Veterans who leave military service often struggle with PTSD and alienation when they transition into education, which impacts participation with teachers and peers, and results in dropout. International studies highlight that 88% of student veterans drop out during the first year of college, and 46% think about suicide, a situation that research relates to a conflict between habituated military practices and civilian norms. Here, numbers are seen to increase significantly for veterans with short military service time. Danish veterans serve the shortest of all NATO countries down to 17 months, which makes them a particularly interesting target for research on transformative learning in relation to habituated military practices. While the transformation of military practices is a key issue in veteran research, current approaches focus on the acculturation of veterans to civilian norms, which disregards veterans’ agency. This project employs transformative learning theory to illustrate the processes and outcomes of veterans transitioning into education. The analytical focus of the project is on the transformation of veteran orientations, defined as implicit meaning structures that guide habituated practice and provide the limits within which a person processes their problems, which shapes how veterans experience and participate in education.
Objective
The project analyses veteran narratives in the transition from military service to education, with a dual focus on patterns in veteran orientations in education, and the transformative learning in which these orientations change. Based on this analysis, the project provides an account of veterans’ challenges in the transition into education and provides support strategies for veteran support professionals and student support units. This objective is approached through two Research Questions:
What orientations of student veterans can be identified in focus groups on the transition from military service to education?
We employ focus groups because they convey collective tacit knowledge that orients veterans’ practice, which allows the reconstruction of common types of orientations in transition. Focus group analysis enables us to illustrate typical veteran challenges, tacit orientations in which these challenges are addressed, and the constraints these orientations have for the agency of veterans.
What transformative learning processes are documented in narrative interviews with student veterans, and which contextual factors consolidated new orientations that lead to a reframing of educational challenges?
Narrative interviews provide veterans with the opportunity to detail experiences and formative moments in education. Narrations thus convey the process in which veterans explore novel practices in education, how these practices are met by teachers and peers, and how this stimulated and consolidated new orientations. Analysis of narratives enables us to reconstruct transformative learning processes and contextual factors in which veterans developed new orientations.
The project delivers a conceptualization of veteran transitions as transformative learning processes, including a comparative analysis of processes and outcomes of transition into education. Additionally, we present strategies for veteran support professionals and student support units to guide veterans in these processes.
VET>EDU is supported by an international advisory board that contributes to the project with a wide range of project-relevant competencies. Our advisory board members are:
