Research On The Life Course Of Non-traditional Students’ Participation In Higher Recurrent Education

Since the word "recurrent education" was put forward in 1968,the research on recurrent education at home and abroad is in the ascendant.Taiwan of China has established a complete recurrent education system.Among them,the development of higher recurrent education is an important direction to promote return education,which can promote more adults to return to the formal higher education system,so as to realize the rotation of adult learning,work,leisure and retirement.At the same time,due to the diversity of age,identity and role of non-traditional students,their participation in higher education at different stages of life has become an important node in their lives.To this end,this study takes the non-traditional students who participate in higher recurrent education as the research object,through the perspective of life course analysis,comprehensive use of in-depth interviews,narrative analysis and other research methods,aims to explore the motivation,timing and impact of different generations of non-traditional students to participate in higher recurrent education.The main findings of this study are as follows:Ⅰ.The motivation of non-traditional students’ participation in higher education is mainly influenced by many aspects of life experience,including the influence from school,family and work experience.First of all,the precipitation of school experience promotes their learning for "further education";second,the accumulation of work experience promotes their learning for "promotion";finally,the rich family experience promotes their learning for adapting to a variety of "roles".Ⅱ.The opportunity for non-traditional students to participate in higher education mainly lies in the dimension of career development.On the one hand,it is the "need" of career development and a "substitute" way after retirement.On the other hand,it is the dimension of individual life awareness,including the "bondage" of marriage,the "end of stage" of life topic and self awakening.Ⅲ.The impact of non-traditional students’ participation in higher education on their life course is mainly to find the "exit of life" in different life stages.For example,they can embrace more possibilities at the age of 25-29,find multiple roles at the age of 30-49,and start slash life after the age of 50.Based on the above findings,this study makes a comprehensive analysis and discussion on the learning differences between non-traditional students and traditional students,the impact of initial education results on their participation in continuing education,and the opportunity and impact of women’s participation in higher return education,in order to provide reference for non-traditional students and related institutions participating in higher education.