1. I didn’t do too bad at school but I never thought that I’d
ever get round to doing a degree...So, and going back to
university, sort of, at 40 and doing, doing a degree. I mean
what’s that all about? But that, you see, I wouldn’t have
done that if it hadn’t been for [my son’s] accident [and
death] ‘cause the only reason I ended up going back is
because at the time I was working in two jobs, I was doing
my degree at university, ... but I had to be so busy that I was
up at night doing my essays ‘til four o’clock in the morning.
So I had just so much going on that I wasn’t able to think
about what had happened and why it had happened....you
know, and in a way I can thank [my son] for that. Doing,
you know, the [job related to degree] which is something
that I love doing now.
Wendy, SE England, degree between 42-46
[After my degree] I had intended to do a doctorate ... but I
failed to get a grant. [An Arts centre opened] and they were
trying to get people to fill the place to enable the bills to be
paid..it was five pound a week, enough for me to be able to
afford it and also to continue on unemployment allowance
at the same time for a period. Then someone offered to pay
me to take photographs [for an event]. It was then I realised
that it was possible to earn money by doing something
that I enjoyed rather than being in an office or warehouse
or factory for eight hours a day...That was a major turning
point. It was more significant than my first or second degree
because all of the skills that I have as a photographer I have
taught myself. Gregory, Wales, degree by 23.
We came down to England when I was 12 and I hated it,
I really was wretchedly miserable. The school said I wasn’t
clever enough to be at their school so they gave me three
months to shape up or get out, and it just went downhill
from there. I sort of joined the local gang of greasers
in order to prove I wasn’t a snob ‘cause I was going to a
grammar school and didn’t really fit in the school ‘cause I
never felt clever enough to be there. Got to A level, wanted
to do a history degree and the history teacher said to my
parents, no they said to me, you know, ‘Don’t you think you
should be working in Woolworth’s? I mean, really do you
think you should be doing a history degree?’ So I was like,
thanks, you know. Anyway I did do the history degree. I
got in [university]..after having really screwed up my A level
results. Marion, SE England, degree by age 23
I got no career advice at all but I probably didn’t go for it, if
they would have sent me for it I probably wouldn’t have gone,
so it’s nobody’s fault but I didn’t know what to do with myself
and nobody else did either. The sort of ideas that were generally
given were teaching and [nursing]... So I left school knowing
that I hadn’t done what I should have done or could have done
by any stretch of the imagination.
June, NW England, degree between 42-46
I got involved in the Labour party at 26. Just cause of Thatcher,
I hated her, and the miners’ strike and all that, so I got involved.
I was working on the Coal Board at the time...got a bit more
politicised and then when I got made redundnat, wanted a
further education. I did a two year access course in a trade
union college and then that got you into university.
Peter, SE England, degree between 33-42.
In 1995 I started studying psychology...about a year be-
fore that I started questioning things and thinking about
things...[and reading pop psychology] when I came out of
the Navy ... my behaviour was of a wide-ass...the aggression
was getting more a hold on me...reflecting back on it, it’s
easy to say, ‘gosh how embarrassing that I actually thought
this’ ...my view of women was... I thought the males were
superior...And even my biases against people who were
gay...[T]hrough psychology I started to learn about myself
[and why I behaved/thought in this way]. I would never
have become aware of it without the psychology.
Ian, Scotland, degree between 42-46
Aim: to explore, describe and
classify the education careers
of 1958 cohort members who
entered higher education between
the age of 18 (in 1979) and 50
(in 2008) in order to interrogate the
interplay between history and
biography upon the decision to
enter higher education as a young
or mature student.
220 cohort members took part in an
interview at age 50. Of these, 79 have a
degree (43 gained ‘young’ and 36 gained
‘mature’). One of the questions they were
asked was ‘tell me your life story’. They were
not specifically asked about their education,
but most mention it.
How and in what ways do cohort members
talk, unprompted, about their education? Do
their narratives differ by age when gained
degree? What is the significance of higher
education in their lives and the way they tell
their stories? I will conduct thematic and
narrative analysis to explore these questions.
Finally I will draw upon the life-course
paradigm to connect these life stories with
the quantitative & contextual data.
Agency: People construct their own life-course
through their actions, reactions and choices.
Historical time and place: Decisions and
opportunities about education are influenced
by policy, context, and social norms and values.
Timing: The meaning and consequences of
transitions into and out of education depend
on when they occur in a person’s life.
Linked Lives: Decisions to enter education are
influenced by various people/networks. The
learner may also have an impact on others.
Exploring graduates’ educational careers through the lens of
the life-course paradigm: a mixed methods case study of the
1958 British Birth Cohort
Education Act 1944
Free secondary
education for all
1958
cohort
born
1981
cohort
age 23
1992
cohort
age 34
2000
cohort
age 42
2008
cohort
age 50
Allowing the five principles of the life-course to guide inquiry promotes the holistic understanding of lives over time (G.E.Elder et al, Chp1, p13 Handbook of the Lifecourse, 2003)
They provide the conceptual and analytical tools needed to employ the sociological imagination (Shanahan & Macmillan, Biography and the Sociological Imagination, 2008)
Lifespan development: Learning is lifelong, not
just a single stage in youth.
21% gained their degree
between age 24 and 33
(1982-1991)
(26% of men
15% of women)
52% of cohort members
with a degree gained it
by the time they were 23
(54% of men
50% of women)
17% between
age 34 and 42 (1992-2000)
(14% of men
19% of women)
11% between
43 and 50
(2001-2008)
(6% of men
16% of women)
What were the available opportunities
across the cohorts’ life-course that may
have influenced their decision to enter
higher education at different stages?
Annika Coughlin, Prof. Alison Fuller and Dr. Samantha Parsons
Department of Lifelong and Comparative Education and the Department of Quantitative Social Science
Institute of Education
a.coughlin.14@ucl.ac.uk
@annikacoughlin
20% of cohort members gained a degree by
age 50 [n=1,936 out of 9,790 participants in
the age 50 survey 2008].
l l
C. Wright Mills, The Sociological
Imagination, 1959
Norwood Report 1943
Selective tripartite school
system recommended
(11+ exam) Sex Discrimination Act 1975
First Access to HE courses 1970s
Public spending cuts and
privatisation of state run
industries
Raising of the School
Leaving Age (ROSLA) 1973
From 15 to 16 (cohort are the
first year group to stay on)
The Robbins Report 1963
University expansion
Open University sees first
degree ceremony 1973
Winter of discontent 1978
Miners’ strike 1984
Means tested maintenance
grants abolished 1998
(England and Wales)
Cohort leave school 1974
Only 4% are unemployed
Further and Higher Education Act
End of binary divide between universities
and polytechnics
The Teaching and HE Act 1998
Fees of up to £1000 introduced
(England and Wales)
Higher Education Act 2004
Fees of up to £3000 introduced
(England and Wales)
Leitch Review of skills 2006
More than 40% of adults should be
educated to Level 4+
Circular 10/65
LEAs requested to reorganise their
schools on comprehensive grounds
The Dearing Report 1997
Student loans introduced (full-time
students under age 50 only)
Maintenance grants
reintroduced in Wales
2002
Creation of polytechnics
1965
cohort
age 7
“University places should
be available to all who are
qualified by ability and
attainment to pursue them
and who wish to do so.”
1968
Cohort take
the
11+ exam
Heatwave 1976
White paper: Higher Education:
Meeting the Challenge
Access provison extended
1987
cohort
age 29
Recession
Recession
Recession
Recession
Neither the life of
an individual nor the
history of a society can
be understood without
understanding both.