Critical Analysis of “Age is no barrier: predictors of academic success in older learners.”
Introduction
Recent statistics indicate that more and more middle adults are enrolling themselves in college. In 2009, older adults, 35 years of age and above, accounted for 17% of students in college, with the number expected to increase by up to 19% by 2020 (Lally& Valentine-French., 2019). However, there is little research on academic performance indicators of middle adults. A lot of research is focused on determining the predictors of academic performance on young adults and adolescents. Older adults are engaging in tertiary education for different reasons such to advance or change course in their career or even to pursue their interests. With a limited study on performance indicators of older adults pursuing education, this study seeks to analyze whether age plays an important role in the same. This analysis is achieved through criticizing Imlach et al. (2017) article on Age is no barrier: predictors of academic success in older learners.
Age as an Academic Performance Indicator
With the increase of older adults in universities, age is a point of interest as many tend to associate aging with the lesser ability to learn. Throughout the years, doubt has been cast on whether pursuing education at an advanced age is beneficial and sometimes considered a waste of time as they may not excel in their academics in the first place. Contrary to such beliefs, research conducted by the author indicate that advancement in age does not necessarily reflect on academic performance and other factors come to play instead. These factors that determine academic performance instead include but are not limited to lifetime experience, psychosocial function, genetic characteristics, and cognitive functions. The study also indicates that some of the performance indicators key in determining academic performance in younger individuals may defer for older individuals. As a result, using the same performance indicators to determine academic performance on young individuals and the middle-aged adults may not be as effective.
Other Academic Performance Indicators
Cognitive performances, such as episodic and working memory, were shown to have a much more positive impact on older individuals. Academic performance has, over the years, been strongly associated with the cognitive ability of learners. This means that regardless of age, the cognitive ability of the individual plays a crucial role in determining their academic performance. On the other side, factors such as IQ and psychosocial factors, which would have a strong impact on the academic performance of young learners, would have little effect on older learners. The author insists that their cognitive abilities would instead give a more predictive insight into the academic performance of middle-aged individuals. These cognitive abilities, such as language processing and episodic memory, greatly assist in one’s ability to learn and absorb information in their studies.
Furthermore, the history of education for an older individual was found to have little impact on their performance in college compared to their cognitive abilities. Therefore, individuals with less education history do not have to worry about not performing when they chose to pursue an education at the university. Also, the personality traits of an individual play an important role in determining their academic performance. Their characteristics would lead them to choose certain cognitive functions to engage in, which would later determine their success. Genetic characteristics, on the other side, have little effect on individual performance. Using genetic indicators, therefore, to determine older individuals’ success in education may not be reliable.
Shift on determinants of Success with the advancement in Age
The author proves that age does not affect the learning capabilities of individuals, and older adults can easily engage in tertiary education. The learning mechanics, however, may differ with age, thus the use of different performance indicators to determine academic performance. Determinants of success such as IQ, anxiety, and sex may be of great importance for the young and adolescent learner, but it may be little impact on older adults. The academic performance of older adults can be positively predicted using their cognitive capabilities. However, with age, some cognitive functions tend to decline, as described by Lally&Valentine-French (2019). Therefore, older learners may need to develop strategies to help them retain and or enhance their cognitive skills.
Conclusion
With age proven as a limited predictability factor, more research must be conducted on predictors of academic performance for older learners. The author’s research is limited to factors such as cognitive functions, life experience, genetic characteristics, and psychosocial function. Research on other crucial factors such as the learning environment, motivation, learning approaches, and even the different measures of academic performance would be essential in giving predictive insights. Also, more research would guide individuals on what measures can be taken to meet the educational needs of older learners to encourage them to pursue their education goals. A clear understanding of how academic performance indicators may differ across age would lead to a society that is more inclusive of all ages in their education system.
References
Imlach et al. (2017). Age is no barrier: predictors of academic success in older learners. Retrieved 13 April 2020, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41539-017-0014-5.pdf
Lally, M., & Valentine-French, S. (2019). Lifespan Development: A Psychological Perspective Second Edition (2nd ed., pp. 331-332).