do you like the university e learning thing, Moodle? 351

C. Erm it is good and um it’s good that you can go and access stuff when you need 352

to I don’t use it as much as I should and I should be using it for my Spanish as there 353

is all kinds of sound bites that I need to sit and listen to and they can tell when you’ve 354

used it ha so if you haven’t used it, yer lecturer does remind you erm certainly our 355

language one does its useful to be able to print of past presentations for their 356

lectures if they’ve done them but if you’ve got a lecture like our crime one who 357

doesn’t do presentations it doesn’t really help erm but I haven’t used the listen again 358

this year I don’t tend to use them I probably need to when it comes to revision but 359

not on a weekly thing 360

V. when you have used listen again, what do you think of it? 361

C, a couple that I listened to were really clear, but I haven’t really listened to that 362

many to be fair and sometimes it’s good to go back and listen to what the lecture has 363

said if it’s not really clear from your notes so you can go and compare what was said 364

in the lecture I don’t know, it’s just another hour of my time that I have to fit in 365

somehow i don’t tend to use it as often as I should 366

V. Do you think that having slides on Moodle it would dissuade some students from 367

turning up to lectures? 368

C. I think it does with the younger ones but I think. If the university isn’t up to speed 369

with their attendance meetings 370

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V. How impotent is it that you turn up to every lecture and every seminar? 371

C. to me it is important I have missed a couple this term but I wasn’t well and that’s 372

the only thing that didn’t get me there I couldn’t have sat up for a full hour. So it’s 373

very rare that I will miss one. 374

V. but you could at least go back to Moodle to look at the slides. 375

C. Yeh yeh. 376

V. Moving on now, we’ve talked out study topics if we could just talk about some of 377

the social life aspects of mature students 378

Have prior relationships of friendships changed, and if so how? 379

C. erm I tend to have key friendships at home and they haven’t changes that know 380

what I’m doing and why I’m doing it and when I’m home I will catch up with them. 381

V. Are they supportive? 382

C. oh Yeh they are like wow your doing that, its quite nice when you hear people say 383

that because yeh I am it’s been interesting developing friendships from the mature 384

student weekend and all the way through last year and this year and it takes a year 385

to get to know people really well it is quite intense when your studying so you get to 386

know everybody’s fears and stresses whose coping well and who isn’t but when 387

some people continue to be stress it does strain the friendship ms a little bit but 388

we’re all here they are going through their things so it’s about being as positive as 389

possible and trying to re direct there negativity but it makes it difficult when your 390

stressed yourself. 391

V. Do you think any of your friends are jealous? 392

C. No I am someone who has whole posies of friends when I am at home I will bump 393

into people I have done ladies circle with and they are always keen to see how it’s 394

going my key friends that probably amount to three or five, yea I don’t need loads of 395

people to always be boosting me up so in have what in need so I don’t have those 396

friends on the end who are saying what you doing that for oorr I get that off my 397

brother so I don’t need that from anybody else , having said that he was quite 398

supportive oh I’m quite proud of you, I thought blimey makes a change. 399

V. So it can be quite a positive thing people can let something out that you couldn’t 400

have thought possible 401

C. yeh it was quite a surprise but yeh my sisters are quite supportive. 402

V. What about your auntie up in Newcastle? 403

C. Oh she’s really pleased her eldest son has been to uni like mine has so they both 404

finished at the same time. 405

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V. Does she give you much moral support? 406

C. She’s a very busy teacher bogged down by paperwork so she’s too busy for me to 407

keep hassling on a regular basis. 408

V. You said your son has been to university 409

C. Yeh he graduated in the summer. 410

V. that must have made you feel so proud. 411

C It was really nice yeh my side of the family were there. 412

V. what does he feel about you doing a degree? 413

C. he’s quite proud of the fact his mums here a little bit thrown by the fact his mums 414

living in student accommodation because he knows what his student 415

accommodation was like their all quite proud that I’m doing it but James out of all ,of 416

them knows what I need to be doing and how hard it is so he’s a little bit more 417

understanding that the others. 418

V. How do find funding you social and domestic life? 419

C. right at the moment, very difficult (laugh’s) generally it’s not too bad when I get my 420

student finance in there’s a certain amount of money left in the joint bank account 421

