Gerontology is an exciting discipline that has attracted an increasing number of students, including myself. Upon attending the British Society of Gerontology’s Emerging Researchers in Ageing Conference, I reflect on my experience and discuss the challenges for a Gerontology student. I hope this will spark off more discussions on pedagogical issues around Gerontology.

Multidisciplinary Nature of Gerontology

Gerontology is by nature multidisciplinary, spanning from Sociology, Social Policy, Psychology, Family Studies, Media Studies, Demography, History, Geography, Statistics and others in Social and Human Sciences, to Medicine, Public Health, Biology and many others in Health Sciences. As a student in Gerontology, an ideal situation is to know the basics of each discipline so that any research can be understood with regard to its social, historical, economic and political context.

This poses challenges on both, individual and structural levels. On the individual level, students have their own backgrounds in terms of previous training received. With limited time and resources, to gain multidisciplinary knowledge may be easier said than done. On the structural level, as Gerontology departments are usually either attached to Sociology, Social Policy or Health Care departments, students may feel that there is an inclination of certain paradigms to be used.

Definition of the Discipline

I am not entirely sure whether this is my personal experience, or if it applies to other gerontology students: through conversations with many people in other disciplines at my university, I recognize that they do not even know that gerontology is a subject! I usually explain that I study processes of ageing and not only older people, and sometimes I go further to assert that I study life course trajectories.

Perhaps the difficulty to explain the subject also has to do with the difficulty to define the discipline. Bengtson, et al., (2005) discussed the ‘problem’ of theory in Gerontology and pointed out that theory development had lagged behind. Writing on the life course perspective, Settersten (2006) posed an even more provoking question, would an increased interest in the life course, not old age per se, mean ‘the end of gerontology?’ (p. 13). Although Settersten was positive that it was not likely to bring the end of gerontology, transformations of the field were foreseen and he noted that they already were under way. In that case, gerontology students do not only need to understand ageing from a multidisciplinary perspective, but also need to understand how lives are embedded in individual, societal and historical time and space (Elder, et al., 2003).

Grasping Both Theory and Policy

As the title of British Society of Gerontology’s Emerging Researchers in Ageing Conference suggested, there is a need to critically examine ‘translating research into policy and practice’. This applies to students as well as to researchers. Why am I interested in ageing, and why this particular aspect? How would that be related to my career development? Do I plan to contribute to the field of ageing in the academia, government or third sector? How can my research bring about impact?

The set of concerns above also spark off other related questions: in each case, what kind of training is needed, both inside the university and also in the community? How do we make sure that the training obtained is up-to-date is relevant?

Between Objectivity and Subjectivity

Studying gerontology can be an emotional experience. Understanding topics such as stroke, dementia, widowhood and death can be a distressing process for students. This is not to present a negative picture of old age and neglect processes of healthy and active ageing, and of course, learning of how older people exercise agency can be very useful for students themselves. But there seems to be indeed some inevitable physical and biological decline through the life course. What are the strategies that can help a Gerontology student approach topics that can be emotionally heavy with objectivity, but also with a kind heart and empathy? Again, reflexivity is crucial in the learning experience.

The challenges discussed above are probably not issues that only gerontology students face, but may well also be applicable to gerontology researchers and students or researchers in other fields. I believe that by discussing and making the above issues more visible, students’ experience of studying Gerontology would be even more fruitful and students can be better prepared for a career in Gerontology in the future.

Biographical Note:

Tung is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Sociology and Institute of Ageing, University of Oxford, funded by a full scholarship by Swire Educational Trust at St Antony’s College, Oxford. His main research interests are ageing, masculinities and qualitative research methods.

Trained as a journalist and having experience of working for a 24-hour news channel in Hong Kong, Tung is committed to base understanding of society on real life connections. He works part-time for Age Concern Oxfordshire as a Care Home Consultant for their innovative project on understanding gender issues in care homes. He is also experiencing first-hand caring for older people, through the 'Homeshare' scheme organized by the Oxford City Council.

Tung is also a Postgraduate Convenor of British Sociological Association, and the Chair Organizer of a Postgraduate Conference on Ageing Studies, themed ‘Ageing: Change, Challenge and Chance’ at Oxford Institute of Ageing and St. Antony’s College, Oxford in December 2009. His e-mail address is: yiu.suen@sociology.ox.ac.uk and he is keen to hear from researchers and fellow students with similar interests.

References

Bengtson, V. L., Putney, N. M., & Johnson, M. L., 2005. The Problem of Theory in Gerontology Today. In M. L. Johnson, V. L. Bengtson, P. G. Coleman & T. B. L. Kirkwood, eds. The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 3-20.

Elder, G. H. Jr., Johnson, M. K., & Crosnoe, R., 2003. The Emergence and Development of Life Course Theory. In J. T. Mortimer & M. J. Shanahan, eds. Handbook of the Life Course. New York: Springer Publishing. pp. 3-19.

Settersten, R. A. Jr., 2006. Aging and the Life Course. In R. H. Binstock & L. K. George, eds. Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences 6 th edition. London: Academic Press. pp. 3-19.

End of Education and Careers section.