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Item Inviting study in : the engagement of mature-aged distance students in the transition to university : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2014) Kahu, Eleanor RuthMature-aged distance students, who often combine study with complex lives, make up a sixth of New Zealand university students. A high first year attrition rate in this population highlights the need to better understand their transition to university. Past research has tended to take a narrow view of their experiences, identifying specific strengths and challenges. This thesis uses the meta-construct of student engagement, the students’ emotional, behavioural, and cognitive connection to their study, to enable a more holistic understanding. Three research tools were used: an exploratory study analysing existing survey data; the theoretical re-conceptualisation of the key construct, student engagement; and a prospective qualitative study following students during their first semester. Study 1, the survey, established that mature-aged distance students, while highly satisfied, reported different patterns of engagement to traditional students. However, as the survey takes a limited view of engagement, the next stage of the project was the development of a conceptual framework that clarifies the nature of engagement and clearly distinguishes between engagement, its antecedents, and its consequences. The framework is the theoretical foundation for Study 2, which used family interviews and video diaries to follow 19 mature-aged distance students and their families through their first semester at university. Findings illustrate the individual and varied nature of student engagement, explore the importance of space and time as key influences on the students’ transition to university, and theorise the links between academic emotions and student engagement. Overall, the thesis highlights three overarching features of student engagement. Firstly, engagement is multifaceted with the three dimensions interacting and influencing each other. Secondly, it is contextual, influenced by university and student psychosocial and structural characteristics. Finally, engagement is dynamic, fluctuating throughout the transition to university as the impact of various contextual factors strengthens and diminishes. Central to all three features are the students’ emotional experiences. This thesis makes valuable contributions to both theoretical and practical knowledge of higher education. In particular, the conceptual framework and theorising of the links between emotion and engagement provide valuable insights that will guide future research with this and other student populations. In addition, the findings regarding the particular challenges of the transition period and the critical role of emotions for mature-aged distance students give rise to suggestions as to how these students can be better prepared for, and better supported in, their distance learning.Item Family and paid work : a critical discourse analysis of government policy and mothers' talk : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University. School of Psychology, 2006) Kahu, Eleanor RuthThis study, developed within a feminist social constructionist framework, examines the discourses which construct women's roles as mother and worker. It argues that government policy influences women's lives, not just materially through legislation, but ideologically through the promotion of certain discourses, which enable and constrain women's choices. In order to explore the interface between policy and experience, critical discourse analysis was used to examine two texts: the Action Plan for New Zealand Women (Ministry of Women's Affairs, 2004a), a government policy document, and the talk of two groups of first time mothers. This methodology focuses on the power of language to constitute reality and examines which institutions and ideologies are supported by discursive constructions.Although freedom to choose a life path is part of the policy's vision for New Zealand women, paid work is consistently privileged over caring roles. Motherhood is all but invisible and is constructed as an inevitable and undesirable demand, while paid work is constructed as essential to individual well-being and a duty of citizenship. An economic rationalist discourse positions women as workers first and foremost with a responsibility to financially provide for themselves and their children. Despite drawing on feminist discourses to warrant its vision, the policy is driven by capitalist goals of increased productivity and economic growth rather than the needs of women.The women deployed an intensive mother discourse which privileged their maternal role and positioned babies as needing parental care, and mothers as the natural providers of that care. However, they also felt the pressure of the successful woman and economic rationalist discourses in which paid work is essential and motherhood is devalued. The tension between these discourses manifested as guilt and conflict, managed in part through the emergence of newer constructions of independent mother and child. In making their decision about re-entering the paid workforce, in most instances the traditional paternal role as primary breadwinner was unchallenged, while the maternal role was expanded to incorporate not just primary caregiver, but also worker. The thesis finishes by considering the social consequences of these discursive constructions and argues that current discourses do not serve women, children, or men well. What is needed is a more complete breakdown of the public/private divide: a society which values care and work, both as responsibilities and rewards of citizenship, and which will therefore allow both women and men to construct more balanced lives and identities.