that pays the bills for home then I need to pay for my accommodation here and then 422

what’s left is mine and then I earn a little bit of money with the frontrunners and a 423

little bit with the ambassadors so that goes into my account and my expenses from 424

my voluntary job goes into my account cos I’ve got a separate account that’s mine 425

but it’s difficult. If I was an 18 19 year old i would be so much better off coz I wouldn’t 426

be paying two lots of bills erm so that makes it a little bit harder they could’ve spent it 427

on two lots of rent but they haven’t and yet they still whinge e about not having any 428

money so I have payed two lots of rent and I’m not sure how I am going to see my 429

way through Christmas and I will be going round the local restaurants and hotels at 430

the weekend to see if I can get some cash in hand work so mi can get some money 431

for Christmas but if not Christmas is on hold until we get paid in January so ye hi find 432

myself having to use my student money to buy food and stuff at home because my 433

husband is on a very limited wage . I don’t have accredit card I don’t do the normal 434

student thing I’m not running an overdraft on neither of my accounts and I don’t want 435

to be 436

V. So you’re a very careful steward of your money. 437

C. Yeh until it gets to zero or seven quid and then you think oh. 438

V. But you don’t want to go down the line of credit. 439

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C. No, I did all last year without any debt apart from my student finance and I will try 440

again this year but we’ll see if I don’t get any work over Christmas I might have to go 441

and ask if I can go into the overdraft a little bit but we’ll see how it goes. Its tight, it’s 442

harder than the younger ones but they don’t understand so. 443

V. In what ways do you manage stress? 444

C. Sigh I don’t know, I don’t have any particular strategies or anything like that I find 445

myself feeling stressed having time with my husband tends to de stress me cos 446

being away from home tends to do that as well 447

V. being with someone who understands and more importantly supports what you’re 448

doing is a great sounding board. 449

C. yeh its difficult being away from home. 450

V. How important are the social facilities on campus to your lifestyle? 451

C. I like the open mike night so if I’m here on a Friday night then just to go and have 452

a cheap evening out where you can sit and listen to nice music or some poetry, I like 453

the theatre I like the really brilliant theatre on campus so if I can go I will I like to be 454

able to relax in the top bar the SU is a bit to noisy to be able to have a proper 455

conversation so it’s nice to have somewhere to escape to chill when you don’t want 456

to go into town . I kinda live in a bubble while I’m here this is my little bubble and 457

then I leave here and go to my home bubble and while I’m here its rare if I go off 458

campus. 459

V. how much time would you say you spend on socialising? 460

C. Pause not that much really to be fair an evening at our friends round the corner so 461

somewhere between two and four hours depending on when and whatever during 462

the week two or three hours not all at one go that’s generally during the day rather 463

than the evening I don’t go out in the evenings like the younger ones do who mare 464

going out every night to the SU and sub zero and stuff I do that once a term. 465

V. You have been to sub zero? 466

C. I have yeh but that is an experience, it needs to be done with a group of you erm 467

mature students and just once a term but no I can’t get into the whole student life of 468

doing it more regularly than that I can’t be doing with all that so not socialising as the 469

younger ones do more catchin up chatting and having a coffee is more our 470

socialising part of it all 471

V. When your here do you tend to look at it as work time rather than social time 472

C. yeh its more work that social but I do need to have my escape from work that 473

does happen when the girls are on campus and stuff. 474

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V. But you do tend to consider this your work place and home your social place. 475

C. yeh I am so looking forward to seeing some telly on Saturday night I could watch 476

it on my comport her but I don’t have the time I have less time to socialising coz I 477

have more time to do the voluntary stuff that I’m doing and when I don’t have to do 478

either of those thank god I can go to bed and when I can go to bed by 9 o’clock I’m 479

pleased and not so pleased when I am woken up at 3 o’clock , but hey I’m living in 480

student halls. 481

V. What do you do to reward yourself? 482

C. have a cake from Blues laugh or treat myself to a cocktail at either the top bar or 483

the SU because they do a special deal on a Sunday night but I’ve not been down 484

there on a Sunday night yet to take advantage of it I have been to cine ten last year 485

quite happy by myself in any SU venue. 486

V. The campus is a safe environment. 487

C. Yeh Yeh. Well for me I think it is the younger ones occasionally make themselves 488

a victim by drinking to extreme I did it once last year but I blame my friend for that. 489

