Abstract
It has become commonplace to assert that widening access, rather than just increasing the numbers entering higher education, is essential if the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor is to be reduced. Graduation is seen to confer a number of advantages because, in addition to increasing an individual’s earning capacity, it is regarded as enabling individuals and societies to compete more effectively in global markets (Dearing, 1997). In other words, widening access to higher education has become synonymous with strategies to solve social exclusion and reduce economic, political, social and cultural inequalities. But what has this meant for different groups of adult learners? What has been their experience of higher education? Many research studies have identified the positive and transformative aspects of returning to education for mature students and there has been an assumption that gaining a higher education qualification increases adults’ employment and other life-chances. But relatively few studies have examined these new learners’ changing identities, experiences and opportunities in relation to gender and class.
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© 2004 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Webb, S. (2004). Gender, Identity and Social Change: Understanding Adults’ Learner Careers. In: Ali, S., Benjamin, S., Mauthner, M. (eds) The Politics of Gender and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230005532_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230005532_9
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