Constructing a 'Mature Student' Identity

Advocates of lifelong learning promise positivechange for individuals and society; however thetransition to university is not easy for maturestudents. The discourse of the typical 'student'identity (marked by a youthful freedom from parentalcontrol) marginalizes many adult learners who areportrayed as focusing mainly on parenting employmentor other 'adult' issues. The social acceptance ofthese competing discourses and their influence onacademic policy affects both the construction of a'student' identity and students' academic informationbehaviours. This book presents the results of astudy grounded in a postmodern framework of socialconstructionism which explores 'student' identitiesand the academic and informational experiences ofmature students returning to undergraduate studies.The project combined qualitative interviews withstudents discourse analysis of the university andsocial texts on student life and a quantitativeexamination of the Canadian Census. The findings callfor future research and academic practices that aredesigned to suit students' individual academic andinformational needs rather than stereotypicaldiscursive constructions.