Adult student perspectives toward housing during COVID-19

Precarious housing conditions are on the rise in many developing economies, which has resulted in increasing segmentation between population groups with different socioeconomic backgrounds, and in differentiated access to life chances. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its subsequent lockdowns, the relation between learning and housing conditions has become crucial for understanding the adult student's learning experience and well-being. However, knowledge about this relation is limited. This study employs the concept of dwelling to investigate how housing-related precarities may impact upon experiences of students during COVID-19 induced stay-at-home orders. The study draws on fifteen in-depth interviews and a Zoom Video Conferencing (ZVC)-aided focus group in the Ashaiman Municipality in Ghana, to explore students’ perspectives on precarious housing conditions, well-being and learning. Findings reveal that experiences of precarious housing conditions can be complicated and compromised in diverse ways related to quality learning environment, financial, and personal well-being. Through ZVC-aided focus groups, participants defined housing suitable for learning – not purely in academic terms but in relation to housing characteristics, the neighbourhood environment, the built environment, and the social relations of learning. The study finds that students perceive an array of economic, social and geographic barriers to learning and that these perspectives deserve attention in adult student housing policy debate.