Mature Women and Higher Education: Reconstructing Identity and Family Relationships

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of HE participation on identity change for mature women students and their families. It reports on an aspect of my doctorate research with a small group of Early Years Foundation degree mature students and their husbands 1 focusing on identity change for the women, effects on long term relationships and consequential effects on families. The main findings demonstrated that HE changed the women’s identity, as their early years knowledge base increased, their confidence grew and they became more analytical and reflective. This had consequential effects on the family for 2 reasons: 1. The woman’s changing identity and early years knowledge acquisition affected her parenting – this enhanced the child/children’s all round development (including education). 2. Role changes in the family, due to the mother’s study taking up a large proportion of her time, meant that most of the husbands took on a more active role with childcare and household tasks – this enhanced their relationships with their children.