1. 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: LLP UK-KA1-KA1SCR

2. 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

3. 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.’

4. 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

5. 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)

6. Three Forms of Relating to Self

7. 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’

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