MATURE STUDENTS in HIGHER EDUCATIONMATURE STUDENTS in HIGHER EDUCATION: 
the Career of a Cohort of Mature Students in a Public Sector Institution.
ALICE ZEITLYN. B.A. (CNAA)
1988
This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the 
degree of Master of Philosophy. 
Sponsoring Establishment: Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology. June, 
1988. 


Contents
Contents                                       Page
Chapter 1. Introduction.                         1

Chapter 2. Review of Literature.                 8
           Adult and Continuing Education.       9        
           Motivation                           16        
           Admission  Procedures                26       
           Class/Gender Differences             32       
           The "Career" of Mature Students      38
           Specific Problems of Mature          40
           Students.          
           Conclusion                           43        
           Footnotes                            45        
           References                           46       

Chapter 3. Methodology.                         48
           The Diary Form                       58 
           The Writing-up.                      63 
           Footnotes                            66 

Chapter 4. CCAT as an Institution.              67
           TheCollege and Student Body.    67 
           Courses Available at Degree Level.   71      
           Student Union.                       74      
           Conclusion.                          77      
           Footnotes.                           80     

Chapter 5. Description of Cohort.               81
           Age and Gender.                      82     
           Marital Status.                      85      
           Class and Educational Background.    86           
           Reasons for Returning to H/ed.       91           
           The School Leavers.                  94
           Categories of Mature Students.       99           
           Two Case Histories.                 119                 
           Summary.                            125        
           Footnotes.                          128           

Chapter 6. The Career of M/s.                  129
           Admission procedures.               131       
           First year examinations.            137        
           Continuous assessment.              144      
           Dissertation and Final examination. 152     
           Perceptions of m/s.                 158     
           Staff perceptions of m/s.           168           
           Relationship between m/s and s/l.   178            
           Life Histories.                     186            
           Summary.                            194         
           Footnotes.                          199           

Chapter 7. Conclusions and Recommendations.    200
           Recommendations.                    208


Bibliography.                                  217

Tables.
 1.  Age  Distribution of Mature Students.      82     
 2.  Marital Status of Mature Students.         85      
 3.  Class and Gender of Mature Students.       87      
 4.  Age, Class and Gender.                     87      
 5. Type of School Attendedby Mature          
     Students.                                  89
 6.  Type of School and Class Distribution.     90      
 7.  Reasons for Returning to Higher Education. 92     
 8.  Vocational and Non-vocational Reasons
     by Gender.                                 93
 9.  Class and Gender of School Leaver.         95               
 1O. Type of School Attended by School Leaver   96
 11. Type of School and Class Distribution.     96     
 12. Reasons for Goingoninto Higher
     Education.                                 98
 13. Situation of Middle-class,Middle-aged
     Married Women with Children.              100
 14. Single Parent Families.                   109               
 15. Other Married Students.                   112     
 16. Single Male Students.                     117     


Appendices: 1. Letters of Introduction.          1
            2. Text of questionnaire             5
            3. Text of student interviews.       6
            4. Text of staff interviews         13
            5. Diary Form.                      16
            6. Establishing a Conceptual        17
               Framework.
Abbreviations used Throughout the Text.
C/a       = Continuous assessment.
CNAA      = Council for National Academic Awards.
UCCA      = University Central Council for Admissions.
WEA       = Workers' Educational Association.
M/c       = Middle class.
W/c       = Working class.
A/ed.     = Adult education.
F/ed.     = Further education.
H/ed.     = Higher education.
S/l       = School leaver.
ETL       = European Thought and Literature.
S/p       = Single parent.
Hum/Soc   = Humanities and Social Sciences.
M/s       = Mature student.
PCAS      = Polytechnic Central Admissions System.
CCAT      = Cambridgeshire College of Arts and 
            Technology.
F/t       = Full time.
P/t       = Part time.
O.U.      = Open University.
S.U.      = Student union.