The Promise of ‘Lifelong Learning' and the Canadian Census: The Marginalization of Mature Students' Information Behaviours

Abstract

This paper first examines the rising popularity of 'lifelong learning', its effect on government and university initiatives, and the implications of these initiatives for mature students' academic information behaviours. The paper then presents the findings of one part of a two-phase study, which involved both the manipulation of Canadian Census data and a series of in-depth, qualitative interviews with mature students. In examining the results of the first phase of the study, this paper reports: 1) the national demographic portrait of mature students that is captured by the Census; 2) the limitations of the Census questionnaire for tracking demographic data for mature students; 3) the results from a series of logistic regression tests which used the Census data to explore the social stereotypes of the 'mature student'; 4) a discursive critique of Census-based Statistics Canada documents with implications for the promotion of 'lifelong learning'; and 5) the implications of the marginalization of mature students' experiences in Statistics Canada documents on these students' academic information behaviours.