I’m never fazed by whatever time I walk through campus 490

Well C thanks very much for taking part I appreciate it 491

C. That’s alright. 492

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Transcription two, Linda, younger mature student. 508

509

V. thank you for agreeing to take part in my study which is concerned with the lived 510

experience of mature female university students versus those straight from school 511

and will be discussing a broad range of topics related to that experience. The forty 512

five minute to one hour interview will be taped and after transcription will be wiped 513

you will have the opportunity to see the transcription if you wish. You do not have to 514

answer any question you feel uncomfortable with and can withdraw from the 515

interview at any time our conversation is in the strictest confidence and any personal 516

details will be anonymised. Is that OK? 517

L. erhum.nods head. 518

V. Terrific thanks 519

V. First of all can you tell me about the pattern of your working week? 520

L. Erm ok I’m at university three days a week erm are you talking out my working 521

week or my general working week. 522

V. Your university working week, your study working week. 523

L. Ok I work two days a week from 0930 to 1730 and that then leaves me 3 days and 524

the weekend in which to study in I’m at uni for two hours on a Tuesday and 525

Thursdays pretty much a full day and then Fridays another two hours so I kinda 526

organise myself around that and then the weekends mine so that’s kinda my working 527

week 528

V. When do you do your assignments and reading? 529

L. erm so I do the anthropology assignment the day that its due so I will do the 530

reading in the morning before I get to uni and then do the questions before the 531

lecture and I also find in retain information a lot better so if I read it and then do the 532

questions before I get to the lecture I’m sort of clarifying what I’ve already learnt I 533

write about 3000 words every time I submit it, then reading erm to be fair I haven’t 534

done that much reading, reading, I’ll do it as and when I feel like, I’ll look at the topic 535

of what I’m reading and if I find it interesting then I’ll read it but if it’s something that I 536

know I’ll never answer a question about it in the exam, its good knowledge to know, 537

then I’ll briefly look it up on Wikipedia and get a general knowledge for it but I won’t 538

delve myself to much into the reading because it’s not time wasting, but I could be 539

doing more efficient things with my time other than reading that so it just depends so 540

I read Durkheim’s religious erm what’s it called, I read one of his works anyway and 541

27

that was interesting but I didn’t read the previous works so it just depends how and 542

when I do my reading its kinda like if I feel like it I’ll do it but then if I don’t feel like it I 543

won’t do it 544

V. are there any distractions from your planned work schedule? For example do your 545

friends and family get in the way when you are planning to work? 546

L. All the time because I’m on campus three days a week I’ve tried to stay off 547

campus as much as possible this year but I find its theoretically stimulating but real 548

life does stimulate me more somewhat nowadays so I will come on campus and I will 549

plan to go to the library and when I am walking to the library I’ll meet about 15 550

different people it’s like traffic lights I can’t get anywhere erm just catching up with all 551

the people that I haven’t seen in the week and then you know I hang out with my 552

friends from Colchester at the weekends mainly I’ll go to the occasional house party 553

and do whatever with friends from uni on a Friday night so yeh that’s distracting. 554

Family distracts me a lot because I live at home at the moment so comforts of home 555

I don’t watch the TV and they do and even hearing it in the background annoys me 556

erm but other than that not really they actually help a lot feeding me , feeding is 557

good. (Laugh) 558

V. Are you able to plan your workload ahead of deadlines or do you work towards 559

the deadline? 560

L. I don’t really plan at all ever I’m quite a spontaneous person and that reflects in 561

the way I study as well so its kinda like I just plod along until I have to do it until I 562

really have to do it and then you know so that’s my planning I plan to plod along and 563

then do it when the time is right however I’m trying to sort that out I’ve been trying to 564

sort that out since I got my school reports since I was eleven but I mean it’s just 565

constant I’ve always been the same its the way I live my life so I don’t really plan. 566

Well if I really like something I’ll do it much earlier its just a case of what takes my 567

fancy erm things that bore me of that don’t interest me or things that seem so 568

blatantly obvious like I just don’t plan it I’m very complacent. I thinks as well if you get 569

good grades it kinda ill just go on that pass mark and expect to get it next time 570

