ERIC Number: EJ973637
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Dec
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1443-1394
EISSN: N/A
Launching a Career or Reflecting on Life? Reasons, Issues and Outcomes for Candidates Undertaking PhD Studies Mid-Career or after Retirement Compared to the Traditional Early Career Pathway
Stehlik, Tom
Australian Journal of Adult Learning, v51 spec iss p150-169 Dec 2011
The Commonwealth government provides fee exemption for any Australian who undertakes a PhD. This policy is presumably based on the "clever country" assumption that an educated population will develop and contribute to social and economic capital. Enrolment numbers therefore continue to increase, and a PhD is no longer an elite qualification. In addition, the characteristics and demographics of PhD students are changing. In the School of Education, University of South Australia, a significant number of PhD students are not early career researchers or recent honours graduates, but mid-to-late-career education practitioners and retirees, and the majority are women. These mature-age and third-age candidates are undertaking doctoral research not to launch their career, but in most cases to reflect on it, with many experiencing transformative learning in the process. In this paper I will explore why people undertake a PhD later in life, what the learning process is like for them, what the outcomes are, and the benefits to society. (Contains 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Doctoral Programs, Federal Aid, Graduate Students, Nontraditional Students, Maturity (Individuals), Student Motivation, Student Characteristics, Human Capital, Productivity, Capacity Building, Reflection, Career Education, Transformative Learning, Outcomes of Education, Career Development, Praxis, Role of Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Adult Education; Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A