This article explores the role a writing group played in influencing the scholarly identities of a group of doctoral students by fostering their writing expertise. While the interest in writing groups usually centres on their potential to support doctoral students to publish, few studies have been conducted and written by the students themselves.…

This paper argues for the significance of Axel Honneth's theory of recognition for understanding recognition of prior learning (RPL). Case studies of the experiences of RPL by paraprofessional workers in health and social care in the UK and Sweden are used to explicate this significance. The results maintain that there are varying conditions…

This article critically examines the career development of a number of male adult returners to further education and explores the factors that influenced their career decision-making. It also explores the specific reasons why these men returned to education and in so doing connects with the work of Scanlon. The paper argues that men's decision to…

Workplace learning research has taken what could be termed a turn to the subjective. This brings the person and agency of workers to the centre of work learning theory. Within sociocultural perspectives that emphasise participative practice as the basis of vocational learning, a key concept that emerges from this subject centred approach is…

Academic practice is a variable activity with distinct disciplinary differences. In practice-based subject areas there is the added complication of being employed within the academy because of expertise in a professional practice outside the academy. This may appear to be an overtly straightforward relationship based on expertise, but for many…

Little research and practice has focused specifically on Stage 2 of the doctoral student experience--the critical transition from "dependence to independence". In the United States, a student completes coursework, passes candidacy exams, and begins the dissertation proposal process during Stage 2. Given the distinct experiences associated with…

Research has highlighted the challenges that women face as mature-age students in higher education. The challenges are particularly acute when a woman is the first in her family to go to university. Many women begin their journey as students with considerable self-doubt and lack of confidence. They may also face an ongoing struggle to find a way…

When PhD students complain it is assumed there are problems and that troubles talk is evidence of a "sick" research candidature or culture. This paper argues that such a one-dimensional reading fails to attend closely to the academic identity work that is done when students talk together. Identity work has become a useful way of thinking about the…

When adult students write their life story, they gather selected life experiences and transform these onto the written page. In the course of this literary process they revisit sites of the past and reflect on the meaning of past events; many reconstruct these events from the point of view of the present, and most close their narrative by…

The relations among learning, work and subjectivity are discussed here to offer explanations about how individuals direct their learning throughout their working lives. These explanations are salient for informing policy and practice about learning for, through and throughout working life. The prospects for realising the kinds of goals that…

This paper discusses the ways in which employers view the contribution of work-based learning, how participating learners' experience the provision offered to them and how far work-based programmes can contribute to changing the discourse about learning from one of deficit to one of strengths. It draws on two complementary studies of work based…

How do doctoral students develop their identities as academics? In this analysis, we explore identity from the perspective of agency--humans as active agents. The analysis was based on the collective data from three earlier studies in different contexts. Embedded in the data were expressions of agency linked to affect--both positive and…

This paper examines how identity and learning are constituted and transformed at work. Its central concern is how individuals engage agentically in and learn through workplace practices, and in ways that transform work. Drawing upon recent research into work and participation in workplaces, the negotiated and contested relationship between…

Interviews with 8 adults aged 56-89 explored their learning experiences while traveling. Themes included learning about one's own character; learning to trust; acquiring knowledge of culture, humanity, and geography; and rediscovering home from a new perspective. (Contains 49 references.) (SK)

Interviews with 18 adults who identified negative outcomes from life experience learning showed that, if experience challenges self-definition, growth-inhibiting responses develop. When the threat to self is reduced, growth may result from negative experiences. (SK)