Students with dependent children - Their journey through a primary teacher training program and the impact on their families

This paper investigates a group of students with dependent children enrolled at the Christchurch College of Education in the Primary Teaching degree. It uses a life history methodology to discover the unique individual story of how each student became enrolled in this prescribed, authentic lifelong learning journey to become a Primary School teacher. It discusses what they perceive to be the implications for their children, their wider families, their personal relationships and their financial status. It highlights the importance of their partnerships with the people who help to care for their children, their experiences of flexibility and choices within the College with empathy for their family commitments and the pedagogies of adult education that have made this journey often more positive than their own personal schooling experiences. The significance of this research is that it demonstrates the necessary partners and pathways needed to make this learning journey successful for those adult students with dependent children. As a lifelong learning institution, it gives the College an awareness of the sacrifices these students have to make on both a personal and professional level, to complete tertiary study successfully, as well as investigating the factors that impact on this increasing number of students as they deal with daily family commitments while trying to maintain their studies