The pros and cons of returning to formal education later in life.
Francesca Gesualdi (she/her) // Contributor
Kit Vega (they/them) // Illustrator
There are three pivotal moments that led me to writing this piece.
The first happened as I was leaving Environmental Ethics 310 for the last time. Having just handed in a decent final exam, I was heading for the door when the teacher pulled me slightly to the side and smiled a little nostalgically. “It’s been a pleasure having you in my class,” he said, as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the remaining exam takers. I felt myself blushing inside with a warm fuzzy feeling of pride and purpose.
To be honest, I was sure I’d been a nuisance in his class, always an opinion to share, not always on time. The validation landed with good timing, as I was beginning to wonder what the heck I was doing here at my age. Besides, I’ve already got ethics when it comes to the environment. Shouldn’t I be at the senior’s centre doing chair yoga or playing bridge?
The second time was by email. I had nominated a former teacher for the Teaching Excellence Award and thought I should let her know. She’s a busy, hardworking professional, and I did not hear back for weeks. But, when she did respond, she said my note turned a bad day into a warm smile. Then, she said that people like me make teaching a gift. Pride and purpose to the power of infinity.
Moment number three. Fall of 2024, we are making signage for the plants, weeding and mulching at the Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation food garden at their Kamloops-Hastings St. location as part of our coursework. One of the students I haven’t really noticed before approaches me. I sense he is having some anxieties about the scene before him. He is 40 years younger than me, of a different culture, different sex and different skin color. He says to me, “Can we be friends? Can I send you a WhatsApp invite?” We have completed a successful class presentation together and are working on a second.
This third time though, instead of a blush of pride and purpose, there was the dawning of a realization. My age, the fact that I am in a completely different stage of life than my young friend, that I have a different set of expectations about being here, a more expansive mindset tuned by life experience, gave me a kind of competitive edge; a special value to contribute, an unexpected purpose.
Up until now, I had only seen the disadvantages, the obstacles and challenges of being a student of semi-retirement age, a mature student, returning to university. Since I was also enrolled in a research class, I suddenly got excited. Here was a topic I could conduct a study on, design research surveys, interview subjects and collect data. What fun.
Wait a minute. A simple search on some online databases revealed that some smart folks up in Dublin have already done all this interesting, time-consuming research work for me, so I can smoothly move into the implementation phase.
Research by educators at the Dublin City University resulted in the formation of the Age-Friendly University Global Network in 2012, which accredits universities that adopt their 10 age-friendly (AFU) principles. I will be discussing these 10 principles at Capilano University’s own Symposium for Teaching & Learning Excellence in April.
An article in the industry publication University World News states that, “Cultural transformation in higher education institutions is required for universities to become more flexible and thereby accommodate older people and later-life learning.” Input from older members of communities is important in addressing questions around the role of universities in contemporary society as well as access to higher-level knowledge.
From this, “the possibilities for mutual learning, dynamic development and innovative outcomes are considerable and the contribution to the community at large is immense,” says the same paper.
The organizations and institutions that have applied themselves to valuable research in the field are impressive:
- Social Capital and Learning Regions International Observatory (Africa Hub) (PASCAL) under the auspices of the Centre for Local Economic Development, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Centre for Lifelong Learning (CLL) at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland in the United Kingdom, Dublin City University, Ireland, Arizona State University, United States.
Further research published in The Conversation, an online non-profit, academic journal that makes itself available to the public without a paywall, identifies three types of barriers facing Zoomer students: situational, institutional and positional. There are even studies that researched biases and stereotypes, such as gender-ageism faced by older students.
Here in B.C., three universities—University of Fraser Valley, University of British Columbia Okanagan and Kwantlen Polytechnic University—are leading the way and have acquired the AFU designation and are working on applying the 10 principles that are the cornerstone of the designation. My brief overview of the programs currently in effect under that banner at these three universities reveals well-meaning efforts. However, there is much room for improvement, as these programs as they are now reinforce some stereotypes and treat me as if I am still at the senior’s centre doing chair yoga, being visited by some nice university students, and not as an active student in the same classes as the rest of the school.
I believe that CapU is best positioned to take a leadership role in building an age-friendly campus that not only adopts the 10 principles, but elevates them. This is a transitional time for universities. Enrollment in the typical age group, 18–25 year olds, is significantly down. International students, once a source of important revenue, are now subject to a government-established limit. Hence, my workshop with the Centre For Teaching Excellence Symposium on Teaching and Learning on April 3, 2025 and May 1, 2025.
Hope to see you there.
