Mothers in enabling: Overcoming challenges to become better role models and an inspiration to their families

This paper explores the impact of study on mothers engaged in pre-university enabling studies. The research project it describes involved 284 female participants aged between 18 and 64 years who identified as mothers during their enrolment in an enabling course at a regional university in Australia between 2012 and 2017. The focus was on mothers engaged in coursework who were enrolled either internally or online and included those enrolled both part-time and full-time. Data was collected via a survey and analysed using thematic analysis. This research discovered that mothers engaging in enabling studies are wanting a better future for themselves and their families; however, they face many challenges that impact upon their studies that traditional students likely do not have to contend with. Balancing family, study and work obligations, along with limited academic skills were some of the main challenges faced by these students. Similarly, their main competing commitments also included children, work and family. Additional themes to emerge include ‘impact on families’ alongside ‘strategies’ that mothers employed to overcome the challenges. Students also identified how their study experience was transformational and shared examples of how these changes and impacts on family were both positive and negative and, for some, had far reaching consequences.