Mature Students in Higher Education

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Mature Students in Higher Education

• An investigation of approaches to studying and
  academic performance
• Richardson (1995)

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Why is this important?
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The importance of stereotypes.
Marriage problems
Cannot cope with the workload
Too old
Stereotypes
Out of education for too long
Children
Change in styles of study no basic skills
Part- time work
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Stereotypes

• Lack of confidence leading to intimidation.
• Affected by other people and their opinions.
• Self fulfilling prophecy.
• Can we overcome these
• stereotypes?

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About the presentation.

• Why did Richardson do this?
• Demonstration of a difference between study
  styles and education.
• Aims to outline and evaluate the study using any
  criticisms of methodology and other studies.

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An Investigation of Approaches to Studying and
Academic Performance (Richardson 1995)

• Richardson undertook a study into the comparisons
  of mature and non-mature students
• -He hoped to be able to distinguish between
  their learning styles
• - He hoped to find out the effectiveness of
  each
• Due to findings from previous research (Watkins
  Hattie, 1981 Biggs, 1985, 1987) Richardson
  hypothesised
• - that mature students would use a meaning
  orientation approach to study
• - whereas non-mature students would use a
  reproducing orientation approach

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There are 3 main learning approaches

• Deep Approach (Meaning Orientation)
• Surface Approach (Reproducing Orientation)
• Strategic Approach

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Meaning Orientation

• Adopted by mature Students
• Deeper approach to learning
• Desire to find out more about the subject
• Make connections with other areas of the course
• Quicker at relating evidence to conclusions

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Reproducing Orientation

• Adopted by non-mature students
• Main priority is memorisation
• Less confident
• Higher fear of failure
• Rely on staff teachers to thoroughly explain tasks

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Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI)

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The ASI

• Devised by Entwistle
• Most commonly used questionnaire on student
  learning in H.E.
• Consists of 64 items in 16 subscales, under 4
  general headings

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Research

• Meyer and Parsons (1989) confirmed the ability of
  the ASI in producing meaningful and conceptually
  consistent results.
• The ASI was found to be considerably more useful
  than that of the Course Perceptions
  Questionnaire (CPQ)

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Further research

• Many researchers have reconstructed the scales
  finding importance in only meaning and
  reproducing orientation
• The importance of these 2 headings are apparent
  in studies by Entwistle and Ramsden(1983),
  Schmeck(1988), Speth and Brown(1988).

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Richardson Study

• Argued it would be more appropriate to abbreviate
  the original ASI and focus on the 8 subscales
  identified with meaning and reproducing
  orientation, at the forefront of his
  investigation.
• These subscales are of more relevance to
  Richardsons study although could create
  experimenter bias.
• Fewer questions could lead to study being seen as
  restricted.

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Findings

• From the ASI, Richardson found his hypothesis
  to be supported, due to
• - mature students using meaning orientation and
  non-mature students use reproducing orientation.
• He also found that contrary to popular belief,
  mature students do perform equally well as
  non-mature students.
• - There was no significant difference between
  the academic attainment of mature and non-mature
  students.

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Summary of Richardson's Study

• The results support the hypothesis
• - the results found by Richardson are more
  clearly identified than those discovered in
  previous research
• The quality of courses in higher education will
  actually be enriched and enhanced by the
  admission of mature students
• No significant difference can be found between
  the levels of attainment of mature and non-mature
  students

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Independent Research

• We decided to conduct our own research as a
  follow up to Richardsons study
• Participants were male and female undergraduates
  from Northumbria University
• Questionnaire
• How confident were you about the work before
  beginning higher education?
• How organised are you in terms of academic study?
• Do you think your age has a positive effect on
  your studying?
• 2 3 4 5
• (confident) (not confident)

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Current Findings

• Results supported the findings of Richardsons
  Study
• Northumbria Mature Students tended to practice
  slightly more desirable approaches to learning.
• more organised and confident about their work
• Northumbria non-mature students tended to be less
  confident and rated themselves as being less
  organised
• This means that we can agree with Richardsons
  conclusion that Mature Students tended to
  exhibit more desirable approaches to learning

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The Difference to Mature and Non-mature Students
Approaches to learning
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Summary, Conclusions and Findings

• Mature Students have defied social expectations.
• Mature Students Meaning Orientation
• Non Mature Students Reproducing Orientation
• Richardsons Research
• Mature Students have often been said to be
  deficient in study skills and their abilities
  have been questioned, but ultimately they are an
  asset to society, but most significantly in
  Higher Education!

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Thank you for listening!