V. so are you saying a good pass mark doesn’t motivate you to get another good 571

pass mark it actually de motives you because you think you’ll get that anyway? 572

L. it doesn’t de motivate me it makes me more big headed I spose its because I’m 573

complacent, I know that if I’ve done well enough now if I put the same amount of 574

work in next time I will get the same result so I don’t need to plan ahead I then 575

imagine what I would do if I actually planned it often I have found I failed because I 576

over stressed if I plan ahead I did French four hours a week and really worked hard 577

and got a u then and then I didn’t do any revising at all ( for the retakes) and then got 578

a b and its just the way I work if is tree myself out then my mind is occupied by stress 579

and then suppresses what is there so yeah planning ahead can get in the way for me 580

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V. What methods or devices do you use to help, plan your workload? 581

L. well I have a timetable which I put in many places so I don’t forget I have a 582

structure at the moment which I work Mondays and I work Wednesdays therefore I 583

have Tuesdays Thursdays and Fridays to catch up on any work and do any reading 584

and so that’s the current structure I have in place Sunday morning are for reading so 585

I just do reading on that morning anyway erm weather its related or not related I’ll 586

just do some work related or some of the further reading so having a structure at the 587

moment helps me organise my day and my time. 588

V. Does having the structure stress you? 589

L. no because without it I would be all over the place having three days at uni, this is 590

the first year I’ve had this much time off when I did languages I was in five days a 591

week so if I don’t have the structure I would just sit at home and draw or paint, 592

something completely irrelevant 593

V.What devices do you have to help stress? 594

L. I have a diary I’ve never had one before but I’ve got so much on with my 595

extracurricular stuff such as women’s officer yaks and thing that if I didn’t have one I 596

would double book so it helps prevent me putting myself everywhere 597

V. Can you tell me when you feel more or less confident in your academic ability? 598

L. when I have gone to the class unprepared I feel less confident and that’s when I 599

start to stress myself out if I go to the glass and cant input anything.. I like to input 600

into the class because that’s where I find I can stimulate myself academically and I 601

can have intellectual debates when I’m outside of uni say I’m talking with friends I 602

can’t be around people who can’t talk properly or have a discussion about the 603

mundane... so ill have all these new ways of looking at reality and then I’ll go to the 604

class and know what people are talking out but I won’t be theoretically correct I feel 605

less confident when I haven’t done my part. 606

V. How does that make you feel? 607

L. like after the class I should go and do reading or go to the library, but then on the 608

way I’ll meet somebody.. How does that make me feel? I don’t doubt myself I’m just 609

annoyed at myself because I didn’t do it because I was doing something that I 610

shouldn’t have been doing. 611

V. Does that make you feel like you should’ve planned a little bit more then? 612

L. No because planning for me.. I just can’t do that because planning doesn’t work 613

that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do my reading this is my full time job. I should sort 614

myself out. 615

V. how do you think your prior academic experience has helped? 616

29

L. It’s definitely helped I think any prior academic experience is going to help 617

regardless of where you come from or what background you had or life experience, it 618

will all aid your thinking. I’ve always been interested in interdisciplinary things I 619

ended up doing six A levels that more than most people so that really helped they all 620

kind of aid each other and they all feed into what I’m doing now. I just learnt so much 621

about so many different things it really really helped when you’re academically 622

experienced it enables you to understand lots of different things and I’m not under 623

one umbrella, I don t have blinkers the way I look at the world is not restricted to one 624

perspective 625

V. Most people who have come straight from school have done three A levels you 626

seem to have done an awful lot more why? 627

L. Because I just like to know about things which has enable me to make a fuller 628

package for myself so I got a range of skills loads of my friends have already finished 629

uni are doing their masters, it’s like were on this conveyor belt that’s not for me I’m 630

nowhere near ready to do a masters we’re like products. Three good A levels a 2:1 631

degree get yourself a job in the service sector, that’s not for me I can’t think of 632

anything worse my previous experience has helped shaped that and given me more 633

options and that’s what helped me. I’ve had a special syllabus ever since I started 634

here most people don’t know that you can tailor your own degree I wrote a e mail 635

