What non-traditional students say? 1 What non-traditional students say? Dr. Ted Fleming Fleming, T. (June, 2011). 'The struggle for recognition in Hegel, Honneth and Higher Education: What non-traditional students say?' Paper presented at C.A.V.E Conference on Bildung  in the Contemporary University, Trinity College Dublin. Contract number: 135230-LLP-1-2007-1-UK-KA1-KA1SCR

Context is Everything - Almost Mind the Gap: Statistics and quantitative findings – OECD, Education at a Glance; Researcher Beware: To start counting in Sept? or Nov.? or March? Mathematics & Success in HE – Post hoc ergo propter hoc Propose: Addressing success and retention by policy change must be matched by addressing inequality in society and in educational system www.tedfleming.net

Methodology Longitudinal 125 narratives collected from students Three higher education institutions (ITB, NUIM, TCD) Grounded theory Sensitizing concepts for narrative analysis Peter Alheit (Göttingen, Germany) with Critical Theory (Habermas); Linden West (Canterbury, UK) with Psychoanalysis and transitional space (Winnicott); Stockholm, Warwick, Wrocław with emphasis from Bourdieu on field and habitus; Honneth How does one tell as a researcher the story of how one arrives at a ‘new’ set of ideas, concepts and sensitizing constructs which are helpful in analysing research data (narratives) and this story is seldom told and even less frequently studied by researchers. Nothing less than a ‘confluence of events.’ www.tedfleming.net

What do students say? They do not drop out easily. System (that values research makes no attempt to find out how students experience HE); Concerned about interpersonal world of collaborative learning, friendships and relationships; Teaching & educational qualifications of academic staff; Mental health (in small case) concerns; Finance, careers economic and other benefits. Propose: Training for staff Restructure first year (or semester) Collaborative learning processes www.tedfleming.net

claims confirmed. (Honneth, 1997) Honneth and Recognition: Theorising Adult and non-traditional participation in Irish HE Honneth argues that in modern society there are three differentiated recognition orders and; three levels of increasingly more demanding patterns of recognition, and an intersubjective struggle mediates between each of these levels, a struggle that subjects conduct in order to have their identity claims confirmed. (Honneth, 1997)

Three Forms of Relating to Self

Key Factors in Promoting Access & Recognition There are high levels of resilience and determination A degree is (has become) a labour market requirement Foreign students – a degree for integrating into society External supports Financial Institutional Emotional support by family Academic support Peer support Personal development & a ‘significant other’ www.tedfleming.net

Constraining Factors Finance Caring duties & responsibilities Significant life events Mental health Limited information in HE possibilities before joining HE Institutional habitus www.tedfleming.net