ERIC Number: EJ1263822
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0260-1370
EISSN: N/A
'Non-Traditional' and 'Traditional' Students at a Regional Finnish University: Demanding Customers and School Pupils in Need of Support
Siivonen, Päivi; Filander, Karin
International Journal of Lifelong Education, v39 n3 p247-262 2020
This article explores university students' constructions of the ideal student at present-day university, that emphasises student-as-consumer culture and employability rather than education as a virtue in itself. The research is based on thematic narrative accounts (n = 67) generated in a generalist field in one regional Finnish university. We apply a narrative-discursive approach to analyse how 'traditional' young students (n = 34) and 'non-traditional' mature students (n = 33) position themselves in relation to the ideal good student in a present-day university and in relation to their university studies. Moreover, we examine some of the consequences of such positionings for the students themselves. Our analysis indicates that the present-day university student is constructed in line with the ideal student of the neoliberal order and student-as-consumer culture. However, whereas mature students positioned themselves as customers and were comfortable with the demands of today's university for self-directedness and self-responsibility, younger students positioned themselves as 'school pupils' and were critical about being left on their own without adequate support. The study suggests that the terms 'traditional' and 'non-traditional' make differences related to age and different kinds of student positionings visible and, thus, also possible to reconstruct the ideals and normalities of the present-day neoliberal university.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, College Students, Nontraditional Students, Adult Students, Age Differences, Student Attitudes, Student Needs, Neoliberalism, Employment Qualifications, Student Experience, Student Characteristics, Student Responsibility, Freedom, Distance Education, Study Habits
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Finland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A