and found out by myself by asking questions. People in my age group are very 636

scared to question. The jump from college to uni is massive in college you had 637

people telling you when to do your deadlines. 638

V. This is sixth form? 639

L. Sixth form yeh. They give you an academic planner they tell you when you have to 640

get everything in when you come to uni no one tells you what to do you have to do it 641

yourself here you get set deadlines but they won’t chase you down the road if you 642

haven’t done the set reading if anything you have to tell them can I have a second 643

chance at this. People come here and think they are still in the same position and 644

think you can’t question because we’ve been trained from school and college not to 645

question anything to do with course structure that has also given me an edge and 646

helps me academically. 647

V. some student feel as if they’ve leapt into the unknown when they came to uni how 648

did you feel? 649

L. well ... you were a big fish in a small pond and then you become a medium sized 650

fish in a bigger pond so it’s just like how I felt and then I though hang on were all fish 651

it doesn’t matter what size you are or where you’ve come from in the beginning you 652

are a bit disorientated but when you start meeting and talking to people from different 653

backgrounds you soon realise there’s nothing to worry about. We are all students in 654

the same pond. I am from Colchester and had been on this campus before. 655

30

V. How did you feel about the lack of structure that you had at school? 656

L. It was like I had been in a cage for a really long time and I could now spread my 657

wings having structure confines me and I can’t handle that I get quite agitated when 658

I came to un ii was able to be more relaxed and live the lifestyle that I wanted to live 659

away from home and having no structure gives you time to self reflect and it’s the 660

most important time, up until that point you are not allowed to sit and reflect about 661

what you want to do for some people it’s very daunting but it set me free. This why 662

uni for me is a most amazing life changing experience. 663

V. What’s your support network for academic study, do you have any study buddies? 664

L. nope not at all erm I can’t study with other people they annoy me by talking too 665

much, when I study I get in the zone when I study I’m studying and I don’t do it very 666

often so I don’t want people to annoy me unless it comes to the point when I’m 667

revising there was only one girl who would be able to study with me. I hate time 668

wasters if I go to the library I will have certain ply lists that is listen to as I can’t take it 669

when there is too many distractions so instead of having someone to help me I will 670

listen to music very calm often classical music or Zen music 671

V. How does that work? 672

L. if I sit in the library I might put some cy trance or drumming and put something on 673

really loud that will block out the sound of everybody else and then I will turn it on to 674

something calmer i get quite distracted s music helps get me into the zone 675

sometimes I sit in the library at the back where the books are because you are not 676

allowed to talk in there it annoys me that people don’t respect the space. I can’t 677

study at home; I study quite a lot in my bed, that’s the best place to study. 678

V. Why can’t you study at home? 679

L. because my sister and my dad, they don’t understand my parents didn’t go to uni 680

we talk on a different level he can’t intellectualise it so I can’t use certain words their 681

very intrigued about what I am studying my dad’s worked all over the world he’s lived 682

it but I have to know the theory behind it so I have to go find a space 683

V. Do you have any other academic study support? 684

L. my friends I have a network of friends who are all, on the same wave length my ex 685

boyfriend aided my studies for a very long time its important o have these people 686

around you. 687

V. What motives your study then? 688

L. what motivates me is that I am always hungry to know more so what is motivating 689

me now is the passion, it always has to be about the passion I feel for something, if 690

the fire is out then I’ll no longer engage in it that’s the trend that most people can see 691

31

in my life I am very conscious out the now not what I will be doing in ten tears time 692

cos everything is gonna change so I’ve got to be happy and motivated right now. 693

I’m not a planner I am happy doing what I’m doing right now. 694

V. do you use any of the study facilities on campus you’ve talked about the library, 695

how often do you use that? 696

L. erm quite a lot I like the library, I don’t like the reading room it’s too social I like to 697

have my own desk with my water on it I like that set up and that’s a place like it’s a 698

bit of a haven for me I am a bit of a nerd, I do like to go to a place where no one can 699

disturb you and where everybody is going to that place for the same function if I go 700

to lab C people may be printing or researching or just check Facebook for me that’s 701

too hectic I will sit next to the person who I see is most focussed even if the place is 702

empty as that will give me some kind of drive their not my study buddy their nobody I 703

