Higher Education Through a Maturation Lens: Aware Educators, Capable Graduates

Opinion article

by Dr Ekaterina Zhuravleva Todarello, ICMS Course Coordinator (Business and Management)

A student contacts the lecturer in panic 24 hours before an assessment deadline.

“I couldn’t understand the assessment instructions. I tried a few times, but it didn’t work. I am so stressed because I’ve been working additional shifts since my rent went up. I need a one-week extension, or I may fail. I am afraid to call my father in my home country because he expects the best of me. I never fail.”

As educators, we know the appropriate procedures. Yet, while checking policy and considering balanced support, we have already activated an inner response: slight frustration, concern, scepticism or sympathy as we habitually react to the most salient cues. We see it immediately in a student’s message – panic, a last-minute request, emotional intensity. We may not label it, but the word is “immature”.

Look under the surface, however, and the same student works extra shifts to pay rent, recognises the consequences of missing the deadline and reaches out for help. We might not tag it as such, but the word is “mature”. With more attention, the student’s inner world becomes richer, and maturity more nuanced.

What do we mean by maturity?

Higher education emphasises student maturity, even when the word is absent. Integrity, professionalism, resilience, agency, critical thinking and responsibility can be grouped under this broad heading. Here, psychological maturity means the developing capacity to act with awareness, emotional regulation and sound judgement when facing internal and external challenges[1].

We seem to agree on what a mature graduate should look like. Yet, maturity appears unevenly. One student may critically question theories and write excellent assignments while treating peers dismissively; another may be responsible at work but repeatedly miss assessment deadlines. Institutional policies help us consistently respond to student difficulties, and our curricula explicitly targets adult recipients. Nonetheless, we often miss the subtler and more dynamic picture of maturity. How can we enrich the existing frameworks with approaches that move beyond reactive measures and embed maturity development into daily educational practice?

Here, the distinction between maturity and maturation is critical. Maturity is a state. Maturation is a process. One is a snapshot. The other is movement. We do not simply become mature and remain there. We mature continuously, unevenly and imperfectly, repeatedly moving towards and away from mature functioning[2].

A practical model of maturation

A practical psycho-spiritual model that inspired my research and teaching practice proposes enduring psychological structures: not roles or age categories, but patterns of needs, motivations and responses coexisting within us[3]. The inner Child seeks safety, comfort and care. The inner Adolescent seeks self-worth, freedom and recognition. The inner Adult seeks mastery, fulfilment and purpose. Alongside the three structures sits awareness itself, the Witness.

Our younger structures cannot “grow up”; they must be seen and cared for by the Adult, the already mature structure. Cultivating the Witness through attention and mindfulness allows us to notice our younger structures without being consumed by them[4]. The student’s email then ceases to prove a mature or immature identity. It reveals the Child’s fear, the Adolescent’s concern for status and the Adult’s determination to resolve the problem.

The same complexity exists in educators responding to the extension request. Our Child may react with frustration or anxiety about the adequacy of our instructions, while our inner Adolescent may judge the student or feel compelled to rescue. Like students, we move towards and away from mature functioning. The practical question is which structure is “at the wheel” in us and which one our response addresses in students.

Where blind spots emerge

Applied to educational practice, this model reveals wider blind spots.

Consider assessment design. “Guidance creep” appears as longer instructions, detailed templates, endless reminders and abundant examples. Driven by care, it may nevertheless assume that students cannot navigate uncertainty. Good scaffolding should respond to need while progressively enabling independence[5]. Otherwise, support may speak to the Adolescent while bypassing the Adult.

Consider engagement. Universities work hard to make learning stimulating and enjoyable. Much of this is excellent. Yet, what happens when learning is no longer entertaining? Professional life requires persistence through boredom, ambiguity and frustration.

Finally, universities offer valuable wellbeing and student-success services. Yet, by outsourcing care, we may imply that maturation belongs with counsellors, coaches or specialist units, rather than within teaching, assessment and everyday educational relationships.

Environments for continuous maturation

Higher education exists to cultivate capable, employable and ethical graduates. To fulfil this purpose, we must weave maturation deeper into educational practice and avoid treating maturity as a credential that educators possess and students lack. Through the INNATE Lens, we see maturity as a recurring practice of recognition, a deliberate pause and a shift in awareness. In fact, we tap into what I call radical maturity as the capacity to respond with courage, compassion, responsibility, rationality and resourcefulness whenever life invites us elsewhere.

If we want mature graduates, maturation is everyone’s work.

Acknowledgement

The author declares no conflict of interest and does not have any financial disclosures.

To cite this article:

Todarello, E. Z. (2026, 28 October). Higher education through a maturation lens: Aware educators, capable graduates. Scholarly Impact. International College of Management, Sydney. https://www.icms.edu.au/scholarly-impact/higher-education-maturation-lens/

References:

[1] Eryılmaz, A., & Başar-Gençer, D. (2026). Step by step into adulthood: Predictors of psychological maturity in adolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 39, e70060. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcap.70060

[2] Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2009). The activity of meaning making: A holistic perspective on college student development. Journal of College Student Development, 50(6), 621–639. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.0.0100

[3] Menyachikhin, Y. (2025). From panic to peace: The secret to inner maturity [Video].YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjqVOiGoXMA

[4] Dawson, A. F., Brown, W. W., Anderson, J., Datta, B., Donald, J. N., Hong, K., Allan, S., Mole, T. B., Jones, P. B., & Galante, J. (2020). Mindfulness-based interventions for university students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 12(2), 384–410. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12188

[5] Daniel, S. M., Martin-Beltrán, M., Peercy, M. M., & Silverman, R. (2016). Moving beyond yes or no: Shifting from over-scaffolding to contingent scaffolding in literacy instruction with emergent bilingual students. TESOL Journal, 7(2), 393–420. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.213

Todarello, E. Z. (2026, 1 November). Higher education through a maturation lens: Aware educators, capable graduates. Scholarly Impact. International College of Management, Sydney. https://www.icms.edu.au/scholarly-impact/higher-education-maturation-lens/