%X This thesis presents a detailed analysis of the student experience of qualifying as an actuary,
and reflects upon what might be learnt from this. The actuarial profession is small and,
outside the financial sector, little known. However, within the financial sector, actuaries are
influential. Their professional examinations are seen as very demanding and the qualification
is coveted. This exploration of the students' perspective, breaks new ground in research on
the profession by: adopting principles of 'illuminative evaluation' (Parlett & Hamilton,
1972) and later developments in qualitative research; and using adult learning theory as the
conceptual framework.
Themes which emerged from the study coalesce around three dominant concerns: adjusting
to the learning milieu, the disjuncture between expectation and experience and, finding and
decoding clues. These are elaborated separately, then integrated in a series of case studies
which demonstrate the diversity of student experience. Dynamic Concept Analysis
(Kontiainen, 1973, 1989) is employed to structure the case studies, and highlight the
relational nature of influences upon the learning experience.
Kontiainen's model of adult learning (1991) is modified to improve its interpretive power
in the context of distance learning, and to incorporate the findings of research into student
approaches to learning.
Contributions are made to the discourses of actuarial education, professional education,
distance education and adult learning. Attention is drawn to the pivotal role of the
correspondence course tutor in supporting: adjustment to the learning milieu; and high
quality learning. Overload is a recurrent theme, and is associated with perceptions of
control and validity. Questioning of the validity of several aspects of the education and
assessment processes by members of the profession, is discussed. A possible general model
for the student experience of actuarial examinations is presented.
%A Della Suzanne Freeth. Bloomfield
%D 1997
%L discovery10021710
%I Institute of Education, University of London
%T Actuarial examinations: what can be learnt from the students' perspective?
%O Please note that pages 59 and 72 are missing from the original thesis.