Abstract This paper discusses how mature Access to Higher Education (AHE) students worked hard to gain access to Higher Education (HE) because they wished to pursue careers that required this level of education. They wanted to transform themselves as learners to achieve their aspirations despite the hurdles that many faced, such as maintaining families, continuing with semi-skilled employment and low level prior educational qualifications. Their engagement with AHE courses led students to change their views of themselves as they tried to make sense of their experiences and interactions with others on AHE courses. Despite their enthusiasm for AHE courses, many students had considerable anxiety about joining them because of their prior experiences of learning and lack of sympathetic support from employers and government provided job finding services. The paper is based on a study carried out with AHE students and their tutors in seven Further Education (FE) colleges in a region of England. It found why students became more confident and competent as learners, how this development affected their views of themselves and how many achieved success through their assertions of agency and support from their tutors and fellow students as well as their families.

中文翻译：

---

努力成为成功的学习者：成熟的学生接受高等教育课程的早期经验

摘要本文讨论了成熟的接受高等教育的学生如何努力获得接受高等教育的机会，因为他们希望从事需要这一水平教育的职业。他们希望自己成为学习者，以实现自己的愿望，尽管许多人面临障碍，例如维持家庭，继续从事半熟练的工作和低水平的学历。他们对AHE课程的参与使学生在尝试理解自己在AHE课程上的经历和与他人的互动时改变了对自己的看法。尽管他们热衷于AHE课程，但许多学生仍对加入这些课程感到焦虑，因为他们以前的学习经验以及雇主和政府提供的找工作服务缺乏同情心。该论文基于对AHE学生及其导师在英格兰地区的7所继续教育学院进行的研究。它发现了为什么学生变得更加自信和胜任学习，这种发展如何影响他们对自己的看法，以及有多少人通过他们对老师和同学以及他们的家人的代理和支持的主张取得了成功。