Difficultés rencontrées par les étudiants adultes au collégial
Abstract
This article explores the importance of various challenges in the post-secondary experience of adult CEGEP students, and how these difficulties change over the course of their academic career. Although there are positive factors (high motivation, significant investment of time, clear choice of studies) among adult students relating to perseverance and success in post-secondary studies, their graduation rate is considerably lower than that of younger students. It seems that the educational pathways of adult students is strewn with various obstacles that are often ignored by school administrators and deserve to be explored in greater depth. Drawing on data from a longitudinal survey (2020-2023) of a sample of 1,015 students aged 24 and over, this article presents an analysis of the situational, dispositional, and institutional difficulties encountered by these students. Analyses are carried out taking into account three characteristics of adult students: gender, parenthood and paid work. The results show that situational difficulties are the most frequently identified, with some gaining in importance as the semester progresses, followed by dispositional difficulties, which, for their part, see their importance decrease as the student progresses through school, then, finally, by institutional difficulties. Two profiles of adult students identify more difficulties, particularly situational ones: women and student parents. Further research is needed to better understand how these difficulties influence adult students' decisions to drop out of school.
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2023-11-21
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