Exploring the dual roles of mother and student teacher

This research explored how a group of mature women students with dependent children made the decision to become primary school teachers and how this impacted on their dual role as mothers and tertiary students.The key issues found to impact on them were influenced by gender, motivation and the practicalities of being both a mother and a student. These women s traditional gendered roles and their motivations, explored through a feminist perspective, were outlined through their experiences as they struggled to juggle their domestic roles, work and their studies.The practical implications impacting on them as they studied were those of their children s feelings, childcare, support systems, money woes and time poverty. They recommended that the College could improve its practices in some areas such as providing a child-friendly space for their children to come to, a bigger and more easily accessible child-care centre, some kind of after-school care programme, a more formalised support system for students who are parents, and a more consistent and empathetic approach from lecturers in terms of the student s child-care issues.