ESREA Access, Learning Careers and Identities Conference

Research on adult education and transitions is an emerging but an increasingly popular area of research, particularly in the field of higher education, (Field et al, 2009) as it reflects the nature of life in late modernity. A person’s lifecourse is less linear now and instead may be subject to changes, often external such as losing a job or more personal ones such as a divorce. At times of change some people may look to returning to learn and adult education as a means of transforming their life in a different and "better" direction. Learning and adult education may be perceived by the learner as an opportunity for self-development, changing identity and transformation as well as gaining educational, social and economic benefits. For some adults transitions in learning may not always be positive as they struggle to cope with their learning or with external and/or personal constraints. Transitions may, instead of a taking a person forward, move them backwards or back to where they were before they started learning as they find it impossible to "keep on going on".