know but sitting next to them and they give me the motivation I like to be able to see 704

nature as well so I’ll go and sit by the window then I don’t need the music I like to 705

hear the pages turn even the smell of books motivates me I’m reluctant to use the 706

recourses room because the doors are open and I get distracted when people are 707

walking past. I don’t use the study pods I have no use for them I will use them if I 708

have a meeting but not to study. 709

V. Have prior friendships or relationships changed 710

L. that’s an interesting question, I used to go around with some girls were all from 711

Essex they used fake eyelashes fake tan and things like that and I came to uni and I 712

distanced myself from them at 110 miles an hour I don’t know why I did but I found 713

myself in intellectual conversations with people and I was just growing I was just 714

wowed over how I could just talk to someone I went to the same school as there 715

people I went to the same college as these people we did everything together 716

however even the fact that I went to uni in Colchester and they are all from 717

Colchester I don’t even have them on Facebook any more there were the people 718

you walked to school with six seven years of your life things change, some of them 719

I’m friends with on Facebook and I can see that they are all still together how is that 720

real. I was on a night out with them in Norwich and they said this was my last chance 721

to prove myself to them as a friend they are not even worthy of my time I can’t drink 722

Disney champagne and wear false eyelashes. Yeah it changed drastically I’m not 723

friends with people is spent 18 years of my life with 724

V. How do find funding social and domestic life? 725

L .Easy because I work hard you have to earn your bread I was fed on a silver spoon 726

but it had like muesli on it I’ve had a job ever since I was 13 I work at phones for you 727

young arts community I’m a henna artist I have a lot to offer and people pay me for 728

my services. 729

V. In what ways do you manage stress? 730

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L. erm I’m a drummer I’m a dancer I dance I’m a painter I paint I have friends I don’t 731

find drinking very helpful. I go to the wood with my friends we build a fire climb up a 732

tree sometimes we fall off and then drum have a drink chill out like not talk about 733

everything you just do something that doesn’t involve your mind yoga erm painting 734

drawing if I’m stressed out in a class I will doodle and that will take my stress away, 735

I’m not thinking about anything I just let it out this thing about keeping it inside but 736

that’s not real we all have to let things out pick and choose who your gonna do that 737

with. 738

V. What social venues do you use on and off campus? 739

L, I use the lakes as a social venue there a really mice tree up there called captain 740

oak an 800 year old oak tree I use top bar I like that place a lot actually its quite 741

chilled out I don’t like the chairs in SU I don’t really like going in there ill go to top bar 742

because it’s really nice I go there about once a week yep captain oak is Friday night 743

or the squares I sit on the squares all the time that is the social venue of the world. 744

V. How much time do you spend socialising? 745

L. I’m always socialising at work especially I sit down for half an hour with about 8 746

people why not prod people and ask them what makes you cry rather that had a nice 747

day like 15 other people has asked. Socialise at every given opportunity 748

V. what do you do to reward yourself? 749

L. that doesn’t work for me you should always take care of yourself so rewarding 750

myself is a constant thing. A green tea in the morning is a reward for me no bottle of 751

champagne for me I would put on a favourite song. I don’t really do that. 752

V. That’s it, thanks for taking part. 753

L. your welcome. 754

755

756

757

758

759

760

761

762

763

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Appendix Two

Interview questions

Social life topics

Have prior friendships or relationships changed and if so how?

How do you find funding social and domestic life?

In what ways do you manage stress?

How important are the social facilities on campus to your lifestyle?

Tell me about the social venues you use on and off campus.

How much time do you spend socialising?

What do you do to reward yourself?

Study topics.

Tell me about the pattern of your working week.

o How much time?

o When in the day?

Are there distractions from your planned work schedule

(friends/family)?

Are you able to plan your workload ahead of deadlines or do you work

towards the deadline?

What methods or devices do you use to help plan your workload?

34

Can you tell me when you fell more or less confident in your academic

ability?

Has your prior academic experience helped?

o Tell me about how/ or/ why not.

Some students feel they have leapt into the unknown, what is your

experience?

What is your support network for academic study?

What motivates your study?

Do you use any study facilities on campus?

o Library

o Study pods

How do you find/like university e- learning (Moodle)?