Motherhood’s complicated roles in a graduate teacher licensure program

While women enter and complete graduate programs at lower rates than men, there is limited research on how the experience of motherhood plays a role in graduate program success. Graduate students who are also mothers cannot discontinue their parenting responsibilities while they complete their degrees, making graduate school additionally challenging. This qualitative study used structured interview protocols, image elicitation, and trajectory drawings to consider the relationship that motherhood had on the experience of 10 full-time graduate students. Discussion includes suggestions to support nontraditional student success in intensive graduate-level teacher education programs.