A Systematic Review on the Learning of Middle-Aged Women in Korea: From the Multi-Stage Life Perspective

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the Korean studies on the learning experiences of middle-aged women from the multi-stage life approach. The women in selected 66 studies feature different experiences and educational needs of the women who are different from those of the previous generation. Through systematic review as a research method, general trends of the studies, the learning characteristics of the learners, the challenges and obstacles in learning and the suggestions addressed by the researchers of these studies were explored. As a result of the analysis, three key problems of the studies were derived. First, the transformative learning theory as a major theoretical perspective chosen in many studies tends to be problematic to be a explanatory lens of understanding middle-aged women as learners due to possible bias in the participant selection. Second, the learning experiences of the women are generally reported as ‘delayed experiences’ which may obscure the existence of previous learning experiences. Third, challenges and obstacles experienced in the learning process were mainly reported in the field of formal education, but the solutions suggested by the researchers are largely limited to individual efforts. Based on these critiques, suggestions were presented to build a robust lifelong education environment for middle-aged adults including these women.