Experiencing term-time employment as a non-traditional aged university student: a Welsh study

View/ open
Author
Mercer, Jenny
Clay, James
Etheridge, Leanne
Date
2016-08-05Acceptance date
2016-01-28
Type
Article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Online
ISSN
1359-6748
1747-5112
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Engaging in term-time employment appears to be becoming a common feature of contemporary UK student life. This study examined the ways in which a cohort of full-time non-traditional aged students negotiated paid employment whilst pursuing a full-time higher education course in Wales. Taking a qualitative approach to explore this further, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 non-traditional age students, and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that participants felt compromises had to be made in both academic and social spheres in order to accommodate conflicting time demands; there was a desire to maintain the quality of life experienced before entering university; and the impact of working and studying presented challenges for both their academic engagement and personal relationships. These findings will be discussed in relation to the extant literature, and debate around how higher educational institutions may seek to address and acknowledge these issues is considered.
Journal/conference proceeding
Research in Post-Compulsory Education;
Citation
Mercer, J., Clay, J. and Etheridge, L. (2016) 'Experiencing term-time employment as a non-traditional aged university student: a Welsh study', Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 21(3), pp.181-195
Description
This article was published in Research in Post-Compulsory Education on 5 August 2016 (online), available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13596748.2016.1195168
Sponsorship
Cardiff Metropolitan University (Grant ID: Cardiff Metropolian (Internal))
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, subject and abstract.
-
Difficulties encountered by Arab Muslim international students in Higher Education in the UK: a case study of a Welsh university
El-Husseiny, Rania (2012)The UK is a popular destination for international students, a considerable number of whom are Arab Muslims. This case study was undertaken in an attempt to identify difficulties encountered by this student population in ... -
A Study of Free School Meal (FSM) and Non Free School Meal (NFSM) Students Perceptions’ of Learning Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and the extent to which these perceptions can be influenced by a Family Learning Intervention.
Mein, Tracey (2014)Research shows that FSM students do not achieve as well as their NFSM peers. FSM students can face different types of barriers to their learning. These include material barriers such as a lack of resources, social barriers ... -
Examining the Implementation of an Emotional Literacy Programme on the Pedagogy and Reflective Practice of Trainee Teacher
Davis, Susan (2012)This study investigated trainee teachers’ delivery of a targeted programme entitled ‘Special Me Time’ (SMT) whilst on teaching placements in Foundation Phase settings in South Wales, over a training year. As reflective ...