The study on which this paper is based investigated the perspectives of non-traditional adult learners on their past and present experiences of learning, the transformation of their views of themselves as learners during their Access to higher education (AHE) courses and the impact on their learning of their socio-economic and policy contexts. This is a field in which there is relatively limited research at present although there is a growing corpus of research on non-traditional students once they enter higher education (HE).

AHE courses in England and Wales are a one-year diploma qualification for entry to HE that are constructed specifically for mature non-traditional learners who are 19 years and older and who have previously been unable to enter HE for various reasons. They offer education in generic learning skills and subject knowledge in a wide range of areas such as nursing and midwifery, social science, arts and humanities and science and technology, providing an opportunity for those who want to participate in HE. The diploma is awarded by award validating agencies (AVAs) for vocational education which are regulated by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), an agency of central government in Britain. About 40,000 students join these courses each year of whom about 50% are successful in gaining access to higher education (QAA, 2013).

AHE courses are normally provided in further education (FE) colleges in England and Wales. These institutions are neither part of the compulsory schooling sector nor that of HE. These colleges mainly provide vocational education and ‘opportunities for lifelong learning’ (Jephcote et al., 2008: 164) although some also host specific HE courses. Historically they have tended to create collaborative cultures that acknowledge the experiences of mature learners (Warmington, 2002) which are particularly important for students from socially marginalised backgrounds (Dillon, 2010).

AHE courses are part of a British government strategy for widening participation in higher education. This strategy is linked in part to social justice and equality of opportunity and in part to strengthening economic prosperity nationally and for individuals (Burke, 2007). British policy, in line with the EU Lisbon Treaty and 2020 strategies, recognises that it is important for those who have the relevant abilities, including those from under-represented socio-economic groups gain entry to higher education to develop their skills and knowledge to build national economic development and personal careers.

An important way in which people can (re)present themselves in different situations, such as being an AHE student, is visually as well as through talking and acting. Thomson (2008) encouraged school children to draw and label pictures of themselves at school to help explain how they experienced being in that social situation.  Photographs (Busher et al., 2009) and concept maps are other means by which research participants can show their views of themselves in particular situations. Concept maps or Mind maps (Brinkmann, 2005) are part of a broader range of visual methods for collecting qualitative data (Prosser, 2006; Thomson, 2008) that allow people to (re)present themselves and interrogate their relationships with various social situations (Bagnoli, 2009). Visual data collected by whatever media can stand on its as well as be used to facilitate qualitative interviews or to provide a focus for such interviews (Croghan et al., 2008). However, the intended meanings of visual social artefacts may be only clearly revealed through conversations with the authors (Busher et al., 2009). Concept maps can also be used to help people express their understandings of particular knowledge structures whether to teach them (Brinkmann, 2005) or to record students’ learning of them (Borthwick, 2011).

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