Questions from the Front Row: Teacher Expectations and Mature Students in Tertiary Education

Abstract

The extent to which ageism affects mature students within the tertiary education environment is unclear. Whether the academic expectations of teaching staff are influenced by the age of students, and whether these expectations have an effect on subsequent academic outcomes, were the primary questions of this thesis. A mixed-methodology approach was adopted. In Study 1, 54 first-year teaching staff (i.e., lecturers and tutors) predicted, through vignettes of hypothetical students, that mature students--defined as those aged 25 years and older--would be more likely to follow directions when compared to their younger counterparts, and that female students in particular were more likely to be anxious, insecure learners. These different behavioural expectations did not translate to a difference in academic expectations, with teaching staff holding moderately high academic expectations at the class level. In Study 2, 976 students of the teaching staff involved in Study 1 made accurate predictions about how their teachers expected them to perform, with no significant effects observed in relation to student age or gender. Students also did not perceive any differential treatment from their teachers in the classroom based on their age.The expectations held by teaching staff did not significantly influence students' academic outcomes. However, expectations held by the students about themselves, as measured by predictions of their own final grade, did influence their subsequent academic outcomes. In Study 3, interviews with 10 staff members and 24 students (15 younger and nine mature students) revealed that mature students generally experienced a positive learning environment within the tertiary setting, bolstered by their younger peers and teaching staff. As such, the current thesis finds little evidence for a significant effect of ageist beliefs in tertiary education. The current thesis also contributes to the understanding of how staff class-level expectations are communicated and accurately perceived by tertiary students and highlights the importance of maximising awareness among staff of how students might perceive their expectations. Recommendations for how teaching staff might positively influence the expectations held by the students themselves are also made.