Becoming A More Critical, Autonomous, Reflective Learner

PRILHE Project - Lecturer’s Toolkit
students learn so much from lectures. But if they get inspired and interested, he is satisfied as it is an important point of the
learning process. Learning occurs best when students are involved in tasks like projects. Then they have to work by themselves
with issues that promote reflection. He continues with a self-reflective analysis, why he has not taken the full consequences of this
adjustment that learning is the most important thing to promote, and, for example, why he hasn’t taken away traditional exams and
replaced them with innovative assessment approaches. His self-reflective conclusion is that he does not yet dare to challenge the
culture at the department as he is working in a department where the dominant position is to hold on to measurable values (in high
esteem) and where traditional exams are in accordance with those values.
Another reason might be the number of students. When there are big groups of students it might be more difficult to develop new
methods and it is more effective to give traditional lectures where students do not ask any questions and where the teacher can
deliver what he/she is expected to do in a well-tried way. Economic reasons might be one reason behind this argument as they
might become an excuse for not reflecting upon and being self-reflexive about teaching practice.
2.4.2 Differences related to age
There is a long tradition in Sweden of integrating different types of student in the same group. In most disciplines teachers no
longer expect students to be 19 when they start their higher education study. Heterogeneous groups have been the norm in all
universities for more than 30 years and one question that was raised by the teachers was therefore: “are non-traditional students
different from younger students when it comes to reflective autonomous learning” Younger students often seem to be more
insecure and less experienced than older students, which is one aspect that affects the learning situation. Often, older students
have developed autonomy and self-esteem in their working life and through life-experiences. Older students dare to ask questions,
they take more initiatives, are more goal-oriented and ambitious, often they know why and for what they are studying. Students
who have been working for some years are also more capable of separating small things from larger things, important things from
lesser important and so on. The question of social class and cultural capital are important issues here. Older students from working
class backgrounds often have less self-esteem in the academic culture and feel like strangers there at the beginning of their HE
studies. But from the students’ stories, we know that this is something that usually changes in the first year. We also know from
Swedish students’ stories that younger students may feel inferior compared to older students because they lack experiences and
the ability to express themselves in the same way as older students do. Teachers, on the other hand, might be of the same age or
even younger than the non-traditional students which may cause another kind of relationship between students and teachers. They
might share generational experiences and understandings of e.g. technology, community spirit, music, architecture, art and other
time time-bound phenomena. This might create a community where younger students feel like outsiders if they are in a minority.
Whether older students are in minority or in a majority seems to be an important aspect. In technical or scientific subjects, for
example, non-traditional students are less prevalent compared to social sciences. And when they are in minority they also feel like
outsiders.
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Becoming A More Critical, Autonomous, Reflective Learner